Category: Language

Word of the day – holistic

By Simon

I’ve just been listening to a very good radio adaptation of Douglas Adam’s novel, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and that got me wondering about the word holistic. In the novel, Dirk Gently explains that holistic refers to his belief in “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things”, a belief he applies in his work. He endeavours “to solve the whole crime, and find the whole person” or cat.

The word holistic was coined in 1926 by Gen. J.C. Smuts (1870-1950) and is based on the Greek root holos, which means ‘whole’. The theory of holism refers to the theory that regards nature as consisting of wholes.

Source: Online Etymology Dictionary

I’ve found equivalents of holistic in a couple of other languages: Welsh – cyfannol and German – ganzheitlich. Do you know of any others?

Word of the day – fey

By Simon

One of my correspondents asked me today whether I knew of any suitable translations of the English word fey, which has a number of meanings, including:

– Having or displaying an otherworldly, magical, or fairy-like aspect or quality
– Having visionary power; clairvoyant
– Appearing touched or crazy, as if under a spell

In Scots, it also means:

– Fated to die soon.
– Full of the sense of approaching death.

It comes from the Middle English feie, fated to die, from Old English fǣge.

Source: The Free Dictionary

I found some translations in other languages on Answers.com, though none of them mean quite the same thing as the English word.

I also found the lovely Welsh word, mympwyol, which means arbitrary, capricious, faddy, quixotic or whimsical.

Can you think of any equivalent words in other languages for fey?

Name the language

By Simon

Here is a short text in a mystery language sent in by Shair Ahmed. Do you know or can you guess which language it is?

Tíobáhai hi báaiso kohoaihíaisóogabagaí. Tí ‘ísi báaiso ‘ogabagai, gíiai ‘ogihíaihiaba. Tíobáhai hi ‘ísi báaiso ‘oaboihaí. ‘Ahoakohoaihio ‘ísi kaopápihaí.

Clue: the name of this language looks a bit fishy.

Word of the day – 和

By Simon

The Chinese character héIn Mandarin Chinese, the word 和 (hé) has a number of meanings. On it’s own it is usually means ‘and’, but also means harmony, peace, to be affable, the sum, and ‘of Japan’.

Here are a few words featuring this character:
和平 (hépíng) – peace; peaceful; mild
和鳴 [和鸣] (hémíng) – to sound in harmony
和風 [和风] (héfeng) – a gentle breeze
和服 (héfú) – a (Japanese) kimono
和氣 [和气] (héqi) – gentle; affable; agreeable; friendly
和聲 [和声] (hésheng) – (musical) harmony

When pronounced hè, this character means to match; to harmonize, or to write a poem in reply (和詩). It has another pronunciation – huò – which means to knead or to mix. Apparently some people pronounce it han as well, but I’ve never heard that pronunciation.

In Japanese, this character is pronounced wa, o, yawa- or nago- and means peace; harmony; the sum; the total; Japan and various other things.

Use of Irish in Northern Island Assembly

By Simon

A motion to ban the use of the Irish language in the Northern Ireland Assembly was narrowly defeated by just two votes this week, according to Eurolang.

A member of the Ulster Unionist Party had complained that members of Sinn Fein were using Irish in speeches, and wanted to put a stop to it. Many unionists are apparently uncomfortable with any recognition of the Irish language in Northern Ireland as they fear “Britishness might be undermined”. At the same time, supporters of the language are calling for a law giving language rights.

There are further details in The Irish Times, where a member of Sinn Fein is quoted as saying:

“The issue of language rights, a non-controversial issue in Wales, Scotland, the South of Ireland and throughout Europe, an expression of human rights, has now become a political football in the battle for supremacy between the unionist parties … The determination of unionist politicians to block any recognition of the Irish Language is a misguided and macho demonstration of anti-Irish bigotry.”

Information about the Irish language in Northern Ireland can be found here.

Origins of the British

By Simon

A while ago I discussed a theory that Germanic languages were spoken in Britain long before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.

