Omniglot News (17/03/24)

Omniglot News

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

New writing system: Ogan Script, which is used to write Ogan, a Central Malay language spoken in South Sumatra and Lampung in Indonesia.

There are new language pages about:

  • Ogan (Base Ugan / بهاس اوڬن), a Central Malay language spoken along the Ogan River in South Sumatra and Lampung provinces in eastern Indonesia.
  • Longgu, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on the northeast coast of Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands.
  • Lop (Ľor télé / لوپنۇر تېلې), a Karluk Turkish language spoken in the Lop Nur region in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the northwest of China.

New numbers pages:

  • Kongo (Kikongo), a Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo and Angola.
  • Northern Ndebele (isiNdebele), a Bantu language spoken in southwestern Zimbabwe and northeastern Botswana.
  • Lozi (siLozi), a Bantu language spoken mainly in the southwest of Zambia, and in neighbouring countries.

On the Omniglot blog, may I ask you to read, comment on and share a new post about imperatives phrased as questions, a.k.a. Whimperatives, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Peru and Ecuador.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Soninke (Sooninkanxanne), a Mande language spoken mainly in Mali, and other parts of West Africa.

In this week’s episode of the Celtic Pathways podcast, Horny Peaks we find Romance horns among Celtic peaks and mountains.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post about words for Thin and Slender and related things, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Mountains and Roads.

I also made improvements to the Soninke language page.

By the way, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! / Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

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You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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Celtic Pathways – Horny Peaks

In this episode we find Romance horns among Celtic peaks and mountains.

Panoramic view from Snowdon / Golygfa panoramig o'r Wyddfa

In Proto-Celtic, the word *bandā means top, peak or horn, and *benno means peak or top. They are thought to be related, and possibly come from the PIE *bendʰ- (pin, point).

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • beann = horn, antler or fork prong in Irish
  • beann [bjaun̪ˠ] = horn, peak or top; and beinn [bein̪ʲ] = mountain or high hill in Scottish Gaelic
  • beinn = mountain, summit or pinnacle in Manx
  • ban [ban] = top, tip, summit or peak in Welsh
  • ban = prominence in Cornish
  • bann = rising, uphill, post or column in Breton

Words from the same Celtic roots include ben (mountain, hill) in Scots, as in Ben Nevis (Beinn Nibheis), etc, banya (horn) and banyut (horned, unfaithful) in Catalan, and bana (horn) in Occitan [source].

Words same PIE roots include peak and pin in English, pinne (chopstick, perch, point) in Swedish, pind (stick, perch, peg) in Danish, and pin (peg, pin) in Dutch [source].

More about words for Peaks and related things in Celtic languages.

You can find more connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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Omniglot News (10/03/24)

Omniglot News

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

There are new language pages about:

  • Andoque (Paasi-ahá), a language isolate or a Witotoan language spoken in southern Colombia.
  • Berom (Cèn Bèrom), a Benue-Congo language spoken in the north of Plateau State in central Nigeria.
  • Hdi (xdí), a Chadic language spoken mainly in the Far North Region of Cameroon

New constructed script: Wind-and-Leaf Script, an alphabet invented by Kitsune Sobo as the native script of the Gods of Ooseyard (“God World”) in the Rhodinoverse (a fictional multiverse).

Sample text in Wind-and-Leaf Script

New fictional script: Neo-Chakobsa, a constructed script and language developed by American linguist David J. Peterson for the Dune film series.

Sample text in Neo-Chakobsa

New numbers pages:

  • Berom (Cèn Bèrom), a Benue-Congo language spoken in the north of Plateau State in central Nigeria.
  • Hdi (xdí), a Chadic language spoken mainly in the Far North Region of Cameroon.

There’s a new Omniglot blog post entitled Clinking Hardware about the French word quincaillerie (hardware store, hardware, junk), and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken mainly in Mali, and also in other parts of West Africa.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Paicî, a New Caledonian language spoken in the North Province of New Caledonia. From YouTube.

