Category: Proto-Indo-European

Going through the motions

By Simon

Russian verbs of motion

In English you can use the verb to go to indicate any kind of travel – it doesn’t matter if you’re going on foot, by bicycle, car, bus, train, boat or plane. There are other verbs you can use: walk, stroll, hike, cycle, drive, travel, sail, fly, etc, but you can also just use go.

In some other languages the verbs you use for motion depend on how you are going. In German, for example, gehen is used when you go by foot, and fahren is used when you use some form transport, such as a car, train, bus or bicycle.

Other German words for motion include:

– reisen = to travel
– fliegen = to fly
– laufen = to run, to go, to walk
– spazieren = to stroll, to strut
– spazieren fahren = to go for a drive, ride or run
– spazieren führen = to take sb for a walk
– spazieren gehen = to go for a walk or stroll
– schreiten = to stride, walk, proceed, strut, stalk
– wanderen = to wander, roam, drift, ramble, hike
– führen = to sail, carry, fly, pilot, take, lead

The German word fahren comes from the Old High German faran (to proceed, go, travel), from Proto-Germanic *faraną (to go, travel), from the Proto-Indo-European *per- ‎(going, passage), which is also the root of the English words fare and ferry, and related words in other Germanic languages.

In Russian you have to think not only about how you are going, but also whether you’re coming back or not. There are two main verbs for to go, each of which has several aspects:

– ходить/идти (пойти perf) = to go (on foot), to move; to wear (smth); to go (to), attend, visit; to run (trains, ships); to work, run (clocks); to lead, play, move (in games); to tend, take care of, nurse.

– ездить/ехать (поехать perf) = to go (by horse or vehicle), to ride, to drive; to come; to visit; to travel

Ходить and ездить are the indeterminative imperfective aspects. They are refer to repetitive or recurring activity that may or may not occur on a given path.

Идти and ехать are the determinative imperfective aspects. They are refer to a single activity at a single time, along a single path.

Here are some related expressions and examples of usage:

– Татьяна уже пошёла в школу = Tatiana already went to school (Perfective)
– Татьяна идёт в школу = Tatiana is going to school (Determinative imperfective)
– Татьяна ходит в школу (пять дней в неделю) = Tatiana goes to school (five days a week) (Indeterminative imperfective)
– Ходи́ть пешко́м‎ = to walk, to go on foot, to hike
– Ходи́ть го́голем‎ = to strut
– Ходи́ть босико́м‎ = to go barefoot
– Ходи́ть вперева́лку/вразва́лку/вразва́лочку‎ = to waddle
– Ходи́ть на лы́жах‎ = to ski
– Ходи́ть на цы́почках‎ = to tiptoe
– Ходи́ть в похо́д‎ = to hike
– Часы́ не хо́дят = The watch doesn’t work
– Поезда́ сего́дня не хо́дят = There are no trains (running) today.
– Идём в кинотеа́тр = Let’s go to the cinema.
– Идёт дождь = It’s raining.
– Идёт снег = It’s snowing.
– Он часто ездит в Китай = He often goes to China.
– Сегодня вечером мы идём танцевать = We’re going dancing tonight.
– Пойдем на пляж = Let’s go to the beach.
– Я люблю ходить пешком = I like walking
– Мы ходили в паб = We went to the pub.
– Ты пойдёшь завтра гулять? = Will you go for a walk tomorrow?
– Она ездила в Петербург на машине = She went to St. Petersburg by car.
– Они будут ехать домой на поезде = They will be going home by train.

Other verbs of motion in Russian include:

– Бегать / Бежать = to run
– Бродить / Брести = to stroll
– Гонять / Гнать = to drive
– Лазить / Лезть = to climb
– Летать / Лететь = to fly
– Плавать / Плыть = to swim, to sail
– Ползать / Ползти = to crawl
– Возить / Везти = to transport, to carry (by vehicle)
– Носить / Нести = to carry, to wear
– Водить / Вести = to lead, to accompany, to drive (a car)
– Таскать / Тащить = to drag, to pull

More about Russian verbs of motion

Sources: Wiktionary, Reverso, Russianlessons.net

Plains, pianos and floors

By Simon

Flat piano on a wooden floor

The Welsh word llawr [ɬau̯r] means floor, deck, gallery, stage, platform, cellar, basement, ground, face, and a few other things. I discovered today that it has cognates in all the other Celtic languages:

– leur (Cornish) = floor, ground
– leur (Breton) = area, ground, floor, soil
– lár (Irish) = ground, floor, middle, centre
– làr (Scottish Gaelic) = floor, ground, storey
– laare (Manx) = storey, deck, floor, bottom, flat, set, sill, level

These words all come from the Proto-Celtic *ɸlārom (floor), which comes from the Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂rom or *ploh₂rom, from *pleh₂- ‎(to be flat).

