Moin
Encyclopedia
Moin (ˈmɔɪn) is a Frisian and Low German
greeting from East Frisia
, Southern Schleswig
(including North Frisia
and Flensburg
), Bremen
, Hamburg
, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the eastern Netherlands and Southern Jutland
in Denmark, meaning "hello
".
; it is also used in the Danish dialect Southern Jutish, where it is spelled "mojn".
Moin is used at all times of day, not just in the morning. The reduplicated form moin moin is often heard, although some authors claim it is regarded by locals as tourists' usage or as garrulous.
The German comic character Werner
always greets with Moin.
, Frisian, and Low German word mo(o)i, meaning "beautiful" or "good". Similar forms in Low Saxon are mooien Dag, mooien Abend, mooien Mor(g)en. Moin is semantically equivalent to the Low Saxon (Plattdüütsch) greeting Dagg and replaced it in many areas. Therefore, moin can be used 24 hours a day. In Southern Jutish, mojn is used for hello and good bye, but mojn mojn is solely used for good bye.
The double form is also used as a greeting in the Swedish region of Scania that belonged to Denmark until 1658.
, a similar greeting moi (ˈmoɪ) is used for "hello", "hi" in the Finnish
language. However "moi moi" is used as a good bye, similarly as "bye bye" in English, even with a similar intonation. Both are particularly typical of Southwestern Finnish, but through internal migration to capital from there with the help of TV spread to rest of the language area. Moi's use is identical to hei: diminutive form of heippa & moikka, and the dublication as a good bye. Varsinaissuomi made commerce with Hanseatic cities, so it is plausible that the greeting was borrow from their dialects.
"Moi" is also used in Frisian Gronings
dialect.
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
greeting from East Frisia
East Frisia
East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....
, Southern Schleswig
Southern Schleswig
Southern Schleswig denotes the southern half of the former Duchy of Schleswig on the Jutland Peninsula. The geographical area today covers the thirty or forty northernmost kilometers of Germany up to the Flensburg Fjord, where it borders on Denmark...
(including North Frisia
Nordfriesland
Nordfriesland, English "Northern Friesland" or "North Frisia", is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia along with adjacent areas to the east and south and is bounded by the districts of Schleswig-Flensburg and Dithmarschen, the North Sea and...
and Flensburg
Flensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
), Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the eastern Netherlands and Southern Jutland
Southern Jutland
Southern Jutland is the name for the region south of the Kongeå in Jutland, Denmark. The region north of the Kongeå is called Nørrejylland . Both territories had their own ting assemblies in the Middle Ages . South Jutland is mentioned for the first time in the Knýtlinga saga.In the 13th century...
in Denmark, meaning "hello
Hello
Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is attested in writing as early as the 1830s.-First use:Hello, with that spelling, was used in publications as early as 1833. These include an 1833 American book called The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col...
".
Usage
Its use spread during the first half of the 20th century over the whole of northern Schleswig-HolsteinSchleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
; it is also used in the Danish dialect Southern Jutish, where it is spelled "mojn".
Moin is used at all times of day, not just in the morning. The reduplicated form moin moin is often heard, although some authors claim it is regarded by locals as tourists' usage or as garrulous.
The German comic character Werner
Werner (comics)
Werner is a fictional character, appearing in a number of German comic books and animated films. He was created by Brösel . Werner is the most successful German comic character of all time with over 10 million books sold and over 13 million film admissions...
always greets with Moin.
Etymology
The word derives from the DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Frisian, and Low German word mo(o)i, meaning "beautiful" or "good". Similar forms in Low Saxon are mooien Dag, mooien Abend, mooien Mor(g)en. Moin is semantically equivalent to the Low Saxon (Plattdüütsch) greeting Dagg and replaced it in many areas. Therefore, moin can be used 24 hours a day. In Southern Jutish, mojn is used for hello and good bye, but mojn mojn is solely used for good bye.
The double form is also used as a greeting in the Swedish region of Scania that belonged to Denmark until 1658.
Moi
In FinlandFinland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, a similar greeting moi (ˈmoɪ) is used for "hello", "hi" in the Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
language. However "moi moi" is used as a good bye, similarly as "bye bye" in English, even with a similar intonation. Both are particularly typical of Southwestern Finnish, but through internal migration to capital from there with the help of TV spread to rest of the language area. Moi's use is identical to hei: diminutive form of heippa & moikka, and the dublication as a good bye. Varsinaissuomi made commerce with Hanseatic cities, so it is plausible that the greeting was borrow from their dialects.
"Moi" is also used in Frisian Gronings
Gronings
Gronings, in the dialect itself called Grunnegs or Grönnegs, is a collective name for some Friso-Saxon dialects spoken in the province of Groningen and around the Groningen border in Drenthe and Friesland. Gronings and the strongly related varieties in East-Frisia have a strong Frisian influence...
dialect.