Category: Words and phrases

A Way to Watch

By Simon

Divadlo

A word that has come up a number of times in the Czech lessons I’ve studied this week is divadlo [ˈɟɪvadlo] (theatre). I have to look it up every time as I don’t remember what it means.

So I thought if I look into its etymology and find some related words, it might help me to remember it.

Divadlo means theatre, drama or play-acting, and comes from dívat (to look, watch) and -dlo (an instrumental suffix), so it means something like ‘a way to watch’ [source].

Related words and expressions include:

  • divadelní = theatrical
  • divadelně = theatrically
  • politické divadlo = political play-acting
  • loutkové divadlo = puppetry
  • divadlo pro veřejnost = publicity stunt
  • hrát divadlo = to act out a play
  • dívat = to look
  • dívat se = to look, watch, gaze
  • podívat = to peep
  • podívat se = to see, to look at, to have a look, to take a look

Source: bab.la

Put on your tuque

By Simon

Olympics tuque.

One of the songs I heard last night at a gig featuring Gordie Tentrees and Jaxon Haldane included the line “put on your tuque”.

This puzzled me as I didn’t know what a tuque was. From the context it seems to be some kind of clothing, and I guessed it might be a hat, but wasn’t sure, so thought I’d find out.

According to the Free Dictionary, tuque is a Canadian French word for “a close-fitting knitted or crocheted cap having no brim or a brim that is folded up to create an extra layer of fabric for warmth. Also called toque.”

It comes from the French toque, which is “any of several styles of small, close-fitting hats having no brim or a very short brim”. Which comes from the Spanish toca (cornet, wimple, headress, toque, bonnet), from the Iberian Vulgar Latin *tauca, and is probably of pre-Roman Iberian origin.

What do you call this kind of hat?

You can see and hear Gordie Tentrees and Jaxon Haldane here:

Danish rooms

By Simon

My lodgings in Aarhus

Recently I learnt that there are two different words for room in Danish: rum [ʁɔmˀ], which is a general room, and værelse [ˈʋæʁɑlsə], which is a room for spending time in, at least according to Memrise. Is this correct?

Værelse comes from være (to be) and -else (a suffix that turns verbs into nouns) [source].

Subspecies of værelse include:

  • soveværelse = bedroom
  • badeværelse = bathroom
  • arbejdsværelse = study
  • børneværelse = nursery
  • hotelværelse = hotel room
  • klasseværelse = classroom
  • loftsværelse = loft
  • gæsteværelse = guest room

[source]

A related word is tilværelse (life, existence).

Rum means room, comparment or space, and comes from the Old Norse rúmr, from the Proto-Germanic *rūmaz (roomy, spacious, open), the same root as the English word room [source].

Subspecies of rum include:

  • omklædningsrum = changing room, locker room
  • møderum = meeting room
  • siderum = (small) chamber, side room
  • tørrerum = drying room
  • haverum = garden room
  • gårdrum = courtyard

[source].

Other Danish words for rooms include lokale (room), stue (living room), sal (hall) and køkken (kitchen).

Bamboozling Baboons!

By Simon

This week I learnt a couple of interesting French words – embabouiner [ɑ̃.ba.bwi.ne] (to flatter, butter up) and embobiner [ɑ̃.bɔ.bi.ne] (to bamboozle).

Embabouiner combines the prefix em- and suffix -er with babouin (baboon), so you are making a baboon of someone when you flatter them [source].

Babouin comes from the Middle French babouyne, baboin, from Old French babouin, from baboue (grimace, muzzle), which is related to German dialectal word Bäppe (lips, muzzle) [source].

Baboons.

Embobiner means to get round (someone), to pull to wool over someone’s eyes, to bamboozle or to outfox. It can also mean to wind up, reel up/in or wrap up. It combines the same prefix and suffix as embabouiner with bobine (bobbin, reel, spool, drum), so you are winding someone on a bobbin when you bamboozle them [source].

Bobine probably comes from the Latin word balbus, (stammering, stuttering, lisping, fumbling) and is immitative of the noise of a bobbin [source].

The English word bamboozle comes from the 17th century slang word bam (to trick, to con), from the noun bam (fraudster, cheat), possibly from the French embobiner [source].

Thrapple & Wabbit

By Simon

Thrapple & Wabbit, Solicitors, Establised 1729
If someone said to you, “A’m gey wabbit, an a’v a sair thrapple comin on”, would you have any idea what they were talking about?