THe PIE word *pleh₂- is the root of many other words, including:

– The English piano, plain, plan, floor and flake
– The Dutch vloer (floor, ground, surface)
– The German Flur (hall, hallway, corridor, stairwell)
– The Italian piano (flat, level, smooth, plane, softly, quietly)
– The Spanish llano (even, flat, level, plain) and plano (plain, level, flat)
– The Latvian: plats, plašs ‎(wide, broad)
– The Lithuanian: platus ‎(wide, broas)
– The Russian плоский (flat, plain, level)

Sources: Wiktionary, Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, Maga Cornish Dictionary / Gerlyver Kernewek, Dictionnaires bilingues de Francis Favereau, teanglann.ie, Am Faclair Beag, On-Line Manx Dictionary, Reverso

Wheels with teeth

By Simon

An illustration of cog(wheels)

I discovered last night that in French a cog is a une dent, which also means a tooth, or une dent d’engrenage (“tooth gear”), and a cog wheel is une roue dentée (a toothed wheel), which is kind of a cog looks like.

The English word cog, meaning a tooth on a gear, or a gear or a cogwheel, comes from the Middle English cogge, from the Old Norse kugg (notch), from the Proto-Germanic *kuggō (cog, notch), from the Proto-Indo-European *gugā ‎(hump, ball), from *gēu- ‎(to bend, arch).

A cog can also refer to an unimportant individual in a greater system, e.g. He’s just a cog in the machine, which in French would be Il n’est pas qu’un rouage de la machine – rouage is another word for cog or gearwheel, and also means part. Les rouages means machinery, as in les rouages de l’État (the machinery of state) or les rouages de l’administration (the wheels of government).

In German a cog is Zahn (tooth) and a cogwheel is Zahnrad (toothwheel). He is only a cog in a machine is Er ist nur ein Rädchen im Getriebe (“He is only a little wheel in the works/gears/gearbox”), or Er ist nur eine Nummer unter vielen (“He is only a number among many”).

Are there similar expressions in other languages about being a cog in a machine?

Sources: Reverso, Wiktionary, WordReference.com and giantbomb.com

Weathered pagodas and stretching times

By Simon

Picture of a pagoda

The word for weather in Russian is погода (pogoda) [pɐˈɡodə], which sounds more or less like pagoda in English.

The English word pagoda, which refers to an Asian religious building, especially a multistory Buddhist tower, comes from Portuguese pagode, which comes via Tamil from the Sanskrit भगवती ‎(Bhagavatī, name of a goddess) or भागवत ‎(Bhāgavata, “follower of Bhagavatī”).

In French the words for weather, temps, also means time and tense, and comes from the Latin tempus (time, period, age, tense, weather), from the Proto-Indo-European *tempos ‎(stretch), from the root *temp- ‎(to stetch, string), which is also the root of the English word tempest, via the Latin tempestas ‎(storm), and the English word tense.

Breton also has one word for time and weather – amzer, which comes from the Proto-Celtic *amsterā ‎(time, moment), which is also the root of the Irish aimsir (weather, time and tense), the Manx emshir (weather, time and tense) and the Scottish Gaelic aimsir (climate, weather, season, era, time, reign), the Welsh amser (time, age, tense), and the Cornish amser (tense).

Sources: www.study-languages-online.com, Wiktionary

I’ve started putting together a new section on Omniglot featuring weather-related words and phrases. So far I have pages in Czech, Russian and Welsh.

In the UK we talk about the weather quite a bit. It’s (usually) a neutral and uncontroversial topic, and while some people are genuinely fascinated by it, for most of us it’s just a way to start a conversation. Do people do this is other countries? Or do you use of topics as conversation starters?

Weaving applications

By Simon

There was some discussion at the French conversation group last night about job applications – one member of the group has been offered a job in an international school in southern France and will be moving there soon.

The word application exists in French, but it’s not the one you use when applying for a job. Instead it is used when applying a lotion or treatment or an invention or method. Also when implementing a decision or measure or enforcing the law. It is also used for software app(lication)s.

