Category: Words and phrases

Peripatetic false friends

By Simon

The English word peripatetic means “tending to walk about; constantly travelling; itinerant; nomadic”. It is also related to Aristotle, his philosophy, and the school of thought he founded. A peripatetic teacher is one who teaches in a number of different schools, and it’s common, at least in the UK, for music teachers and sometimes language teachers, to be peripatetic.

It comes from the French péripatétique, from the Latin peripatēticus, from Ancient Greek περιπατητικός ‎(peripatētikós – given to walking around), from περιπατέω ‎(peripatéō – I walk around), from περί ‎(perí – around) and πατέω ‎(patéō – I walk). The French and Latin words mean “of or relating to Aristotle and his philosophy” [source].

The French for a peripatetic teacher is enseignant itinérant, and a travelling salesman is vendeur ambulant and a busker is musicien ambulant. The word péripatéticien(ne) does exist in French, but refers to a streetwalker / prostitute [source]. So should be handled with caution.

In the Land of the Eagles

By Simon

Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa

Yesterday I climbed Snowdon with other members of the Bangor Ukulele Society. We set off from Pen-y-Pass (The head/top of the pass) and took the Miner’s Track to the top, then went down the Llanberis Path. On the way up and the way down we stopped a number of times to sing a few songs, and got a bit of an audience in places.

The name Snowdon comes from the Old English for “snow hill”, and the Welsh name – Yr Wyddfa [əɾ ˈwɨ̞ðva] – means “the tumulus” or “burial mound”. According to legend a giant known as Rhitta Gawr was buried there after being defeated by King Arthur [source].

Snowdonia, the region in which Snowdon sits, is known as yr Eryri [əɾ ɛrˈərɪ] in Welsh. I was told yesterday that this comes from the word eryr (eagle) so is poetically translated as “The Land of the Eagles”. However this is apparently a folk etymology and it actually comes from the Latin word orīrī, from orīor (to rise, get up, appear, exist) and means highland or upland [source].

The Latin word orīor comes from the Proto-Indo-European *(H)r ̊-nw- ‎(to flow, move, run), which is also the root of the Middle Irish rian ‎(river, way), the Old Church Slavonic reka ‎(river), the Latin rivus ‎(stream), the Sanskrit ऋति ‎(ṛti – course, way), and the Gaulish *Renos ‎(that which flows), which is where the name of the river Rhine comes from [source].

Soggy days

By Simon

This morning the weather app on my phone told me that it would be a soggy day today. It wasn’t wrong – it rained all morning and much of the afternoon. When I saw the word soggy I started wondering whether days could be described as soggy in other languages.

It seems you can talk about un printemps détrempé (a soggy spring) in French, according to Reverso, though I don’t know how commonly this expression is used.

How about in other languages?

A Monkey’s Wedding

By Simon

Photo of a rainbow taken from the Armadale to Mallaig ferry in May 2016 by Simon Ager

On an episode of The World in Words podcast that I listened to today I learnt the expression “a monkey’s wedding“, which is apparently what you call a day when rain falls while the sun is shining, at least if you live in South Africa or Zimbabwe.

As this is quite a common phenomenon in the UK you’d think we’d have a way to refer to it, and apparently we do – a monkey’s birthday. I haven’t heard of this before. Have you?

Apparently the meteorological term for this is sunshower, and sunshowers are often accompanied by rainbows.

Do you have other words for this in English or other languages?

I know that the page about sunshowers on Wikipedia has a list of these terms from around the world, but I’m interested in any you know and use.

Will you be pernoctating?

By Simon

If someone asked you if you were planning to pernoctate, would you know what they meant?

This is a word I came across today in the blog A Linguist Abroad in a post about ‘Interesting’ Cambridge rules. It appears in the sentence:

A Tutor (the pernoctating Tutor) is on duty every night and may stop a gathering forthwith if it is causing disturbance to other members of the College or neighbouring community.

(emphasis added)

To pernoctate [ˈpɜː.nɒk.teɪt] (UK) [pɚˈnɑkˌteɪt] (US), is “to stay all night; to pass the night (especially in prayer)”, according to Wikitionary.

A pernoctation is:

– An overnight stay; action (or instance) of abiding through the night at a location.
– The action (or an instance) of walking about at night, especially as a vigil or watch.
– A religious watch kept during normal sleeping hours, during which prayers or other ceremonies are performed.

According to the usage notes, “the sense of a religious watch may apply either to a holy vigil or to diabolical activities.”

These words come from the Late Latin pernoctātiō ‎(a spending [of] the night), from the Latin pernoctāre (to send the night), from per- (through) and nox/noct- (night).

Students who need to work all night to finish an assignment / essay, or to revise for an exam might “pull an all-nighter”.

Are there other ways to express this idea?

Caledonian Antisyzygy

By Simon

In the Alexander McCall-Smith novel I just finished reading, The Revolving Door of Life, the concept of antisyzygy, and particularly Caledonian antisyzygy, comes up. I had to look it up as I didn’t know what it meant or how to pronounce it.

