The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72519 Message #1251170
Posted By: Wolfgang
19-Aug-04 - 03:36 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: The Drover Boy
Subject: RE: 'The Drover Boy'
It looks like a translation from (Swiss) German by someone who didn't know what to make of the word 'Schweizer'. If you look in the usual dictionary a Schweizer is someone from Switserland.
But here, something else is meant in the original: A very old meaning of 'Schweizer' is 'Senn'/'Sennerhirt'/'Almhirt' a word that has no equivalent in English as far as I know.
The 'Senne' (or:'Alm', 'Alp') is the high meadow in the alps which is covered in snow during the winter months. In spring, when the snow thaws the 'Senn' drives the cattle up to that meadow and stays with the cattle for the summer months. He milks them and sleeps in a small hut near them and only comes back with them in the fall. All summer months he is alone (except for coming down each couple of days for some unavoidable necessities).
An example of a Swiss song using the word 'Schweizer' in this sense is here. The song is quite similar in style and content to the English song above but the original must still be a different song.
'Switser' is the translation (neologism?) for 'Schweizer' in that old sense.