| français | English | Cymraeg |
|---|---|---|
| le radeau | raft | rafft |
| flotter sur un radeau | to raft | rafftio |
| la tortue (de mer) | (sea) turtle | crwban y môr; môr-grwban |
| huissier; agent de poursuite | bailiff | beili |
| le porche | porch | porth; cyntedd; portsh |
| le comprimé; le cachet | pill | pilsen; pelen |
| le dessert | dessert | melysfwyd; danteithfwyd; pwdin |
| le désert | desert | anial; diffaith; anghyfannedd |
| parfumé; plaisant; agréable | fragrant | persawr; pêr; perarolgus; melys |
| la chambre d’enfants; la crèche; la garderie | nursery | meithrinfal; magwrfa; cylch meithrin |
Category: English
Come to mind
One way to say remember in Swedish is komma ihåg, which literally means “to come to mind”. It also means to recall; to recollect; to retain, or to bear in mind.
Komma [ˈkɔmːa] means ‘to come, arrive, move nearer’. It comes from the Old Norse koma (to come), from the Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (to come), from the Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (to step).
ihåg [ihoːg] means ‘to (one’s) mind’. håg means ‘mind, mindset, temper, inclination’, and comes from the Old Swedish hogher, from Proto-Germanic *hugiz (mind; thought; sense; understanding), which is also the root of the English words high, how, Hugh and Hubert.
Related words include:
- ihågkomma = to memorialize
- ihågkommande = recollection; reminiscent
- hågkomst = to recall; recollection; remembrance
- håglös = apathetic; grey; indolent; listless
- håglöshet = apathy
- hågad = agreeable; inclined; minded
Other words for remember include:
- minnas = to recall; to remember; to retain; to come back; to recollect
- erinra sig = to place; to recall; to recollect; to remember
- lägga på minnet = to memorize; to register; to remember
- dra sig till minnes = to remember
Are these words for remember used in different contexts?
Sources: bab.la, Wiktionary
Constructing languages
A few years ago I went to the 6th Language Creation Conference in Horsham, near London.
I am in the second row, second from the right (next to David J. Peterson)
At the time I had created a few alphabets but didn’t plan to create any languages. However, since the conference I have been dabbling with ideas for a conlang.
The language I’m working on is called Laala. It’s an isolating language, like Chinese, so there are no grammatical inflections. The word order is VSO (Verb, Subject Object), like Celtic languages. Basic words are mostly one syllable. In two syllable words the vowel in the first syllable (if there is one) can be long, e.g. teete (everything) – te = thing. Some consonants can be long as well, such as mm (to like, good, fine, happy), and mmm (to love, adore, joy).
Some words are omomatopeic (they sound something like the thing or action they represent), e.g. zz = sleep; ff = wind, air; and hh = cold.
I try to keep the basic vocabulary to a minimum, like Toki Pona, so many words have multiple meanings, and words are based on simple roots. For example, ss = fire, light; ka = big; ki = small, nu = time, nuu = long time. So sska = sun, sski = moon, sskanu = day, sskinu = night, and nuuka = year.
My aims for this language are to have fun playing with it, to learn more about how languages work, and to create something that sounds interesting when spoken and sung. I don’t expect anybody else to learn Laala, and it certainly isn’t intended as a international auxiliary language like Esperanto.
I have put together a page of phrases in Laala. The phrases may change as the language develops.
In the past I’ve only posted details of conlangs on Omniglot if they are written with an original and interesting alphabet or other writing system. I’m now thinking of creating a separate section of the site, or even a separate site for conlangs and constructed scripts. What do you think?
Have you created any languages that you’d like to see on Ominglot?
Bundles and bark
Have you ever wondered what you call the long stringy white bits you remove from bananas before eating them?
I haven’t thought about this before, but today I discovered that they are called phloem bundles. They are structures that transport nutrients from the leaves to other parts of plants.
In trees they are the innermost layer of bark, and the word phloem [ˈfləʊ.em / ˈfloʊ.em] comes from the Greek word φλοιός (phloios), which means bark. The word bast is also used as an alternative for phloem.
Source: Huffington Post, Wikipedia, Cambridge Dictionary
Snail houses and creeping things
An interesting Swedish I learnt recently is snigelhus, which means shell, or literally “snail house”. Snigel is a snail or slug, and hus is house, case or residence.
The word snigel comes from the Old Norse snigill (snail), from the Proto-Germanic *snagila (snail), from the Proto-Indo-European *sneg- (to crawl, creep; creeping thing), which is also the root of the English words snail and snake.
Some related words include:
- snigelfart = snail’s pace, e.g. att gå framåt i snigelfart = to proceed at a snail’s pace
- snigelpost = snail mail
- snigelaktig = snail-like
- snigelgång = snail time
- snigeltempo = snail pace
Another name for snail is snigel med skal (snail with shell), and another name for slug is snigel utan skal (snail without shell).
So it seems that skal is another word for shell. It also means coat, paring, rind, jacket or peel. A snail’s shell is not snigels snigelhus but snigelskal.
