Month: April 2010

Chef-io

By Simon

Yesterday while listening to Blas, a cookery programme on Radio Cymru, I heard one of the contributors use the verb “chef-io” [ˈʃefɪɔ] in a sentence something like “Dw i wedi chef-io ers X flywyddyn” (I’ve been chefing for X years).

This struck me as quite a useful verbing of a noun and is also possible in English, though I’ve never heard this usage before. You could also say “Dw i wedi gweithio fel chef ers X flywyddyn” / “I’ve been working as a chef for X years”, but might be a bit too long-winded.

There are Welsh words for chef, by the way – pen-cogydd (head cook) and prif gogydd (main cook).

Another interesting verbing I heard recently was in a programme about mountain climbing in which the mountaineers talked about summiting, i.e. reaching the summit of the mountain. Have you heard this usage before, or other verbing like this.

Hens and chickens

By Simon

Hens

There are a number of words in English for the domesticated fowl Gallus gallus domesticus:

  • Chicken – general word for the birds and their meat
  • Cock / Rooster – adult male
  • Cockerel – adult male under a year old
  • Hen -adult female
  • Pullet – young female
  • Chook – general word for the birds used in Australia, New Zealand and some varieties of British English
  • Broiler – a type of chicken raised specifically for meat production

Chicken originally referred only to the chicks of this species, and the general term for them was domestic fowl or fowl. It comes from the Old English word cicen (also written cycen and ciecen) and is probably a diminutive of cocc.

Cock comes from the Old English cocc (male bird) and is thought to be an imitation of the sounds made by birds.

Rooster is derived from to roost, from the Old English hróst (perch / roost), and was originally roost cock in the 17th century but lost the second half of the phrase thanks to Puritan influence.

Hen comes from the Old English henn, which can be traced back to the PIE root *kan (to sing), via the West Germanic *khannjo, the feminine form of *khan(e)ni (male fowl, cock – lit. “bird who sings for sunrise”). In Old English hana was cock/rooster.

Pullet comes from the Latin pullus (a young animal or bird) via the Old French poulette (chicken), a diminutive poule (hen), and the Anglo-Norman pullet (chick / young bird).

Cockerel is just a diminutive of cock.

Chook probably comes from the British dialect words chuck or chucky (chicken) and is imitative of the sound made by chickens.

Broiler comes from the Old French bruller (to broil, roast).

Bœuf

By Simon

One thing we were discussing last week at the French conversation group was words for animals and their meat. In French the words for meat are also used for the animals: bœuf means beef and ox, porc means pork and pig, mouton means mutton and sheep, while in English there are different words for these things.

The popular explanation for the different English words for the animals and their meat is that after the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066, the animals were reared by the English, who called them cý, pecges and scéapes (cows, pigs and sheep) and eaten by the Normans, who called them boef, porc and motun (beef, pork and mutton). However the distinction between the names for the meat and the animals didn’t become set until the 18th century, and mutton and beef were used to refer to sheep and cows for many centuries after the Norman Conquest.

Bœuf comes from the Latin bos (ox, cow), the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root of which is gwóu (cow). This is also the root of vache, the French word for cow, via the Latin vacca (cow), and of the English word cow, via the Old English cú (pl. cý) and the reconstructed Proto-Germanic word kwom. In fact many of the words for cow, bull or cattle in Indo-European languages probably come from the PIE root gwóu. Examples include: bó (Irish and Scottish Gaelic), booa (Manx), buwch (Welsh), bugh (Cornish), buoc’h (Breton), govs (Latvian), կով (kov) (Armenian), گاو (gav – Persian) and Kuh (German).

As well as ox or steer and beef, bœuf also means (a) surprising; unusual; (b) stupid (in Swiss French); (c) (musical) jam session / jazz improvisation.

Idioms containing bœuf include:

  • avoir un boeuf sur la langue (to have a cow on the tongue) = to keep quiet; not give anything away
  • boeuf carottes (beef carrots) = internal affairs (Police)
  • comme un boeuf (as an ox) = very strong
  • gagner son boeuf (to earn one’s beef) = to earn a living
  • on n’est pas des boeufs (we are not cattle) = a little consideration and respect, I beg you

Meanings of mouton include: (a) sheep; (b) mutton; (c) sheep / lamb (someone easily led); (d) stool pigeon / grass; (e) moutons = white horses (on waves) / fluff / fluffy or fleecy clouds. Mutton and mouton possibly come from the Gaulish multo (ram) via the Middle Latin multonem and the Old French moton (ram, wether, sheep).