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, Shambling Shambles, we shamble around looking into the shambolic origins of the words shamble and shambles.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post about words for Thin and Slender and related things.

I also made improvements to the Southern Ndebele, Northern Ndebele, Swati, Tswa and Tsonga language pages.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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Adventures in Etymology – Shambling Shambles

In this Adventure in Etymology we’re looking into the origins of the word shamble (and shambles).

Shambles
The Shambles in York

To shamble means to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet, and a shamble is one of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level in a mine.

It comes from Middle English schamel / schambyll [ˈʃaːməl] (footstool), from Old English sċamol [ˈʃɑ.mol] (stool), from Proto-West Germanic *skamil (stool, bench), from Latin scabellum (footstool, a kind of percussion instrument played with the foot), from scamnum (stool, step, bench, ridge), from PIE *skabʰ- (to hold up) [source].

Words from the same roots include scanno (seat, bench, stool) in Italian, escano (bench, footstool) in Portuguese, scaun (chair, seat, stool, throne, residence, butcher’s block) in Romanian, Schemel (footstool) in German, and iskemle (chair) in Turkish [source].

In the plural, shambles means a scene of great disorder or ruin, a great mess or clutter, a scene of bloodshed, carnage or devastation, or a slaughterhouse, and it used to mean a butcher’s shop. It comes from the same roots as the singular shamble [source].

There’s a street in York in the north of England called The Shambles (see the photo above), that was once home to many butchers. They originally displayed their wares on stalls or benches known as shamels or schambylls, which gave the street its name. There are several similarly-named streets in other parts of the UK and Ireland [source].

Incidentally, a German equivalent of shamble is schlurfen [ˈʃlʊɐ̯fn̩], which means to shuffle (walk without picking up one’s feet). It’s related to the English word slurp [source].

Now it’s time to shamble off. I made a bit of an omnishambles of this post – I wrote most of it, then accidentally deleted half of it and had to rewrite it as I couldn’t retrieve the lost bits. I hope it’s not too shambolic.

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.

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Omniglot News (03/03/24)

Omniglot News

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

There are new language pages about:

  • Ghomalaʼ (Ghɔmáláʼ), a Bamileke language spoken in the West Region of Cameroon.
  • Feʼfeʼ (Fèʼéfěʼè), a Bamileke language spoken in the West Region of Cameroon
  • Lengo, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands.
  • Lau, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands.

New constructed script: Fana, a syllabic script created by Brian Drake to write his constructed language, fana, which is based on Toki Pona, but with more phonemes, a more complex grammar, and a larger vocabulary.

Sample text in fana

New numbers pages:

  • Ghomalaʼ (Ghɔmáláʼ), a Bamileke language spoken in the West Region of Cameroon.
  • Lengo, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands.
  • Lau, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands.

There’s a new Omniglot blog post entitled Overflowing Vases about ways to say ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ and similar things in various languages, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in New Caledonia.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Xong (Dut Xonb), a Hmong-Mien language spoken in southern China.

In this week’s episode of the Celtic Pathways podcast, entitled Bijou Fingers, we find Celtic fingers among French jewellery.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled Long Distance, about words for long, distant and related things, and I made improvements to the Fingers and Toes, Silver & Money and Streams and Currents posts.

I also made improvements to the Paicî and Huambisa language pages.

