Language & Grammar discussion
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Foreign Language Word of the Day
and now i have to runi have some friends to meet by 5:30 and am hopping the bus for the cross town trip
got to go catch it
"you make me happy when skies are grey
you'll never know dear how much i love you
please don't take my sunshine away"
my blessed grandmother used to sing this to me when i was a little sunshine
'Salam' is also 'hello', or 'geetings', in Malay. The Persian influence, I think. 'Namaste' means 'Greetings' in Hindi.
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thank you tay yebehnow i can say hello and goodbye :)
My word for the day is "taoiseach". The Taoiseach (pronounced "T-shock") is the Irish head of government, equivalent to a Prime Minister.
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ayetis the sea moaning round the isle lad
and the wind across the heath
and the mother's heart for her sick babe
and the woman's soul for her man
moaning like a beast is it
because life is all a losing
and it's sure sad when everything you love is pulled away from ye
and all's that's left is to keen
FULANO- so and so (Dominican)pg 256 of The Breif Life of Oscar Wao
"Well, fulano, who knows fulano, who knows fulano, said that that little girl is his daughter."
In Braz. Portuguese has same meaning."Fulano, cicrano e beltrano" means "Tom, Dick, and Harry."
Apparently, fulano comes from Arabic, where it means something like "such."Beltrano is a name borrowed from the Franks.
Cicrano, who knows?
My word is:Allo
A casual greeting in French, meaning Hello or Hi
Salut is also a casual version of Good day.
Words used as toasts:Saúde--"Your health" in Portuguese
Prosit--German
Kampai--Japanese, from the Shanghainese "Kanpai"
Salud, amor y pesetas--"Health, love and money" in Spanish
Cheers, or, Her Majesty the Queen--a common toast in Pommyland
"May the wind be always at your back, may the road rise to meet you, fand may the Good Lord keep you in the palm of his hand"--Irish toast
Bloody mindedness, I think. I am constantly mystified by Gaelic orthography. My daughter, who is more learned in these matters than myself (she studies Welsh, Gaelic, etc.; I study Latin, Spanish, German)has not been able to find an explanation or rationale, either. I must always ask her the correct pronounciation (is that spelled wrong?) for Gaelic words as I am stymied.
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And I think the reason the orthography is so different is because of their diverse roots and seperate evolutionary paths...geography has little to do with it, particularly as the native inhabitants of Ireland were viewed as another species altogether by various foreign invaders (Romans, Vikings etc). English is more Germanic and Latin with a smattering of French thrown in after the conquest.....Gaelic is more your basic tribal French isn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong please....I like to have my facts straight and I am on shaky ground here!!
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And thanks Donna.....more grist for my mill! I always wondered if there was some relationship between Celtic and Gaelic.
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I thought it was 2 words "nos" "Drovnya" Drovnia or Dobra in Polish means "good" The slavic languages began with one Slavonic language (Like Latin) & then evolved into Polish, Czech, Slovak,ect. like Latin broke down into Italian, French & Spanish. My husband spoke Polish, but when his parents generation (the people who arrived in the US in their adult years) passed away, the language was used less.
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POLISH = Na zdrowie!
RUSSIAN = Na zdorovje!
Boreal Elizabeth wrote: "salamhello in persian"
It was really interesting for me that you have mentioned three persian words here. I just wanted to add another one:
'Yar' (The pronounciation in persian is somehow close to 'yard' without 'd' in English) = 1. friend, 2. beloved (Actually the meaning depends on the context)
I'm a Spanish teacher and I have a cognate word of the day. Example: didáctico=didactic astuto=astute.The students have told me that many times the words i give them are on the SAT exam :)
Yesterday's word was lápida( lapidario, lapidar) which mean tombstone, lapidary and lapidate. We discussed that in Spanish a lapidario can be not only a person who carves tombstones or cuts precious stones, but also someone who stones someone! Of course, the kids wanted to know if that was the same as a stoner...
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Gail -- Yes! The SAT's love Latin-based words and the Romance languages all were spawned by the Dead Language of Old. I know the word "lapidary" (having to do with precious stones) and the word "didactic" has a bit of a negative connotation nowadays, meaning "intended to teach a lesson." For instance, if a novel were didactic, it wouldn't be much of a compliment because that would make it too instructional, like a schoolmarm wrote it or some such.
My Foreign Language Mot du Jour:
lapsus linguae -- Latin for "slip of the tongue"
lapsus calami -- Latin for "slip of the pen"
Boreal Elizabeth wrote: "my word for today is ducet (very soft t)= friend in persian"
Actually 'Yar' is more formal than 'ducet' when used to mean 'friend' and it mostley suits literary works and formal pieces of writing.
'Yar' in the second sense is mostly used to mean sweetheart or mistress but again it is a literary word. I should add we rarely call a person 'Yar' as you used in your example except in songs, poems, ...
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And this, from the well-known Wilfred Owen poem, citing the Latin:If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
So a friend of the wife asked how to say "sheet" in Spanish. While on the phone with her friend, she asked me. Hard of hearing as I am, I heard "sheep," and said "ovejas," which was passed on. There are now wooly domesticated ruminants on the friend's beds. The correct word is sábanas.
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David wrote: "So a friend of the wife asked how to say "sheet" in Spanish. While on the phone with her friend, she asked me. Hard of hearing as I am, I heard "sheep," and said "ovejas," which was passed on. Th..."
It could only happen to you David. hahahahahaaha. Now me I have perfect hearing. huh what did you say? hehehe
The friend is not even from one of those nationalities rumoured by the malicious to be on intimate terms with our wooly confrères,
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♪ Baran wrote: "Boreal Elizabeth wrote: "my word for today is ducet (very soft t)= friend in persian"
Actually 'Yar' is more formal than 'ducet' when used to mean 'friend' and it mostley suits literary works..."
But then Edward FitzGerald translated "Ay doost beya...." as "Ah my beloved...." as on the rubaiyee:
Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears
TO-DAY of past Regrets and future Fears-
To-morrow?-Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
A word from Spanish 1 or 2: ratazanas, "big fecking rats," with an unusual augmentative, pejorative as the often are in Spanish.[image error]
Most of the pictures refer to Brazilian sites. Maybe it's a Portuguese word. More research needed.
UPDATE: It's a Portuguese word, not Spanish at all. Still a great word.
Reminds me of Sunny Side UpArthur Marshall who liked the word 'Zanzara'... as in Senora Zanzara etc.... Zanzara is Spanish for mosquito, not my favourite creatures either!
Soylent Green are people... oops! wrong discussion!
hello in persian
http://www.easypersian.com/
i think i put this link up already but it should be on this thread
my word for today is ducet (very soft t)
= friend in persian