Who are Santa's Reindeer?

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  • Опубликовано: 6 янв 2025

Комментарии • 76

  • @marygebbie6611
    @marygebbie6611 7 лет назад +11

    Your writing for this series is so under-appreciated! Every episode is great.
    I would like to see a short episode of your writing process, how you decide what words to connect, how you do your resources, and such.

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +2

      Thank you! I really appreciate you saying that. I've been thinking, actually, about a video (down the road a ways) that might give me an opportunity to talk a bit about how I organise the information for my writing, and how I construct the 'narrative'. So thanks for the nudge towards working on that!

  • @moiquiregardevideo
    @moiquiregardevideo 6 лет назад +2

    Using the names of the 8 caribous as pretext to explain norse religion, bear, fox, comet, etc
    A non stop fast paced list of words related to each other.
    This video is a chef d'oeuvre.

  • @abc.animal5143
    @abc.animal5143 Месяц назад +1

    Alternate reindeer names:
    Runner
    Singer
    Jumper
    Tod
    Asteroid
    Eros
    Tahoe
    Bomber

  • @Frahamen
    @Frahamen 7 лет назад +16

    So in dutch "reindeer" is writen "rendier", pronounced practically the same. However "ren" is the root of the verb "rennen" which mean to run; and "dier" just means animal (cfr. german "tier"). So the folk etymology is "a running (as in fast) animal".

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +7

      Interesting! It must be derived from the 'horn' root like the other Germanic words for it, but completely understandable where the popular etymology comes from, it makes logical sense.

    • @deldarel
      @deldarel 7 лет назад +7

      I'm stupid. I'm Dutch and I thought it was weird that 'deer' used to mean 'all animals' and I completely forgot our word 'dier'.

    • @kormakurlogib
      @kormakurlogib 7 лет назад +2

      In icelandic the word is "hreindýr". The adjective "hreinn" means clean but I don't think the "hrein" in "hreindýr" means clean. The male reindeer is "hreintarfur" or just "hreinn" and the female reindeer is "hreinkýr" or "simla".

    • @deldarel
      @deldarel 7 лет назад +3

      Indeed it did come from 'horn'.
      You'd think that 'ree' (a different kind of deer) would be a cognate, but it isn't. In English it's 'roe'.
      And finally, we still use a cognate of 'hart' for 'deer' as a whole. Deer in dutch would translate to 'hert'.
      Hart is also a word in Dutch, but it means 'heart'.

    • @kormakurlogib
      @kormakurlogib 7 лет назад +2

      "Hjarta" is icelandic for heart and "Hjörtur" is the adult male deer. I think the jö in hjörtur is a sound change from hertur which is the same as your "hert" : )

  • @username65585
    @username65585 7 лет назад +16

    Santa lives in Lapland in Finland. More specifically Korvatunturi. :)

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +7

      Ah, the great Finno-Canadian rivalry rears its ugly head! ;)

    • @patrichausammann
      @patrichausammann 7 лет назад +1

      Just wait for some Russians, with their "Jack Frost" (> Дед Мороз Иванович >> Ded Moroz Iwankowitsch >> "grand father frost son of John". In German he is known as "Väterchen Frost" or "Grossvater Frost", which means "father/grandfather frost". XD
      © by Patric Hausammann

  • @edoboss101
    @edoboss101 7 лет назад +4

    Don't know why, but I enjoyed this video particularly. I knew the taboo naming theme of bears, didn't expect the fox one. Always learning new cool stuff here, thank you! Good Job!

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +1

      Thanks! It was a rich theme to work on.

  • @saxoungrammaticus9132
    @saxoungrammaticus9132 7 лет назад +2

    Merry Christmas to my favourite RUclips channel!

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +3

      Thank you! Merry Christmas and Good Yule to you!

  • @fugithegreat
    @fugithegreat 7 лет назад +3

    Who would have thought that wolves turn up so much in the etymology of Santa's reindeer? Fascinating content, as always! Happy holidays!

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +1

      Thanks! Happy holidays to you too!

  • @ThePedigree17
    @ThePedigree17 7 лет назад +2

    Your videos are amazing, I can't even express.. This is so interesting, thank you so much! And happy yule! ;)

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +1

      Thank you! Lovely thing to hear! And happy yule to you, too!

