Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Do you know or can you guess the language?
Ietsiepietsie
I learnt a cute Dutch word today – ietsiepietsie. It means a little, a little bit, teeny tiny or a teeny tiny bit, and is also written ietsie pietsie, ietsje pietsje or ietsjepietsje [source].
You could also translate it as itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty or teensy weensy Do you know any similar expressions in English or other languages.
It is a reduplication* of ietsje (somewhat, a little bit), a diminutive version of iets [its] (something, anything), which comes from the Middle Dutch iet (something, anything, to any degree, a little, somewhat, sometimes, perhaps), a contraction of iewet, from the Old Dutch *iowiht, from the Proto-Germanic *ne (not) plus io (ever) plus *wiht, from *wihtą (thing) [source].
*Reduplication is “a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.” They’re not very common in Dutch. Other examples include taaitaai (gingerbread), tamtam (fanfare, grapevine) and bla-bla (blah-blah, talk) [source].
They’re more common in English. Examples include easy-peasy, hoity-toity, hurdy-gurdy, raggle-taggle, tut-tut, chit-chat and knick-knack [source].
Language Quiz
Kissing Day
The 14th February is a special day for some – Valentine’s Day, or in Scottish Gaelic Là nam Pòg (“Kissing Day”), which I think is a fun name for the day. Do any other languages have interesting names for Valentine’s Day?
Apparently the practise of sending loved ones cards on Valentine’s Day became popular in the late 18th / early 19th century, in the UK at least, and really took off after 1840, when postage stamps were invented. In 1868 the chocolate company Cadbury started making heart-shaped boxes of chocolates for Valentine’s Day, and the giving of chocolates quickly became popular on this day [source].
By the way, a nice term of affection I learnt recently in Scots is ma wee scone (my little scone). Have you ever heard or used this or something similar? Have you compared your loved ones to other types of food?
Other Scottish Gaelic terms I’ve learnt recently for special days include Là na Gogaireachd (April Fools’ Day – 1st April) and Oidhche na Taigeise (Burns Night – 25th January), or literally “Night of the Haggis”.
The word gogaireachd means a fool’s errand or the act of making a fool of someone. Là na Gogaireachd is also translated as All Fools ‘Day, Gowk’s Day or Hunt-the-Gowk Day. A gowk is a cuckoo or fool in Scots and northern dialects of English. It also means to make foolish or stupefy, and comes from the Old Norse gaukr (cuckoo), from the Proto-Germanic *gaukaz (cuckoo), from the Proto-Indo-European *gʰegʰuǵʰ- (cuckoo) [source]. April Fools’ Day is also Là nan Amadan (Idiots’ Day) in Scottish Gaelic.
The word taigeis (haggis) was borrowed from the English haggis, which comes from the Late Middle English hagis (haggis), from hag(gen) (to chop, cut, hack), from the Old Norse hǫggva (to hew), or from hakken (to chop, hack dice, mince), from the Old English hēawan (to chop, hew; to dice, mince), both ultimately come from the Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂- (to hew; to beat, strike; to forge) [source].
Language Quiz
Musical Fun
The Japanese word 曲 (kyoku) means a composition, piece of music, song, track (on a record), a tune, melody or air, or enjoyment, fun, interest or pleasure. Which is quite appropriate as music is enjoyable and fun for many people. It also often appears in the comments of the videos I watch that feature Japanese bands [source].
The same kanji when pronounced kuse means wrong, improper or indecent, or a long segment of a noh play forming its musical highlight. In the verb 曲がる (magaru) it means to bend, curve, warp, wind, twist, turn, be crooked and various other things, and as 曲げる (mageru) it means to bend, crook, bow, curve, curl, lean, tilt, yield and various other things.
曲 also appears in words like:
- 曲線 (kyokusen) = curve
- 曲がり角 (magarikado) = street corner, bend in the road, turning point, watershed
- 曲目 (kyokumoku) = name of a piece of music, (musical) number, (musical) program(me), list of songs
- 曲がりくねる (magrikuneru) = to bend many times, twist and turn, zigzag
- 曲芸 (kyokugei) = acrobatics
- 曲がりなりにも (magari nimo) = though imperfect, somehow (or other)
- 曲面 (kyokumen) = curved surface
曲目 (kyokumoku) sounds really nice to me, and something I struggle with is remembering the names of pieces of music. I can play quite a lot of tunes, but only know the names of some of them. I even forget the names of tunes I have written myself.