Expressions featuring the word include:

– mettre en application = to implement, apply, enforce
– application cruciale = mission-critical application
– application informatique = IT application
– école d’application = officers’ training school

An application for a job is une demande or une candidature, and a job application form is un formulaire or un bulletin de demande d’emploi. To apply for a job is poser une candidature pour un emploi / poste or postuler / poser sa candidature pour un emploi.

The French word appliquer can mean ‘to apply (a lotion or cream; or an invention or method), to implement (a decision); to enfore (the law); or to give’. The reflexive version of this verb, s’appliquer, can mean ‘to apply oneself (to doing sth); to apply to (the law)’ and s’appliquer sur means ‘to fit over’.

The English word apply comes from French, and the French word appliquer comes from the Latin applicāre (to apply, to put, to stick, to spread; to impose, to enforce), from applicō (I apply, attach, join to), from ad- (to; towards) +‎ plicō ‎(fold; arrive), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‎(to plait, to weave), which also the root of the English words plait, plat and pleat.

Source: Reverso

Stitching Mail

By Simon

Cotte de maille et des courriers (mail and mail)

I learned an interesting French word last night: maille [maj], which means stitch or mesh and appears in such expressions as:

– maille à l’endroit = plain stitch
– maille à l’envers / tombée / coulée = purl stitch
– maille Jersey = stocking stitch
– doublure maille = mesh lining
– maille du tricot = knitting stitch
– maille du crochet = crochet stitch
– à maille serrée = close-woven
– avoir maille à partir = to be in trouble
– avoir maille à partir avec qn = to have a brush with sb
– à mailles fines = with a fine mesh
– passer à travers les mailles du filet = to slip through the net
– cotte de maille(s) = coat of mail; chainmail

Maille comes from the Old French maille (loop, stitch, mesh, link), from Vulgar Latin *macla, from Latin macula (spot, speck, stain; mesh; cell) from From Proto-Italic *smatlo-, from Proto-Indo-European *smh₂tlo- (possibly meaning “wiping”).

The English word mail, as in chainmail, comes from the same root via the Middle English maille ‎(mail armour) the Old French maille.

The English word mail, as in letters and parcels, originally meant a bag or wallet, and came to mean a bag containing letters to be delivered by post, and then the letters themselves. It comes from the Middle English male, from the Anglo-Norman male, Old French male ‎(bag, wallet), from the Frankish *malha ‎(bag), from the Proto-Germanic *malhō ‎(bag, pouch), from the Proto-Indo-European *molko- ‎(leather pouch).

*molko- is also the root of the French words malle (large suitcase, trunk) and mallette (briefcase); and the Spanish mala ‎(suitcase, mailbag, mail, post), and maleta (suitcase).

Mail (letters) in French is (le) courrier and the postal service is la poste. Email is officially courriel or courrier électronique, though many people use e-mail. Courrier is borrowed from the Italian corriere (messenger, courier), from correre (to run, hurry, rush), from the Latin currere, from currō (to run, hurry), from Proto-Italic *korzō (to run), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- ‎(to run), also the root of the English words courier and current.

Sources: Reverso, Wiktionary

Scratching cartoons

By Simon

Cartoon cat scratching

The first cartoons, in the sense of humorous or satirical drawings, appeared in the magazine Punch in 1843, however the word was used from the 1670s to mean “a drawing on strong paper (used as a model for another work)”.

Cartoon can also mean:

– An artist’s preliminary sketch.
– An animated film
– A diagram in a scientific concept.

Cartoon comes from French carton (cardboard, carton, cardboard box, target, sketch; cartoon, inset map, card), from the Italian cartone (cardboard, paperboard, a carton, a box, a cartoon (an artist’s preliminary sketch or an animated cartoon)), from the Latin charta (paper, map, menu), from the Ancient Greek χάρτης ‎(khártēs – papyrus, paper), from χαράσσω ‎(kharássō – I scratch, inscribe), from the Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- ‎(to scratch).

A series of cartoons is known as a comic strip or strip cartoon, and the section of a newspaper containing cartoons and comic strips is apparently known as the funnies, the funny papers or the funny papers, at least in some English-speaking countries – I wouldn’t use these words, and might call it the cartoon section. How about you?

Comic comes from Latin comicus (comic, comedy, comedian), from the Ancient Greek κωμικός ‎(kōmikós – relating to comedy), from κῶμος ‎(kômos – carousal).