New song: Colourless Green Ideas – based on the sentence ‘Colorless green ideas sleep furiously’, which was coined by the linguist Noam Chomsky in his 1957 book, Syntactic Structures, to demonstrate that a sentence can be grammatically correct, but semantically nonsensical. I started writing it in May 2023, then forgot about. I came back to it in and finally finished writing and recording it in January / February 2024.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

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You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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Celtic Pathways – Bijou Fingers

In this episode we find Celtic fingers among French jewelery.

celtic wedding rings

The French word bijou means a jewel or piece of jewellry. It was borrowed from the Breton bizou (ring, jewel), which comes from biz (finger), which is ultimately comes from the Proto-Celtic *bistis (finger), from the PIE *gʷist- (twig, finger) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • bys [bɨːs / biːs] = finger (of hand/glove), toe, medium, agency, hand (of clock) or latch and byson = ring in Welsh
  • bys = finger, digit, and bysow = ring in Cornish
  • biz [biːs] = finger, hand (of clock), tooth (of tool), leg (of anchor), tentacle or tendril, and bizou [ˈbiːzu] = ring, jewel in Breton

Words from the same PIE roots possibly include kvist (twig, stick) in Norwegian and Swedish, and gisht (finger) in Albanian [source].

The French word bijou was borrowed into English and means a jewel, a piece of jewellery, a trinket, or a small intricate piece of metalwork, which are collectively called bijouterie / bijoutry [source].

Bijou in English can also mean small and elegant (residence), or something that is intricate or finely made. This sense comes via Sabir (Mediterranean Lingua Franca) from Occitan pichon (small, little), which possibly has Celtic roots: from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (piece, portion) [source].

In Polari, a cant used in the London fishmarkets, in the British theatre, and by the gay community in the UK, bijou means small or little (often implying affection), and a bijou problemette is a little fault or problem [source].

More about words for Fingers and Toes in Celtic languages.

You can find more connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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Omniglot News (25/02/24)

Omniglot News

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

There are new language pages about:

  • Kwaio, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on Malaita Island in Malaita Province of the Solomon Islands.
  • Gela (Nggela), a Southeast Solomonic language spoken in the Nggela (Florida) Islands in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands.
  • Arosi, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on Makira Island in Makira-Ulawa Province in the east of the Solomon Islands.
  • Touo, a Central Solomonic language spoken in the south of Rendova Island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.

New constructed script: Thieṛian Hieroglyphs, which were invented by Kitsune Sobo as a script for the constructed language Thieṛian.

Sample text in Thieṛian

New adapted script: Tengwar Persian, a way to write the Persian (Farsi) language with Tolkien’s Tengwar script devised by Daniyal Motamedi (دانیال معتمدی نیا).

Article 1 of the UDHR in Tengwar Persian

New phrases page: Duala (Duálá), a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon in West Africa.

New numbers pages:

  • Duala (Duálá), a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon in West Africa.
  • Kikuyu (Gĩkũyũ), a Bantu language spoken mainly in the Central Province of Kenya.
  • Gela (Nggela), a Southeast Solomonic language spoken in the Nggela (Florida) Islands in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands.
  • Arosi, a Southeast Solomonic language spoken on Makira Island in Makira-Ulawa Province in the east of the Solomon Islands.

There’s a new Omniglot blog post entitled Various Verses about words for the world beyond your screen, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in southern China but isn’t related to Chinese.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Deg Xinag (Degexit’an), a Northern Athabaskan language spoken along the lower Yukon River in Alaska in the USA

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, we look into the origins of the word Guide.

On the Celtiadur blog there’s a new post entitled A Bit of Bitterness about words for bitter, sour and related things, and I made improvements to the post about words for Honey, Sweet and related things.

New interview with me: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/polyglots-why-languages-are-important

I also made improvements to the Duala language page.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

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You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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Adventures in Etymology – Guide

In this Adventure in Etymology we’re looking into the origins of the word guide.

Guided Tour

Guide [ɡaɪd] means:

  • Someone who guides, especially someone hired to show people around a place or an institution and offer information and explanation, or to lead them through dangerous terrain.
  • A document or book that offers information or instruction; guidebook.

It comes from Middle English gīde / gidde / guide (guide, pilot, helmsman), from Old French guide (guide) from Old Occitan guida (guide), from guidar (to guide, lead), from Frankish *wītan (to show the way, lead), from Proto-Germanic *wītaną (to see, know, go, depart), from PIE *weyd- (to see, know) [source].