  • @Hoehlenmaensch
    @Hoehlenmaensch 7 лет назад +5

    It's interesting how santas reindeer traditionally have names in english but not not in german. Vixen might be the reason for it. Because Wichsen (which is pronounce exactly the same way) is a rude word to say "to masturbate". Might fit to the story you told about it...
    I may be 20 and a half years old now, but i still cant get over that name. xD

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +3

      Ok, that's hilarious! Thanks for sharing... probably just as well I didn't know that in time to put it in the video, it might have ended up NSFW! ;)

  • @willemvandebeek
    @willemvandebeek 7 лет назад +11

    I have been told the 3 kings/wise men visiting baby Jesus are actually the 3 stars in Orion's belt, which start showing up in the night sky in the East around this season.

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +3

      Huh! I'd never heard that... an even more astrological interpretation of the story.

    • @willemvandebeek
      @willemvandebeek 7 лет назад +2

      Yup, and if you look at the constellation Cygnus at the right angle; it then looks a lot like a certain crucified man. This constellation starts showing up around Eastern conveniently....

    • @moodist1er
      @moodist1er 6 лет назад

      LIFTING THE VEIL you can't even see the southern cross from anywhere in the MiddleEast, dood.

  • @RonJohn63
    @RonJohn63 7 лет назад +1

    Only Donder/Donner and Blitzen seem to have any direct association with what a Learned Man of the early 19th Century would have known.

  • @moonprincesst.s.h.4ever115
    @moonprincesst.s.h.4ever115 4 года назад +1

    Are Santa's reindeer in the public domain?

  • @DSMWannabeLinguist
    @DSMWannabeLinguist 7 лет назад +9

    WORK 👏🏻 THOSE 👏🏻 ANTLERS

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +1

      Now wondering if they should have been fox ears...!

    • @patrichausammann
      @patrichausammann 7 лет назад +1

      But there is another link too.^^ Like the Englisch word "boner", which might derrive from "bone" (OS Lat.). But it can be understood in different ways. XD In vulg. German, we would say "Latte" instead of "boner". But a "bar", "batten", "lath" or "slat" can be translated to "Latte"(Ger. norm. wooden building material). And now guess what! The word antler, means "Geweih", "Hörner" or "Gehörn" in German, antlers (Engl. plur. ) Hörner(Ger. plur.) / "Geweihe" (Ger. plur.). "Gehörn" (Ger. sing. ) for a pair, both or all of the horns on the animal") But we also use the saying: "Die Hörner abstossen", for teenager, which means "to get some experience". ^^ Horns or antlers are phallic symbols and they often show the force or the power in the animal world (also have a look at some crabs with their big, somethimes useless, claws. Which can fall of too, and grow sometimes bigger again).XD
      About horns, we've got an other funny expression in German: "Einen auf dem Horn haben" >> "To be drunk." (horn > as cup or glas, the symbol for head (Kopf Ger. > Kopp low and mi. Ger.) XD . Humans normally have no "horns", so there is something twisted (interchanged), like horns which are in most case twisted too(like a house of a snail).^^ If someone drank too much, everything is turning for him or her.
      Happy Christmas holidays! 🎅🏻

  • @N6TJA
    @N6TJA 7 лет назад +16

    Furry art at 9:05 and 11:45 👀

  • @ronfleetwood944
    @ronfleetwood944 2 года назад

    god jul is what my Norwegian exchange student taught me to decorate Christmas cookies. its like saying good yule i think

  • @RegratorNovem
    @RegratorNovem 5 лет назад

    Amazing video!

  • @Zlist1994
    @Zlist1994 15 дней назад

    lol Blitzen was always my favorite as a kid

  • @Artur_M.
    @Artur_M. 7 лет назад +1

    This is unrelated to the video's topic, but I just want to say I love Your maps in the background, especially that one in the upper left (Your right). I believe presenting Europe during the reign of emperor Otto III, around the year 1000.

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +1

      Yes, that's exactly right! They are my favourite decorative items, too, so thanks!

