Category: Words and phrases

Thumbs and inches

By Simon

I discovered today that the French word for thumb, pouce, also means inch, which makes sense as the length of the inch is apparently based on the width of a man’s thumb.

Related expressions include:

– se tourner les pouces, se rouler les pouces = to twiddle one’s thumbs
– manger sur le pouce = to grab a quick bite to eat (“to eat on the thumb”)
– déjeuner/dîner sur le pouce = to have a quick lunch/dinner (“to lunch/dine on the thumb”)
– donner un coup de pouce à quelqu’un = to help someone out (“to give a blow of the thumb to sb”)
– mettre les pouces = to throw in the towel; to give in; to give up (“to put the thumbs”)

The word inch comes from the Latin word uncia (a twelfth; ouce; inch), as does the word ounce, which is a twelfth of a troy pound [source]

The word for inch is the same as the word for thumb in Italian (pollice), Dutch and Afrikaans (duim), and Czech and Slovak (palec). How about in other languages?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
la pastille pour la toux cough lozenge/sweet losin at y frest; losin peswch; da-da annwyd pastilh an paz (?)
le pastille pour le mal de gorge throat lozenge/sweet losin gwddwg; da-da dolur gwddw pastilh an lo(v)rniet ma goûg (?)
la puce flea chwannen c’hwenn
le pouce thumb bawd meud
le gros orteil big toe bawd troed meud an troad
le deuil mourning galarus kañv
pleurer to mourn galaru gouelañ; garmat; leñvañ
prendre le deuill to go into mourning dechrau/cychwyn galaru ober e gañvoù; (g)ober begin
bruyant; chahuteur rowdy; noisy swnllyd; stwrllyd; terfysglyd; tyrfus trouzus
les nuisances sonores (fpl) noise pollution llygredd sŵn noazadurioù e-keñver trouz
délier la langue à qn to loosen sb’s tongue llacio tafod rhywun distagellañ
diversifier to diversify amrywio; amrywiaethu liesaat; dizunvaniñ
la forge smithy gefail gof govel
le forgeron blacksmith gof gov
ériger/dresser des barricades to set up a barricade codi baricêd savelladenniñ stoc’hoù
tenir des barricades to man the barricades gweithio baricadau
le feuilleton (TV/radio) serial cyfres romant -kazetenn

Droug gouzoug

By Simon

Droug gouzoug am eus, ha ne c’hallan ket kanañ evit c’hoazh, met gallout a gomz c’hoazh. N’am eus ket kanañ d’ar kor skleroz strewek (SKLES) dec’h. Gwelet am eus ur film, Tasmant d’an Opera, e skol-veur dec’h da nos.

I have a sore throat, and can’t sing at the moment, but can still speak. I didn’t go to the MS choir yesterday. Last night I saw the film Phantom of the Opera at the university.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
(porter) déguisement (to wear) fancy dress (gwisgo) gwisg ffansi (gwiskañ) abilhamant
déguisé(e) in fancy dress mewn gwisg ffansi e dic’hize
se déguiser to go in fancy dress gwisgo gwisg ffansi dic’hizañ; abilhañ; livañ
la fête costumé fancy dress party parti gwisg ffansi fest gwisket
le bal masqué/costumé fancy dress ball dawns gwisg ffansi bal masklet
sépulchre sepulchre beddrod
une farce ou une gâterie
bonbons ou bâton		 trick or treat cast ynteu ceiniog
la réunion des étudiants anciens alumni reunion aduniad cynfyfyrwyr
nul; vraiment trash; tocarde trashy (film, book) diwerth; sothachlyd; da i ddim neb; tamm
renvoyer qn; metter qn à la porte to give sb the sack rhoi’r hwi; rhoi ei droed; rhoi gardiau diskouviañ; kas en e roud; war e giz
être mis à la porte; être renvoyer to get the sack cael yr hwu / y sac / y droed

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
la fête; le foraine; la foire (fun)fair ffair foar; kurioziteoù
le carême Lent Grawys koraiz
un jeu de hasard a game of chance hapchwarae; chwarae siawns c’hoari chañs
le cuivre (jaune); le laiton brass pres; efydd kouevret; laton
la fanfare brass band band pres; seindorf pres fañfar
le cuivres the brass (section) yr adran bres kouevrennoù (?)
les huiles top brass prif swyddogion; pwysigion; pobl o bwys
un self-made man;
un autodidacte		 a self-made man dyn a wnaeth ei ffortiwn ei hun desket drezañ e-hunan
les frais expenses treuliau mizoù
à court terme short-term cyfnod byr; tymor byr; byrdymor berr dermen

Do you cahoot?

