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''Moin'', ''moi'' or ''mojn'' is a
Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...
, Frisian, High German ( or ), Danish () () greeting from
East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...
,
Northern Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...
, the eastern and northern
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, Southern Jutland in Denmark and parts of
Kashubia Kashubia or Cassubia ( or ; ; or ) is an ethnocultural region in the historic Eastern Pomerania (Pomerelia) region of northern Poland. It is inhabited by the Kashubian people, and many in the region have historically spoken the Kashubian langua ...
in northern
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. The greeting is also used in Finnish. It means "
hello Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwich Cou ...
" and, in some places, " goodbye" too.


Usage

''Moin'' is used at all times of day, not just in the morning (see Etymology section below). The reduplicated form ''moin moin'' is often heard, although some authors claim it is regarded by locals as tourists' usage.


Etymology

Due to the similarity of the words one might think that ''moin'' derives from various regional pronunciations of ("good morning"), which tend to alter, vocalise, or skip ''rg''. However, the word may actually also derive from the Dutch, Frisian, and Low German word , meaning "beautiful" or "good". Similar forms in Low Saxon are , , . Possibly, as is common in etymology, one origin is correct (from or ) but spread thanks to its oral assimilation with the other term. The
Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. The language is standardized and officiall ...
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
of the word is , which can mean either "hi" or "morning" ( means "good morning!"). Interestingly, in the area of Germany bordering Luxembourg, it is common to use , instead of . Unlike , can be used at any time of day. It is semantically equivalent to the Low Saxon ( Plattdüütsch) greeting and replaced it in many areas. In Hessen, is used for hello and good bye, but is solely used for good bye. The double form is also used as an all day greeting in for example
Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...
that belonged to Denmark until 1864.


In

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
, a similar greeting () is used for "hello", "hi" in the
Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...
. It may have been borrowed from German in the 19th century. The earliest records of the word occur in Southeast Finland, which had strong connection through Viipuri to partially German-speaking Estonia and Latvia. However, is used as a good bye, similarly to "bye bye" in English, even with a similar intonation. Both are particularly typical of Southwestern Finnish, but through internal migration spread to the capital and with the help of TV to the rest of the language area. 's use is identical to that of : diminutive forms and , and duplication as a good bye. is found in some parts of Finland and has also been used in the same way as . It is theorised that it comes from
Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...
due to its large number of foreign workers and like has been borrowed from morrow and abbreviated. is also used in Dutch
Low Saxon Low Saxon (), also known as West Low German () are a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of the German-speaking minority). It is one of two di ...
dialects in the eastern part of the provinces
Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...
and
Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Jan ...
.


See also

* MoinMoin (
wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...
software named after the greeting)


References

{{reflist German words and phrases Kashubian language Greeting words and phrases Culture of Schleswig-Holstein stq:Moin