These splitter linguists have had their say for long enough. The Japanese are clearly just the island branch of Altaic peoples, and the anthropological data is enough. In Mongolia, you're not supposed to whistle inside a ger because it will bring a windstorm. In Korea, whistling at night will bring spirits and snakes too. In Japan, you're not supposed to whistle indoors because either a snake will come - or Tengu will kidnap you. What are Tengu? I'm so glad you asked. Tengu are the indigenous, pre-Buddhist spirits that can create strong winds. By the way, what was the Altaic sky-god's name? Tengri. SPLITTER LINGUISTS, IT'S OVER! IT'S ALL OVER!
Alright. That may be overstating the case, but one has to admit it's otherwise an odd superstition to share.
Whimsical surnames, part 2 (again mostly German)
3 hours ago
Just told my wife about this, and she said her dad says the same thing. He's purely Vietnamese and lacks an education.
ReplyDeleteLooked up whistling superstitions and found similar ones for most Slavic countries as well.
I'm sympathetic to the Altaic idea as well, but with this new information this doesn't seem very convincing.
Aha...Vietnamese and Slavs do it and they're Mon-Khmer and Indo-European, which doesn't help my theory at all. I could hand-wave and say they both got it from the Mongols (during the invasions and the Yuan administration of Vietnam) but that does weaken the theory. Still interesting why it's so widespread. Thanks for commenting!
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