Other Swedish words for shell include:
- balja = shell, tub, tubful, bowl, pod
- snäcka = shell, helix
- musselskal – clamshell, scallop, shell
- snäckskal = scallop, scollop, seashell, shell
- ärtskida = shell
- ärtbalja = shell
Sources: bab.la, Wiktionary, Online Etymology Dictionary, and Linguee
Word Monkey
I spent the past few days with my sister and her family. Her son is just over 2 and a half years old and is speaking a lot more than the last time I saw him at Easter this year.
He has trouble pronouncing certain sounds, such as r and consonant clusters like st, but at long as you listen carefully, you can usually work out what he’s saying.
He also invents new words, or gives words new meanings. For example, he has several toy monkeys (see below), and calls one ‘monkey’ or ‘daddy monkey’, another ‘other monkey’ or ‘mummy monkey’, and a smaller one he calls monkeykey, which I thought was very cute. He also calls playing cards, dominoes and other parts of games current buns. I’m not sure why.
Up-date: it turns out that I misheard the name of the monkey – it’s actually Monkey Keith not monkeykey.
Language acquisition
I spent Christmas at my brother’s house and had a nice time. It was interesting to see how the language skills of my niece (4) and my nephew (1) are developing.
My niece speaks a lot, mainly in English, and sometimes in Russian (her mum is Russian), and is learning to read and write in English. She can recognise the letters, and with help can read and write words. When she writes some letters are back-to-front or otherwise not quite right. She hasn’t started learning to read and write Russian yet, I don’t think.
My nephew is at the one-word stage. He can say quite a few individual words in English, and sometimes puts them together into short sentences. He also understands Russian, but I haven’t heard say any words in Russian.
Bittersweet
When looking for the French word for chutney last night we discovered the word aigre (sour), and realised that vinegar, or vinaigre in French, must be wine (vin) that is sour (aigre). This is indeed the origin of vinegar and vinaigre.
Vin (wine) comes from the Latin vīnum (wine, grapes, grapevine), from Proto-Italic *wīnom (wine), from Proto-Indo-European *wóyh₁nom (wine).
Aigre (sour, sharp, acid, shrill) comes from the Old French, from Vulgar Latin *acrus / *acrum, from the Classical Latin acer / acrem (sharp, sour, bitter), from Proto-Italic *akris (sharp, sour), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱrós (sharp).
Chutney is a sauce made from fruit and/or vegetables preserved with vinegar and sugar. The word comes from the Hindi चटनी (catnī / chatnee – to lick). In French it is chutney, épice or salade piquante, and is defined as “condiment aigre-doux” (bittersweet condiment), which is where I found the word aigre.
Average dainty sandwiches
Recently I learnt the Swedish word genomsnitt [jèːnɔmˌsnɪt], which means average or approximately. I thought I’d write about it as I like the way it sounds.
It comes genom (though, across) and snitt (a cut, an average). Genom comes from the Old Norse gegn (through), and snitt comes from the Proto-Germanic *snit (cutting, pruning, harversting).
Genom also appears in other words, including:
- genombrott = a breakthrough, a breakdown
- genombruten = openwork, lace, laced, transparent
- genomföra = carry out, realize, accomplish, execute
- genomgående = throughout
- genomgång = a walkthrough, a briefing, a summary
- genomskinlig = translucent; transparent
- genomslag = impact
- genomsnittlig = average, mean
Genom also means genome.
Snitt also means dainty sandwich, fashion, incision, cut, section.
Related words, and other words containing snitt include:
- snida = to carve
- snidare = cutter
- snideri / snidande = carving
- snitta = averaging, dollar cost averaging, to gash
- snittning = averaging
- kägelsnitt = conic section
- avsnitt = section, part, sector
- kejsarsnitt = cesarean
- tvärsnitt = cross section
- träsnitt = woodcut
Sources: bab.la, Wiktionary
The Foreshortening Dark
In many languages this month is known as December, or something similar, which comes ultimately from the Latin *decumo-mēnsris (of the tenth month) – the Roman calendar started in March (mārtius) [source].
However in some languages December has a completely different name:
In Welsh December is Rhagfyr [ˈr̥aɡvɨ̞r], which means the ‘foreshortening’, from rhagfyrhau (to foreshorten), from rhag (a prefix with various meanings) and byr (short, small) [source].
In Breton December is miz Kerzu [miz ˈkɛʁ.zy] – which means ‘very dark month’. The Cornish for December is similar and has the same meaning: Mys Kevardhu [source].
In Scottish Gaelic December is Dùbhlachd, From dubh (dark), so it’s a dark time [source].
In Irish December is Mí na Nollag (the month of Christmas). Nollag is the genetive of Nollaig, which comes from the Old Irish Notlaic (Christmas), from Latin nātālīcia (a birthday party), from nātālis (natal), from nātus (born) [source].
In Finnish December is joulukuu (Christmas/yule moon) [source], which was also the meaning of the Old English word for this month: Gēolmōnaþ.
In Czech December is prosinec [prɔsɪnɛt͡s], which comes from prosinoti (flashing, shining) [source].
In Polish December is grudzień [ˈɡru.d͡ʑɛɲ], from the Proto-Slavic *grudьnъ, from *gruda (heap, lump) & *-ьnъ [source].
Are there interesting names for December in other languages?