Today I came across an article by Stephen Oppenheimer, author of The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story, in which he argues that many people in what is now England spoke Germanic languages quite a long time before the Anglo-Saxons showed up.

Julius Caesar mentioned that a tribe called the Belgae had settled in parts of soutern Britain before he invaded the country, and that they spoke essentially the same language as their continental cousins. The Belgae are thought to have spoken either a Celtic language or a Germanic one. Oppenheimer thinks they probably spoke a Germanic language, and Caesar implies as much.

Among the evidence for a pre-Roman Germanic-speaking population in Britain, Oppenheimer mentions the near absence of place names of Celtic origin and Celtic inscriptions in most of England, the handful of Celtic words in English. He also uses genetic evidence to demonstrate that there is are significant Scandinavian elements in the genes of people from the east coast of Britain from the Shetlands to East Anglia, and that these elements dates back to Neolithic times. He also cites lexical evidence that suggests that the split between English and the Germanic languages spoken on the continent of Europe goes back a lot further than conventionally thought.

Old Devonian (Deunansek Koth)

By Simon

Someone mentioned to me today that they had studied a bit of Old Devonian. This was the first this I’d heard of that language, and after some searching, I found a bit of information about it.

Old Devonian or Westcountry Brythonic was apparently a Celtic language that was spoken in parts of Devon, Somerset and Dorest in the southwest of England between about the 5th and 8th centuries AD. It is considered the ancestor of both Cornish and Breton and a member of the P-Celtic branch of the Insular Celtic languages.

Joseph Biddulph in his book, A Handbook of West Country Brythonic – The Forgotten Celtic Tongue of South West England c 700 AD (‘Old Devonian’), has attempted to reconstruct parts of the language using place names and the modern Celtic languages as a guide.

Here’s his version of the Lord’s Prayer in Old Devonian:

Hagon tat so in nefou,
sanktedhit bedhet dhe hanu,
defu dhe ruanteleth,
dhe fodh gwraet bedhet en doar fel en nef,
roit dhen hedhiu hagon bara peb dedh,
hak (pardon) dhen hagon kamuedh,
fel (we pardon) dhen re-na (who) hagon kamuol,
hak na en tentation,
mat deliurit ni dherak druk.

Here it is in the other P-Celtic languages:

Breton

Hon Tad, pehini zo enn env,
hoc’h hano bezet santified ;
ho rouantelez deuet deomp ;
ho polontez bezet great
var ann douar evel enn env.
Roit d’eomp hirio hor bara pemdeziek
ha pardounit d’eomp hon ofansou
evel ma pardounomp d’ar re à deuz honz offanset ;
ha na bermettit ket e kouezfemp e tentasion ;
mes hon dilivrit diouz ann drouk.
Evelse bezet great !

Cornish

Gen Taz, leb es, en Nêv,
benegas beth de Hanno,
De Gulasketh doaz, –
De Both beth gurêz en ‘aor –
pokar en Nev, Ro do ny hidhu –
gen bara pob Dêth, ha Gava do ny
gen pehazo, pokara ny Gava an Gy,
neb es peha, war agen bidn, ha –
na dro ny en Antall, buz gwitha
ny dhort droge, Rag De ew an
Glasketh, ha an Nerth,
ha an Gworyans, Bounaz heb diuath.

Welsh

Ein Tad, yr hwn wyt yn y nefoedd,
Sancteiddier dy enw.
Deled dy deyrnas.
Gwneler dy ewyllys,
megis yn yr nef, felly ar y ddaear hefyd.
Dyro i ni heddiw ein bara beunyddiol dynedded
A maddau i ni ein dyledion,
fel y maddeuwn ninnau i’n dyledwyr.
Ac nac arwain ni i brofedigaeth;
eithr gwared ni rhag drwg.
Canys eiddot ti yw’r deyrnas,
a’r nerth, a’r gogoniant, yn oes oesoedd.