By Simon

When looking through one of my dictionaries today I came across the word cahoot, which I’ve only seen before in the form cahoots, as in the expression ‘in cahoots with’, i.e. to be in partnership or in league with. The dictionary entry has the s in bracketts – cahoot(s) – so it seems this words can be used in the singular as well. Have you heard it used like that, or do you use it like that?

According to the OED, cahoot can also be used as a verb meaning ‘to act in partnership’. The following example is given, ‘They all agree to cahoot with their claims against Nicaragua and Costa Rica.’, which dates from 1857, so I suspect this might not be a contemporary use of the word, though I may be wrong.

The OED also states that cahoot is ‘Used in the South and West [of the USA] to denote a company, or partnership’, usually in the plural.

Cahoot either comes from the French cahute (cabin; poor hut), or from cohorte, from the Latin cohort (court, enclosure, company of soldiers).

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
la boîte à gants; vide-poche glove box bocs/blwch maneg (?) lak-pep-tra
le visage impassible poker face wyneb difnegiant
le courroux; la colère wrath dig; dicter; digofaint buanegezh; droug
les raisins de la colère the grapes of wrath grawnwin digofaint
rayé(e); à rayures striped rhesog; streipiog rezennet
le pull-over jumper siwmper stamm
le directeur intérim acting manager rheolwr gweithredol rener etreadegourien
les ordures (household) rubbish (y)sbwriel stronkoù
les déchets (garden) rubbish cribinion lostajoù; stronkajoù
la camelote rubbish (junk) hen drugareddau; sothach brizhvarc’hadourezh
le orgue organ (instrument) organ orglez

Szia

By Simon

The other day I discovered that the Hungarian word szia [sijɑ], which is used as a informal hello and goodbye, like ciao in Italian and ahoj in Czech and Slovak, possibly comes from the English expression ‘see you’ / ‘see ya’, at least that’s what a Hungarian friend believes. I hadn’t noticed the similarity between the two phrases before, and if I had, I would have assumed that it was a coincidence.

Another possible origin for this word is the Austria greeting/parting word servus, which is written szervusz in Hungarian, and which somehow became szia. This is the etymology given by Zaicz Gábor in the Etimológiai szótár (Etymology Dictionary) according to this discussion.

Does anybody know more about the origins of this word?

I forgot the elephant!

By Simon

The elephant I forgot

A few days ago after the Bangor Languages Learners’ meet up, I was talking to one of the other members of the group and suddenly exclaimed, “I forgot the elephant!”, and hurried back into the café to retrieve it. As he commented, it’s not a phrase that often comes up in conversation. The elephant in question is a small white one from Morocco that usually lives on my mantelpiece, but which had taken up temporary residence on the table in the café where we met so that people who hadn’t been to the group before could find us. When we left the café I forgot to take the elephant, and only remembered when I went outside.

Many people suggest that you should focus on learning the most frequently-used words of a language first, and only learn the less common ones later, if you really want to. However, I like to learn both frequently-used words and obscure words because you never know when you might need them.

Do you focus exclusively on frequently-used words, or do you like learning obscure and unusual words as well?

Can you imagine a situation in which you would say “I forgot the elephant!” or something similarly unusual?

Glances, glimpses and peeks

By Simon

This week I discovered that the French equivalent of a glance or a peek is un coup d’œil (‘a blow/stroke of the eye’), and to glance/peek is jeter un coup d’œil (‘to thow a stroke of the eye’) which I thought was an interesting way of saying it. Other ways of looking in French include voir (to look/see), un aperçu (a glimpse) and entrevoir / apercevoir (to glimpse)

Welsh equivalents of a glance or glimpse are cipolwg, cipdrem and cipedrych which is made up of cip (a snatching), golwg (sight, appearance, view), trem (look, sight) and edrych (to look/see).

Are there interesting equivalents of glance, glimpse, peek or related words in other languages?

Do other languages making a distinction between looking and seeing?