Sources: Online Etymology Dictionary and Wiktionary

Unfolding developments

By Simon

The word for to develop in Welsh is datblygu, which is a combination of dad (un-) and plygu (to fold), so Welsh developments “unfold”.

Datblygu also means “to evolve; reveal, disclose, display. to unfold, unwrap, unfurl, unroll, spread out.”

Plygu means “to (cause to) bend, deflect, bow, stoop, refract (light); fold, wrap. to subdue, subjugate, overcome; apply twist (meaning), distort, pervert; submit, yield, waver.”

Plygu comes from the Latin plicō (to fold, coil), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‎(to plait, to weave). The Latin word also means to arrive, which comes from sailors folding their ship’s sails when arriving somewhere.

Plygu is also found in:

– amblygu = to wrap around, surround, wrap together, lap, envelop, cover. (am = around).
– atblygu = to unfold, refold, fold back (at- = to(wards))
– arblygu = to apply, adapt (ar- = fore, opposite)
– darblygu = to deflect (dar- = intensifer)
– diblygu = to unfold explicate, unravel (di- = negative)
– goblygu = to bend, bow, nod, fold, wrap up, leap, cover, hide. to conquer; imply, involve, implicate (go- = sub-)
– gwrthblygu = to bend back, fold back; reflect; pervert (gwrth = against, contra-)
– ymblygu =to bend, bow, stoop (ym- = reflexive)

Source: Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru and Wiktionary

Parched torrents

By Simon

Heavy rain and floods in North Wales - from the Daily Post

Quite a lot of rain has fallen over the past day or so in the UK, thanks to Storm Angus, so I thought I’d look at the origins of some rain-related words.

The word rain comes from the Old English rēn/reġn ‎(rain), from the Proto-Germanic *regnaz ‎(rain), possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *Hreǵ- ‎(to flow) or from *reg- (moist, wet).

When rain falls heavily it might be called torrential – it certainly was yesterday – a word which comes from torrent (rapid stream), from the Middle French torrent, from Latin torrentem from torrēns (rushing, roaring (of streams); a rushing stream), a word which originally meant “roaring, boiling, burning, parching, hot, inflamed”, and which is the present participle of torrere (to parch).

With heavy rain you get floods, a word which comes from the Old English flōd (a flowing of water, tide, an overflowing of land by water, a deluge, mass of water, river, sea, wave)”, from the Proto-Germanic *floduz (flowing water, deluge), from the Proto-Indo-European root *pleu- (to flow, float, swim), which is also the root of flow.

Sources: Online Etymology Dictionary, Wiktionary, Daily Post

Here’s a video of the sea being rather lively at Colwyn Bay (from the Daily Post).

It wasn’t just raining cats and dogs, but elephants and hippopotamuses too – that’s what it felt like anyway.

More idioms for heavy rain in various languages.

Do you know any interesting expressions for heavy rain?

Gorillas, monkeys and ponys

By Simon

One Pice Indian coin from 1953 with pony on it

With a title like that, you might be expecting a post about animals, but in fact it’s about slang terms for money – a gorilla is £1,000, a monkey is £500 and a pony is £25.

These names apparently come from old Indian banknotes and coins: the 25 Rupee coin had a pony on it, and the 500 Rupee note had a monkey on it, and British soldiers returning from India brought back such notes and slang terms with the to the UK. A gorilla possibly got its name because it’s two monkeys.

General slang terms for money in the UK include:

– cash – from Middle French caisse ‎(money box), from Old Provençal caissa, from Old Italian cassa, from Latin capsa ‎(box, case), from capio ‎(I take, seize, receive), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- ‎(to grasp)

– bread – from the rhyming slang bread & honey (money)

– dough – an extension from bread

– dosh – possibly a combination of dough and cash

– readies – from ‘ready money’

– spondulicks – unknown origin

– (filthy) lucre – from Latin lucrum ‎(profit)

– moola(h) – possibly from the Romani mol ‎(have value, be worth), or the French moulin ‎(mill)

– wonga – from Romani wangar ‎(coal), from Sanskrit अङ्गार ‎(áṅgāra, charcoal, coal), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hangāra-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ongʷl-.

Do you use any of these, or other slang words for money, and/or for specific amounts of money?

More on money slang:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_terms_for_money
http://www.aldertons.com/money.htm
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikisaurus:money