The term Caledonian Antisyzygy refers to the “idea of dueling polarities within one entity”, which apparently typical for the Scottish psyche and literature. It was first coined by G. Gregory Smith in his 1919 book Scottish Literature: Character and Influence [source].

Syzygy [ˈsɪz.ɪdʒ.i], comes from the Late Latin syzygia ‎(conjunction), from the Ancient Greek σύζυγος ‎(súzugos – yoked together), and was borrowed into in English in 1847 (in its astronomical meaning). It means:

– A kind of unity, namely an alignment of three celestial bodies (for example, the Sun, Earth, and Moon) such that one body is directly between the other two, such as occurs at an eclipse.
– An archetypal pairing of contrasexual opposites, symbolizing the communication of the conscious and unconscious minds.
– A relation between generators of a module.
– The fusion of some or all of the organs.
– The association of two protozoa end-to-end or laterally for the purpose of asexual exchange of genetic material.
– The pairing of chromosomes in meiosis.

Source: Wiktionary

Ti a Chi

By Simon

There was an interesting discussion this morning on Radio Cymru about the use of pronouns in Welsh. Like in many languages, there are different forms of the second person pronoun in Welsh:

– ti [tiː] = you singular and informal
– chi [χiː] = you plural, and formal you singular and plural
– chdi [χdiː] = northern dialect variant of ti
– chwi [χwiː] = literary alternative to chi

There are also emphatic forms of these pronouns: tithau, chithau, chwithau and chdithau, though they are less commonly used.

Chi, chdi and chwi come from the Middle Welsh chwi, from the Proto-Celtic *swīs, from the Proto-Indo-European *wos (you plural) [source]. Ti comes from the Proto-Celtic *tū, from the Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (you singular) [source].

So ti is the equivalent of tu in French, Du in German, tú in Spanish, thu in Scottish Gaelic, and so on, and chi is the equivalent of vous, Sie, Usted and sibh in those languages.

The discussion on the radio was about when people use the formal chi and when they use the informal ti – some people said they used chi only with older strangers. Others said that their parents used chi which each other, but that they used ti with their parents. Some people complained about the increasing used of ti, even with older people.

While you don’t have to worry about which you to use in English as there’s only one, you might not be sure whether to use someone’s first name, or title plus surname, or even just their surname when addressing them. I get round this by generally avoiding using people’s names, which is also handy if I can’t quite remember their names.

Is the use of informal and formal modes of address changing where you are?

Escroquerie

By Simon

An interesting French word I learnt yesterday is escroquerie [ɛskʁɔkʁi], which means a swindle or fraud. It comes from escroquer (to swindle). A related word is escroc (villain, baddy). It probably comes from the Italian word scroccare (to eat or live at others’ expense) [source].

Other English equivalents of escroquer include scrounge, sponge, cadge and blag. Are there others? What about in other languages?

Snollygoster

By Simon

I came across the wonderful word snollygoster [ˈsnɒlɪˌɡɒstə] today. It is defined as follows:

– One, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles.
– A politician who cares more for personal gain than serving the people (Slang, USA)

From: The Free Dictionary.

– A shrewd person not guided by principles, especially a politician

Etymology: from 19th-century American English. Possibly from snallygaster, a mythical beast that preys on poultry and children, possibly from the Pennsylvania German schnelle geeschter, from the German schnell (quick) and geist (spirit).

From: Wiktionary.

– a fellow who wants office, regardless of party, platform or principles, and who, whenever he wins, gets there by the sheer force of monumental talknophical assumnacy.
Columbus Dispatch, Ohio, 28 Oct. 1895

From: World Wide Words

It doesn’t seem to be used much any more, perhaps because it isn’t needed as there isn’t anybody who behaves like this, especially not politicians.

Here’s an interesting TED talk about this and other political vocabulary:

Are there any similar words in other languages?

Throats and trees

By Simon

One Scottish Gaelic expression I learnt last week was “Tha craobh air mo sgòrnan” or literally “There’s a tree on my throat”. This is the Gaelic equivalent of “There’s a frog in my throat”, which is used when you are rendered temporarily speechless due to a small amphibian taking up residence in your oesophagus, or when you have a sore throat. Fortunately I don’t have one now, but I did have one just before I went to Scotland.

In Irish you might say:

– tá sceach i mo scornach = there’s a hawthorn / thornbush in my throat
– tá piachán i mo sceadamán = there’s a pain in my throat
– tá ciach orm = there’s a hoarseness on me
– tá slócht orm = there’s a hoarseness, throatiness on me
– tá sceadamán / scornach nimhneach orm = I have a sore throat

Sources: foclóir.ie and Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla Ó Donaill

In Manx you might say: ta cred orrym = there’s a grunt / cough / roughness / tickle on me [source].

The equivalent is Welsh is Dw i’n gryg/gryglyd/crygu [source] – gryg and gryglyd come from cryg, which means “hoarse, harsh, raucous”, and crygu means “to grow/make hoarse; to stammer” [source].

Are there equivalent idioms in other languages?