This is an example of Scots from L Colin Wilson’s Luath Scots Language Learner. It means, “I’m very tired, and I’ve a sore throat coming on”.

Wabbit, is a childish pronunciation of rabbit in English, and means exhausted, tired out, played out, feeble or without energy in Scots. It is also written wubbit, wibbit or wappit [source]., and it’s not certain where it comes from [source].

Here are some examples of how it’s used:

  • She sat doon, clean wabbit oot, pechin’. = She sat down, completely tired out, panting.
  • You’re lookin’ fair wubbit. What ails ye the day? = You’re looking quite tired. What is wrong with you today?

Thrapple [ˈθrɑpəl], means the windpipe, gullet or throat; to grip by the throat, throttle, strangle; to suppress (laughter) in the throat; to entangle with cords; to gobble up, to devour. It is also written thropple or throapple [source].

It is not certain where it comes from, but may be realted to the English dialect word thropple (larynx, windpipe), which comes from the Old English þrotbolla (windpipe) [source].

Here are some examples of how it’s used:

  • Yer thrapple shuts ticht wi’ the kink-hoast. = Your throat shuts tightly with the chincough (a breath drawn when coughing or laughing).
  • knot o’ the thrapple = Adam’s apple
  • thrapple-deep = up to one’s throat
  • thrapple-girth = a cravat or necktie

Thrapple & Wabbit would be a good name for a firm of solicitors / lawyers perhaps, or a comedy double act.

When is a buffalo not a buffalo?

By Simon

One of the things that came up at the French Conversation Group last night was the difference between buffalo and bison, and the words for them in French.

American bison / le bison d’Amérique du Nord

Where the Buffalo Roam

The creature found North America commonly known as a buffalo is actually a bison or American bison, and the its scientific name is Bison bison. There are two subspieces: the plains bison (Bison bison bison) – so good they named it thrice – and the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae).

In French it’s known as le bison or le bison d’Amérique du Nord. The plains bison is known as le bison des plaines, and the wood bison as le bison des bois [source].

European bison / le bison d’Europe

Żubry/European bisons #4

There is also a European bison (Buson bonasus), which was hunted to extinction by the early 20th century, but was kept alive in captivity, and has since been reintroduced into the wild [source].

In French it is known as le bison d’Europe [source].

Africa buffalo / le buffle d’afrique

Cape Buffalo

There are several species of buffalo in African, including the African buffalo or Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in southern and eastern Africa, the African forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus) in central and west Africa, the Sudanese buffalo (Syncerus caffer brachyceros) in west Africa, and the Nile buffalo (Syncerus caffer aequinoctialis) in east Africa [source].

In French the African/Cape buffalo is known as le buffle d’afrique, le buffle noir des savanes or le grand buffle noir des savanes [source].

Water buffalo / le buffle domestique

Asian Water Buffalo.01

The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia and China, and is now found in other places [source].

In French it’s known as le buffle domestique or le buffle d’Asie [source].

Little by little

By Simon

растерять definition

An interesting Russian word I learnt today is растерять [rəsʲtʲɪˈrʲætʲ], which means ‘to lose little by little, to be confused, to go missing. The first meaning comes from Wiktionary, but I can’t find any examples of it being used in that way.

It comes from the prefix рас- [rəs] &‎ терять [tʲɪˈrʲætʲ] (to lose, waste, shed).

Here are some examples of how it’s used:

  • В воде каждый может растеряться = Anyone can lose control in the water
  • Трудно тут не растеряться = It’s hard not to get rattled

Related words include:

  • теряться [tʲɪˈrʲat͡sːə] = to lose (one’s head, sight of, one’s way), get lost, disappear
  • потеряться [pətʲɪˈrʲat͡sːə] = to get lost, to be lost, to lose oneself
  • затеряться [zətʲɪˈrʲat͡sːə] = to go missing, disappear
  • растеряться [rəsʲtʲɪˈrʲat͡sːə] = to be confused, go missing
  • утерять [ʊtʲɪˈrʲætʲ] = lost

The adjective потерянный [pɐˈtʲerʲɪn(ː)ɨj] is used when an object is lost. It can also mean embarrassed, perplexed, hopeless or ruined. However, if a person is lost, пропавший [prɐˈpafʂɨj] is used, and also means missing, hopeless or long-lost.

