Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you guess the language and where it’s spoken?
Category: Language
Writing Systems Research
I heard today that a new journal on writing systems, Writing Systems Research, was launched recently and sounds very interesting. The first issue includes articles on the evolution of writing, and literacy, and is can be read online for free.
Are there any other journals that focus specifically on writing systems or written language?
Galapagar
galapagar, (noun, m) – sitio donde abundan los galápagos (a place abounding in tortoises).
I heard of this word today and it particularly appealed to me for its very specific meaning. It seems to be rare and doesn’t appear in any of my Spanish dictionaries, though it does appear in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española.
Related words include:
- galápago – tortoise; mouldboard; ingot, pig; light saddle; sidesaddle
- galapagueño – (from) the Galapagos (Islands)
- galapagueña – native of the Galapagos (Islands)
Puzzles
Language quiz
At home
One of my friends sent out an email this week to announce that he will be “at home” (to visitors) on Sunday afternoon, meaning that he’s putting on a party.
One definition of “at home” in my English dictionary is, “giving an informal party at one’s own home”, and “an at home” can refer to such a party. This is apparently a British usage and not a very common one.
Is this expression or something similar used in other English-speaking countries?
I need to go cashpoint
Last night one of my friends said that she needed “to go cashpoint”, meaning that she needed go to the cashpoint (ATM) to get some money. This usage struck me as quite strange at the time, but I think I’ve heard similar constructions before.
Expressions like “I need to go eat” or “I need to go sleep” also sound not quite right to me, though not as strange as “to go cashpoint”. I’d normally say something like “I need to go and eat” or “I need to go for something to eat”.
Have you heard or do you use similar constructions?
Lake Monomonac Mystery
A visitor to Omniglot sent me these images asking about these mysterious symbols which appear on a map of Lake Monomonac which was found in the attic of a house near the lake. Can any of you recognise and/or decipher them?
They look like some form of shorthand to me – possibly Gregg – but I can’t make any sense of them.
Here’s a transcription of the shorthand, which seems to be the American Benn Pitman version from the mid 19th century:
(1) Surveyed by one of the members of the Monomonack sporting club. The bearings were taken with a pocket compass and // distances obtained by counting the steps
(2) as measured on the shore at high water mark
(3) including the islands
Provided by Beryl Pratt, author of www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand.org.uk
Language quiz
Word of the day – kai
kai /kai̭/ [Māori]
- (verb) to eat, consume, feed (oneself), partake, devour.
- (noun) food, meal.
Related expressions include:
- kai moana = seafood, shellfish
- wāhi kai = café, restaurant (wāhi = place)
- hari kai = a song to entertain visitors as food is set out (hari = joy, happiness)
The Māori word kai is mentioned quite a lot in the book I’m reading at the moment, Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All by Christina Thompson: a memoir about the author’s life with her Māori husband which also discusses the history of the Māori, and contacts between them and other peoples.
Other Māori words and concepts are also discussed, include iwi, which means an extended kinship group, a tribe, a nation, a people, a nationality or a race, and often refers to a large group of people descended from a common ancestor, and utu, which means revenge, cost, price, wage, fee, payment, salary, reciprocity, and is an important concept in Māori culture.
Kai also means food in Tok Pisin, and kaikai means to eat. In Japanese kai (海 かい) means sea, among other things, though this reading of the kanji 海 is derived from Chinese (hai) – the native Japanese word for sea is うみ (umi).
In Hawai’ian, kai means sea, sea water, gravy, sauce or soup, while food is ʻai, or mea’ai.