Moin, moi or mojn is a Low German, Frisian, High German (German: moin [moin] or German: Moin, [Moin]),[1]
It means "hello" and, in some places, "goodbye" too.
Moin is used at all times of day, not just in the morning (see Etymology section below).[2] The reduplicated form moin moin is often heard,[3] although some authors claim it is regarded by locals as tourists' usage.[4]
Due to the similarity of the words one might think that moin derives from various regional pronunciations of German: (Guten) Morgen ("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 Dutch; Flemish: mo(o)i, meaning "beautiful" or "good". Similar forms in Low Saxon are Low German; Low Saxon; German, Low; Saxon, Low: mooien Dag, Low German; Low Saxon; German, Low; Saxon, Low: mooien Abend, Low German; Low Saxon; German, Low; Saxon, Low: mooien Mor(g)en. Possibly, as is common in etymology, one origin is correct (either from German: Morgen or Dutch; Flemish: mooi) but spread thanks to its oral assimilation with the other term.
The Luxembourgish cognate of the word is Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: moien, which can mean either "hi" or "morning" (Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: gudde Moien! means "good morning!"). Interestingly, in the area of Germany bordering Luxembourg, it is common to use German: moin, instead of Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: moien.
Unlike German: Guten Morgen, German: moin can be used at any time of day. It is semantically equivalent to the Low Saxon (Plattdüütsch) greeting Low German; Low Saxon; German, Low; Saxon, Low: Dagg and replaced it in many areas. In Hessen, German: mojn is used for hello and good bye, but German: mojn mojn is solely used for good bye. The double form Danish: Moin Moin is also used as an all day greeting in for example Flensburg that belonged to Denmark until 1864.
In Finland, a similar greeting Finnish: moi (in Finnish pronounced as /ˈmoi̯/) is used for "hello", "hi" in the Finnish language. However, Finnish: moi moi 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. Finnish: Moi's use is identical to that of Finnish: hei: diminutive forms Finnish: heippa and Finnish: moikka, and duplication as a good bye. Southwest Finland traded with Hanseatic cities, so it is plausible that the greeting was borrowed from their dialects.
Finnish: Moro is found in some parts of Finland and has also been used in the same way as Finnish: moi. It is theorised that it comes from Tampere due to its large number of foreign workers and like Finnish: moi has been borrowed from morrow and abbreviated.
Moi is also used in Dutch Low Saxon dialects in the eastern part of the provinces Groningen and Drenthe.