Words from the same roots include druid, history, idea, vision, wise and wit in English, gwybod (to know) in Welsh, fios (knowledge, information) in Irish and veta (to know) in Swedish [source].

The English word guide has been borrowed into various other languages, including Japanese: ガイド (gaido – guide, tour guide, conductor, guiding, leading, guidebook) [source], and Korean: 가이드 (gaideu – tour guide, guidebook, user’s manual) [source].

By the way, there’s an episode of the Celtic Pathways podcast about the word druid, and there’s a post on my Celtiadur blog about words related to knowledge in Celtic languages.

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.

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Omniglot News (18/02/24)

Omniglot News

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

There are new language pages about:

  • Mono-Alu, a Northwest Solomonic language spoken on Mono, Alu and Fauro islands in the Solomon Islands.
  • Marovo, a Northwest Solomonic language spoken mainly in Marovo Lagoon in the Solomon Islands.
  • Nduke, a Northwest Solomonic language spoken on Kolombangara Island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.
  • Babatana, a Northwest Solomonic language spoken on Choiseul Island in the north of the Solomon Islands.

New numbers pages:

  • Nduke, a Northwest Solomonic language spoken on Kolombangara Island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.
  • Babatana, a Northwest Solomonic language spoken on Choiseul Island in the north of the Solomon Islands.
  • Hoava, a Northwest Solomonic language spoken mainly in New Georgia Island in the Solomon Islands.
  • Nishi (Nyishi / न्यिसि), a Western Tani language spoken in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in the northeast of India.

There’s a new Omniglot blog post entitled Fictile Dairymaids about the shared origins of the words fictile, dairy and lady, and there’s the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken along the Yukon River in Alaska in the USA.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was Santa / Dongxiang (Sarta kelen / لھجکءاءل), a Mongolic language spoken in Gansu and Xinjiang provinces in the northwest of China.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast, Needles and Scythes, we discover some Romance scythes in a heap of Celtic pins and needles.

On the Celtiadur blog there are new posts entitled Pins & Needles and Muddy Mires, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Red and Blue / Black / Dark.

2,400 days on Duolingo

I also made improvements to the Mundari Bani script page.

In other news, my current streak on Duolingo reached 2,400 days this week, and I finished all the Scottish Gaelic lessons. I’m currently studying Japanese, Spanish and Irish, and sometimes dipping into other languages, particularly Dutch.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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Celtic Pathways – Needles and Scythes

In this episode we discover Romance scythes in a stack of Celtic pins and needles.

Pins and Needles

The Proto-Celtic word *delgos means pin or needle. It comes from Proto-Indo-European *dʰelg- (sting) [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • dealg [ˈdʲal̪ˠəɡ] = thorn, prickle, spine, spike, pin, peg or brooch in Irish
  • dealg [dʲal̪ˠag] = pin, skewer or knitting needle in Scottish Gaelic
  • jialg = needle, prick, quill, thorn or pin in Manx
  • dala [ˈdala] = sting or bite in Welsh

Words from the same Proto-Celtic roots, via Gaulish *dalgis (scythe) and Latin *daculum (scythe) , possibly include dall (mowing, billhook) in Catalan, dalle (scythe) in Spanish, and dalha (scythe) in Occitan (Languedoc) [source].

The English word dagger, and related words in other languages, such as daga (dagger) in Spanish, and Degen (rapier, épée) in German, might come from the same Celtic roots [source].

Words from the same PIE root include dálkur (spine of a fish, knife, dagger, newspaper column) in Icelandic, dilgus (prickly) in Lithuanian, falce (scythe, sickle) in Italian, and falcate (shaped like a sickle) and falcifer (sickle-bearing, holding a scythe) in English [source].

More about words for Pins and Needles in Celtic languages.

You can find more connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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