  • @latronqui
    @latronqui 7 лет назад +5

    Oooh wow! I had no idea that Eros was related to a meaning of "separate". My husband's name, Rasmus, is derived from Eros and we had a 2 year long distance relationship before we married. Was he destined to it by his name?

  • @colinp2238
    @colinp2238 6 лет назад

    The last man referred to as a bear maybe a berserker? From the Old Norse ber-serkr - bear shirt.
    Beltane is not pronounced as it is written. The way you said it is an Anglicised form. The correct way is Bal-tee-na with the emphasis on the second syllable

  • @deldarel
    @deldarel 7 лет назад

    11:45 s...source?

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +2

      Sources and image credits here: www.alliterative.net/reindeer

  • @lilj4818
    @lilj4818 Год назад

    Was that a Hunchback of Notre Dame reference 😱

  • @mcmasti
    @mcmasti 7 лет назад

    Lots of fun to watch on Boxing Day! (Ian and Sue)

  • @coolbrotherf127
    @coolbrotherf127 7 лет назад

    You should do some kind of voice over for an educational TV show. It just has that sound to it. Kind of like Rick Steve's.

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад

      I'd certainly be available if asked...! :)

  • @sophiejones7727
    @sophiejones7727 7 лет назад

    Is the polish word "blintz" also from the same root as "blitz"? seems like a more Christmas-appropriate association, since a blintz is a delicious desert.

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад

      I doubt it, unfortunately!

    • @patrichausammann
      @patrichausammann 7 лет назад

      Did you mean "Bliny", "Bliný" or "Blini", with "blintz"? I think "Blinys" are more related to "Crêpes", "pancakes" or "Oladje" (think about oblates).^^ But maybe it has a relation to a "Blitzkuchen"(kind of egg cake) > "lightning cake". Maybe this has to do with thin flan, because this type of "cake"/dessert is baked very fast, that they get not to dark or black. Actually they are often yellow or white like communion wafer (oblates/Obladen/Oblavia etc.).This kind of cake is made in a pan or on a hot metal plate. I think it is also related to spiced bread or ginger bread, which is very common in the region where I live, especially during the winter time. In Czechia, I had their traditional oblates, and I had also the feeling, that they are strewed with sugar, like some pancakes or Crêpes. So this reminds me very much to a "blizzard" or snow storm. I think the purpose for the sugar is not only to taste sweet. Sugar was maybe used to cover or hide some darker places on the cake, for a nicer look. Maybe there is a link to "Blitz" Ger. "lightning" and "blitzen" Ger. verb, means to "flash", but we have to think around the "corner".^^ I think it hangs together with "glare", like the shiny sword > GLADIUS (Lat.), or also with *bhel- (PIE).^^ A reflection of metal in the sun/daylight seems to be white for us or it blinds us, like when we become snow blind (not funny!). A lightning seems to be white too and if we think about metal and sun light we can guess, that it can burn.^^ If we heat up iron or steel, it gets first red, then yellow and if it is really hot it is nearly white, like burning magnesia. And there we have the link to the French word "blanc" for "white" too.^^ If something is white, it stands visualized for the good and black symbolizes evil (day and night, warm and cold etc...). But in fact, there can't be good, without evil, as point of reference, and vica versa.

    • @sophiejones7727
      @sophiejones7727 7 лет назад +1

      oh, very interesting! yes, it's the same thing that is called "blíny" in Russian. A thin flan would be a good way of describing it, as it's more egg than flour and would be light yellow normally. But like a crêpe, you can fill it or eat it just with sugar. It can't really be eaten from your hands though, even with a knife and fork it's very messy. That's what I was asking, if there was a link to German "blitz", "blitzkuchen" would certainly make sense! I don't know much Polish or German, so I wouldn't know whether that relationship makes any sense though.
      Well, "blanc" and indeed English "blank" are related to Germanic words meaning "black" actually. "white" is related to "wight" (pronounced the same), which is a kind of ghost. Yes, in English, both of the color names are very creepy and death-related. English hides it well, but it is very much a Germanic language still, macabre fatalism sometimes included.