There are probably other ways to talk about losing things, getting lost and being lost in Russian. What about in other languages?

Sources: Wiktionary, Reverso

Just speirin

By Simon

Last night I saw FARA, a brilliant group from Orkney, in our local arts centre. One of the songs they sang, Speir Thoo The Wast Wind, was in Orcadian dialect and based on a poem by Christina Costie from Orkney.

Orcadian dialect is a type of Insular Scots that combines elements of the extinct Norn language and Scots. There isn’t a lot of information available about Orcadian, but I will try to put together a page about it on Omniglot.

Each verse of the song and the poem finishes with the line “Speir thoo the wast wind, bit speir no me”, which means “Ask the west wind, and don’t ask me”, I think.

The word speir [spiːr], which is also written speer, means to enquire or ask, according to The Orkney Dictionary. When I heard it in the song, I thought I might be related to words for to ask in North Germanic languages, and it turns out that it is.

It comes from the Old English spyrian (to track, inquire, investigate, examine), from the Proto-Germanic *spurjaną (to search; to examine; to ask) [source], which is also the root of the Danish word spørge (to ask, inquire), Norwegian word spørre (to ask, inquire), and the word spyrja (to ask) in Icelandic and Faroese [source].

A few other words from Orkney dialect: hoodjiekapiv, hoodjiekapiffle, hoodjiekaboogle, which are all Orcadian equivalents of whatsit, thingy, doobry, thingamajig, whatjumacallit, thingamebob, etc [source]. What do you call something when you can’t remember it’s normal name?

You can hear the song here:

Where? Whence? Whither?

By Simon

Where, Whence, Whither?

In Russian, there are several different words meaning where. Each one means something slightly different, although in English they can all be translated as where.

где [ɡdʲe] means where, as in what location, and can also mean anywhere or somewhere. For example:

  • Где Вы живёте? = Where do you live?
  • Подумайте, не забыли ли где = Try and think whether you left it anywhere / somewhere

Related words include:

  • где-нибудь = somewhere, anywhere
  • где-то = somewhere
  • негде = nowhere
  • кое-где = here and there

где comes the from Old East Slavic къде (kŭde – where), from the Proto-Slavic kъde (where), from the Proto-Indo-European *kʷú-dʰe (where).

куда [kʊˈda] means where (to), and also what, why or much. It is the equivalent of whither in English, although that is rarely used these days. For example:

  • Куда ты идёшь? = Where are you going?
  • Куда мне столько денег? Why would I want so much money?
  • Мой дом куда больше = My house is much bigger
  • Он прекрасно знал, куда бежать = This kid knew exactly what he was doing

Related words include:

  • кое-куда = this place and that
  • куда-нибудь = anywhere, somewhere
  • куда-то = somewhere

куда comes from the Proto-Slavic *kǫda ( where, whither), from the Proto-Indo-European *kʷom-dʰ- (where).

откуда [ɐtˈkudə] means where from, from where, from which or whence (another rarely-used word). For example:

  • Откуда ты? = Where are you from?
  • Откуда ты это знаешь? = How do you know about that?
  • Откуда я знаю? = How do I know?

Related words include:

  • откуда-нибудь = from somewhere (or other)
  • откуда-то = from somewhere

откуда comes from the same root as куда.

Sources: Reverso, Wiktionary

Bibbling bibblers

By Simon

Bibble

I came across a wonderful word yesterday – bibble – which means to eat and/or drink noisily, or to tipple. Or in Yiddish it means to worry.

It comes from the Middle English bibben (to drink), from the Latin bibō (I drink), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃- (to drink) [source].

If you’re a bibbling bibbler, you may need a bib, which comes from the same root, and originally meant to drink heartily [source]. While bibbling, maybe you’ll engage in some bibble-babble (idle talk, babble), possibly in a bibbery (drinking house), which would be bibacious.

The words imbibe, potion and potable come from the same root, as do words for to drink in various languaages, including: ól (Irish), òl (Scottish Gaelic), yfed (Welsh), eva (Cornish), boire (French), and beber (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician, Asturian & Aragonese).

Words for beer Slavic languages come from the same root as well: pivo (Croatian, Czech, Slovak & Slovenian), piwo (Polish, Sorbian), and пиво (Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian & Serbian).