Here’s a little tune I wrote the other day called The Tower of Cats / Tŵr y Cathod.
In Chinese the character 曲 has several meanings: when pronounced qū it means bent, bend, crooked or wrong, and can also be a surname. When pronounced qǔ it means tune or song [source].
It appears in such words as:
- 曲子 (qǔzi) = tune
- 曲调 [曲调] (qǔdiào) = melody
- 曲折 (qūzhé) = winding, complicated
- 曲直 (qūzhí) = right and wrong
- 曲线 [曲線] (qūxiàn) = curve, curved line, indirect
- 曲解 (qūjiě) = to distort
- 曲别针 [曲別針] (qūbiézhēn) = paper clip
Sources: Line Dict CHINESE-ENGLISH, mdbg.com
By the way, the band featured in the photo is Lovebites, a Japanese metal band who I really like.
This is their most recent video:
Language Quiz
Gossipy Cancans
The cancan is a “high-kicking chorus line dance originating in France”, and also a “a trick [in motocross] where one leg is brought over the seat, so that both legs are on one side.” [source].
Accorrding to the English version of Wiktionary, it comes from the French cancan [kɑ̃.kɑ̃], which refers to the dance, and also means gossip.
Apparently there was a disbute at the Collège de France in around 1550 about the pronunciation of the Latin word quamquam – some scholars favoured the reconstructed Latin prononuciation of [ˈkʷam.kʷã(m)], while others preferred the French Latin pronunciation of [kɑ̃.kɑ̃]. Since then, cancan has referred to “any kind of scandalous performance”.
Accorrding to the French version of Wiktionary however, cancan (gossip) originally meant a loud noise about something, and comes from quanquan (noise, brilliance for a trifle, a narrative full of slander, an indiscreet report), from the Latin quamquam (although, while), from quam (in what way, how, as much as).
Alternatively, cancan might come from the Arabic كانكان (kan kan), which means futile talk.
The cancan, as in the dance, comes from a children’s name for canard (duck), and is onomatopoeic inspired by the quacking of ducks and evocative of their waddling.
Related words in French include cancaner (to gossip (maliciously), to quack), cancaneuse (a gossip), and cancanier (gossiping, gossip, gossipy).
Incidentally, the word gossip comes from the Middle English godsybbe/godsib (a close friend or relation, a confidant, a godparent), from the Old English godsibb (godparent, sponsor), from god (god) and sibb (relationship, peace) [source].
Language Quiz
Dampeners
On Tuesday night I was at my usual Welsh folk music session having a nice time, then unfortunately a guy fell over and banged his head – he was a bit unsteady on his feet, and had drunk quite a bit. He was okay and has apparently recovered now, but it put a bit of a dampener on the evening.
A dampener is a device that moistens or dampens something, or a discouraging event or remark. Synonyms include buzzkill, killjoy and spoilsport. Do you have any others?
It comes from the Middle English dampen (to stifle, suffocate), from the Proto-Germanic *dampaz (vapour), from *dimbaną (to fog, smoke) [source].
Last night when talking about this incident in French, I learnt the phrase gâcher qch, which means to to a dampener/damper on something. Gâcher on its own means to spoil, ruin, muck up, bungle, waste, squander (chances), temper (plaster) or mix (mortar). It appears in phrases like gâcher le paysage (to be a blot of the landscape) and gâcher (to kill a party [source].
Gâcher comes from the Old French gaschier (to spol, spoil, waste), from guaschier/waschier (to wash, soak), from the Frankish *waskan (to wash, bathe), from the Proto-Germanic *waskaną (to wash), from the Proto-Indo-European *wod- (wet) [source].
Words from the same roots include wash in English, wassen (to wash, clean) in Dutch, guazzàre (to wallow) in Italian, and vaske (to wash, shampoo, launder, shuffle) in Danish [source].