    • @patrichausammann
      @patrichausammann 7 лет назад

      In one of my dialects, a thin flat is called "Flädde" or "Fläddä".XD And in another dialect it is "Wäihe" and in standard German it is "Wähe".^^ I think "Wähe"(> Waehe), has also something to do with the German words "Weih-" or "Weihe", have a look at the word "Weihnachten", which stands for "christmas". "Weihen" can be translated to English as, harrier, consecration (a hike > voyage)^^, ordination (order), inauguration, sacrification(make holly, like the daily bread^^, but also to cure) or unveiling (uncover). XD
      About the word "white" I agree, that it descends from wight, but we can also see the similarity to the German word "weiss" or in some German dialects it sounds like "wieht" to me. And in Dutch white is called "wit".^^

  • @kabun457
    @kabun457 7 лет назад +1

    Great vid, could you recommend an easy Ancient Greek to English Dictionary?

    • @Alliterative
      @Alliterative  7 лет назад +1

      The Pocket Oxford is a good choice: www.amazon.ca/Pocket-Oxford-Classical-Greek-Dictionary/dp/0198605129/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513173786&sr=8-1&keywords=classical+greek+dictionary You can also use the Perseus site to look things up in the Liddell & Scott Greek Lexicon: www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/search

  • @jonathanthegreat2008
    @jonathanthegreat2008 3 года назад

    You miss rudolph so there’s 9 reindeers

  • @Daruqe
    @Daruqe 7 лет назад +3

    Stupid sexy foxes...

  • @conlangknow8787
    @conlangknow8787 5 лет назад

    Furries:
    The goods is at 11:40 - 11:59

  • @linusyootasteisking
    @linusyootasteisking 7 лет назад

    very interesting! you mentioned "deer", from "deor" meaning animal. in swedish the word for animal is "djur", bur nowadays the d is silent. etymologically close to german tier as Frahamen pointed out. also, the swedish word for reindeer is "ren" and has no connection to running, which is "springa".
    a question: the swedish word for wolf is "varg" (or less commonly "ulv"), which is almost identical to english "warg". the etymological derivation here is *wargaz meaning "outlaw", according to wiktionary. is it the same case as with the bear that they didn't want to refer to the wolf by its real name?

