In Memory of the Forgotten

 "...small epitaphs to the often overlooked bits of history that lie rotting all around us."

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The Archaic Language of the Ukrainian Diaspora

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Please go to my new website Forgotten Galicia to read this post (an updated version). Click here . Over the last several years my interest in languages and dialects has grown. I have become very fascinated by the way the Ukrainian language has developed in the diaspora vs. Ukraine. The Ukrainian language spoken in the diaspora is the language that was spoken in western Ukraine before WWII. The majority of Ukrainian immigrants who went to the West during and right after WWII were from Galicia and Western Ukraine. Galicia had had a long history of Polish rule and influence, thus the language spoken there had a lot of Polonisms. This language didn’t evolve much in the diaspora, so Ukrainians still speak this language. (Though there has been some English influence on the language.) Furthermore, it retained several archaic words relating to technology (for example, in the diaspora we still usually say загасити світло (extinguish the light) , which harks back to a time when fire was us...
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The Lexicon of the 3rd Wave Ukrainian Diaspora

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Please go to my new website Forgotten Galica to read this post. Click here . I've already published two posts about the vocabulary of the third-wave Ukrainian diaspora (found here and here ), but now I've combined both lists, added new words, fixed some mistakes, and as a result I have a comprehensive list with over 500 words: CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST , which I made on Google Spreadsheets. For many words, I've also included the Polish and Russian translations, as well as a comment on the meaning or usage. Before I get into the specifics of the list, I wanted to write a few words about the goal of this list and my usage of the words "archaic" and "diaspora." Above all, this list is a way for me to document the way my family in the United States spoke and speaks. Living in Ukraine, I've picked up the local language and am beginning to forget some of the words that I heard and used growing up. Thus I've made this as a resource for myself. Howe...
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Hoisting Beams in Amsterdam

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Amsterdam is beaming with hoisting beams. Previously I associated hoisting beams solely with old merchant's homes, but unlike other port cities where I've seen them, in Amsterdam they are found not only on the old canal houses, but all over the city, including on ordinary residential buildings. Due to fifteenth century planning laws, facades of buildings were built of lightweight materials with large windows to reduce weight. The smaller the width of the frontage, the lower taxes had to paid. In the seventeenth century, the city became more prosperous and thus wider, double-fronted merchant's homes sprung up.  The merchant's houses had attics and cellars which served as storage spaces for the goods that were transported by boat. Since the houses were so narrow, the stairwells were too steep and narrow, making it largely impossible to carry up goods or furniture into the home. Thus beams were attached to the gables in order to hoist up (with a pulley and rope) larg...
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