We new arrivals may not understand the title, but a native of Solleröbo is fully aware of what it means. There are approximately 6,000 languages on earth, of which at least half are endangered. Every year several languages disappear. In Sweden there are five minority languages; Finnish, Sami, Romani Chib, Yiddish and Meänkieli. Debate is ongoing as to whether Elvdalian should also be classified as a minority language. A characteristic of a minority language is that it is difficult to understand for other languages. Soldmål is spoken by a minority that is decreasing in number. It is a language that is in danger of disappearing. Solleröbladet will write about the sale target in a number of articles. Maybe it can lead to a new kindling so that we don't miss our cultural heritage.
We asked Lina Margit Andersson in Kulåra, who produced a dictionary for Soldmål "Färdär frå Soldn" in 1999 together with Suzanne Danielsson.
What a project! How did you come to do this?
“The work on the dictionary started as early as 1915 when the local history researchers Håll Nils Mattsson and Karl Lärka began to sense where our ancient language was heading. In a card index, they collected small pieces of paper with written down words and sentences that they had picked up from older Soller Islanders. Håll Nils continued collecting words for the rest of his life. When he died in 1959, he had managed to get to the letter L in his meticulous work to create a foundation. The rest M – Ö were in a small black notebook. Local history enthusiasts in the Soller Island Association took over 10 years later and continued the work, which can be compared to the Swedish Academy's Dictionary. In 1994, the letter Ö was finished. The foundation for a dictionary was laid.
Then Suzanne and I started trying to create a dictionary and it was printed 6 years later in 1999,
84 years after Håll Nils and Karl Lärka took the initiative.”
Yes, that's exactly what the headline was. What does it mean? "What she has - I have too!"
If you speak or want to learn Soldmål, please let us know. info@solleron.se
The dictionary "Färdär från Soldn" is available to borrow from the library or purchased from Lina Margit.
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