    • @patrichausammann
      @patrichausammann 7 лет назад

      It has a connection.^^ In German, we have got "rennen" and "springen" and both can be the same. In my dialect I say for example "I spring Heim", what means "I run home" XD
      But "springen" is more used as an expression for "jumping". I think it descends from PIE *geh (>"gehen" German) and changed to jáṁhas-. Then it derrived to French as "jambes", the word for legs (jambon is the French word for ham). Also have a look at the Italian word "gamba", which means leg too. In Spanish to jump is saltar in French it is sauter. But legs are called "piernas" in Spanish, which seem to be more related to the French word "pieds", which means feet.^^
      I think about your question, that Lifting The Veil / Cullen Smith is right about the most common root. Maybe the name of an animal was at the beginning linked with the sounds it makes. I think there was a tabooing too. In Bulgarian the word "wolf" is written like " вълк" (vălk) > in Russian it is волк (volk). Can you see it?^^ You mentioned "ulv" (Swedish/Danish/Norvegian), but have a look at the Basque word for wolf "бүре".^^ Also have a look at "úlfur" Islandic and "úlvur"Faroese (only v to f).^^ From English to Turkish it is "h" > to "k", "o" to "u", "n" to "r" and "d" to "t" >> "kurt"(Turk.). From English to low German, only the "o" changes to a "u" >> "Wulf". In Russian it is russ. volk (волк), "w"(double u > vv >> w) was changed to "v", and the ending character moved from "f" to "k". All mentioned seem to be related to *u̯ḷku̯os, *u̯ḷku̯- and *u̯ḷp. As I read on dwds.de, these words might be related to the root "*u̯el-", which was interpreted as "rip", "tear", "snatch", "twitch", "wrest", "rupture", "yank", "strain", "rob"(>"thief" Engl. >"Dieb" Ger.), "heist", "ravish", "scratch", "scarify", "wound" etc...
      By the way, you can see the relation between λύκος (lýkos) Old Greek and Latin LUPUS, and the newer Latin based words like "loup" Fr., "lupo" Ital., and "lobo" Port..
      The Greenlandic "amaroq" looks interesting, isn't it. But if we delete both "a" characters, we get "mroq". Now if we mirror the letters and change their alignement, we come to "wolq" > "wolp" >> "wolf".^^ Maybe there is a hidden link, to the mountains in it.XD
      If you have a look at east and north-east European languages, it is more like "vuk", "vulk", "vlk", "vilks", "vilkas", "wilk", "wjelk", or volk. But there are also excepitions like the Estonian word "hunt" for wolf. But if we look at the old English expression "hound", which means dog, everything seems to be clear, because dogs are a kind of domesticated wolfes. In German we use the term "Hund" for a dog, which is very similar to "hound"(Engl.) and "hunt"(Est.).Maybe in there lies a link, because "hunt", Hund" or "hound" seem to be related to "hunt"/"hunting" too, because many hunters use dogs to help them doing their work. But I think there is another possibility too, because wolfes eat lambs, and the shepherd has to guard his herd against the wolfes. So he has to hunt the wolfes off or he needs a dog for the protection. What seems to be a the better solution.
      Maybe there is also a link between "deor" and "djul".^^ I mention this because it reminds me very much to "DEUS" (Lat.) > "god"(Engl.) > "Gott" (Ger.). Also think about the relation of "Djur" to the Old Norse God "Jule" > "Yule". XD But maybe the link goes much deeper. So I think we have to descend, into the deepest parts, of the "rabbit whole".^^ I suggest a link to the French word "jour", which means day (god of the day > sun god > Amon Ra). XD And guess what, after the "epiphany", the sun comes back, in the north again (> the sun "dies" and gets "reborn" in the north sagas). Do you get the link? The catchword is "epiphany" > "Epiphanie" in German.^^ I think this is the answer for the "transformation of the animals. ^^ Think about "Hogfather" or "Hogswatch". XD Also think about "Simpsons the movie", if you know or remember the scene with the Inuit shaman woman.^^
      I think *wargaz seems logical to me, as a term for people who go for war or for raids, like Vikings and pirates, which are from at least one perspective outlaws. I think Liftin The Veil /Cullen Smith is right with his mentioning of the most prominent root of "Bhel". It might derrive from the root word *u̯el-, which means to "tear, snatch, rip, rob, steal(raid), bite, scratch etc. (source: dwds.de).
      © by Patric Hausammann

  • @patrichausammann
    @patrichausammann 7 лет назад

    I think, that I can explain why the French took "renard" as their word for fox.^^ Please try to read the word from the opposite direction. ^^ "renard" >> "prener" XD This is the Welsh word for "take" in English, and in German it is "nimm". And the French infinitiv word "prendre" for "take" is not far away. Think about "vous prenez", in Englisch "you take" or "sie nehmen" in German. I think it has also to do, with the mentioned name Reinhard/Reinhart, which is a very Germanic name. I would translate Reinhard in the directest way as "pure heart" in English, which seems to be rather possitive, but there are other meanings too.^^ Now think about the Franco Germanic rivaleries from the middle ages till to the time after WWII. I think it started, with the failed Crusades and the resulting depts of the French king. This continued with the persecution of the "Templars".
    We have a saying in German, "Fuchs du hast die Gans gestohlen, bring sie wieder her, sonst ...", which means that "the fox has stolen the goose, and should return it back, else ..." XD
    From another point of view, foxes are known for eating birds (chicken, goose etc.) and eggs. And sometimes they manage to get into the stall of the animals (Have a look at the stories of the Grimm Brothers). XD
    Also have a look at the other French word for "loup"(wolf), which is "hachoir".^^ Can you see it? ^^ This is so amusing! It has different links, which describe the animal very good. XD
    © by Patric Hausammann
    P.S.: I liked Alliteratives "subtile" mentioning of "Lord Thor"! Oh, oops, I sayd it too, I mean naturally "god Thor". XD

  • @Pokabjorn
    @Pokabjorn 6 лет назад

    Dog name: Böðvar BARK-y ... ehh ? Bjarki > Barky ... ehhh ???

  • @sillysad3198
    @sillysad3198 7 лет назад +1

    "happy holidays" == unsub
    P.S. no, i am not religious.