Idioms containing mouton include:

  • mouton à cinq pattes (a sheep with five feet) = white elephant rara avis / rare bird (something difficult or impossible to find)
  • revenir à ses moutons (to return to one’s sheep) = to return to the thread / subject of one’s discourse
  • suivre comme un mouton (to follow like a sheep) = to act like everyone else; gregarious

Sources
http://www.anglo-norman.net/
http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/mb04.html
http://www.indo-european.nl/
http://www.le-dictionnaire.com/
http://www.etymonline.com/
http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/phonetics/word28.html

Berreen bog

By Simon

Teisen lap

Ren mee teisen lap (berreen bog) fastyr jiu lesh oijys ayns my lioar oijys Vretnagh. T’eh brishlagh çheumooie as bog çheusthie, as ta blass feer vie er. Ta mee goaill taitnys mooar as coagyraght, as ta mee janoo cooid vooar jeh er y gherrid.

Cáca tais

Rinne mé teisen lap (cáca tais) leis oideas í mo leabhar oideas Bhreatnaise. Tá sé go briosc amuigh agus go bog as go tais istigh, agus tá blas an-mhaith air. Bhainim an-sult as cócaireacht, agus bím ag déanamh cuid mhaith le déanaí.

Teisen lap

Mi nes i teisen lap y prynhawn ‘ma efo rysáit yn fy lyfr ryseitiau Cymreig. Mae hi’n greisionllyd tu allan ac yn feddal ac yn laith tu mewn, ac mae blas hyfryd arni. Dw i’n mwynhau coginio yn fawr, ac dw i’n gwneud ychydig ohono yn ddiweddar.

Laa ruggyr

By Simon

Ta my laa ruggyr ayn jiu, as t’eh doillee dou dy chredjal dy vel mee daeed bleeaney d’eash.

Penblwydd

Heddiw ydy fy mhenblwydd, ac mae hi’n anodd i gredu mod i’n deugain mlwydd oed.

Breithlá

Tá mo bhreithlá ann inniu, agus tá sé deacair a chreidiúint go bhfuil mé dhá scór bliain d’aois.

Camels

By Simon

Camels

There’s a popular myth that each Arabic word can denote itself, its opposite, and a kind of camel. Another version of this is that “Every Arabic word has a basic meaning, a second meaning which is the exact opposite of the first, a third meaning which refers to either a camel or horse, and a fourth meaning that is so obscene that you’ll have to look it up for yourself.” [source].

One possible example of this is rass (رأس ?), which apparently means to eat a lot, to eat a little, and a camel with especially hairy ears*.

I haven’t been able to find this word in any online dictionaries – does anybody know if it actually exists? Are there any other examples of words like this?

[*From: The Secret Life of Words – How English Became English by Henry Hitchings]

Hodgepodge

By Simon

Yesterday I came across some interesting discussion on Keith’s Voice on Extreme Language Learning about the hodgepodge approach to learning languages, which he describes as follows:

“It’s a kind of do-it-all approach and can be constructed in various ways. Absolutely no plan whatsoever is needed! Try some technique out and if you don’t like it you can just discard it. Then try something else. When you get bored with that, pick a new activity to go to work on. There’s one caveat though. Results will vary!”

This is pretty much how I learn languages, and the results certainly do vary. I don’t go in for plans or methods very much, and just try to practise all language skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing – as much and as often as possible. Often I think to myself that perhaps I should be a bit more systematic in my approach, but rarely do anything about it.

Keith goes on to explain why he’s not keen on this approach:

“For a language learner like myself, the hodgepodge method is unacceptable. We do not want varying results. We all want the same thing. The only standard of speaking a language is the native speaker. This is what we want to reach. This is the only acceptable result.”

Achieving a native-like proficiency in a language is certainly worth aiming for, however it may not be for everybody. Some people are happy to acquire a good reading ability in a language, others might be content with an ability to understand it, or to communicate in it at a basic level. It depends why you’re learning the language and what you want to do with it.

Are you a hodgepodger or do you use a particular method to learn languages?

Thie

By Simon

Yn çhaightyn shoh chaie ren mee briwnys kionnaghey tie ayns ynnyd jeh’n arasane ‘syn shenn cabbal. Tie ardane t’ayn lesh shamyr hoie as shamyr aarlee heese-greeishyn, daa çhamyr lhiabbagh as shamyr oonlee heose-greeishyn, as ta garey cooyl ayn myrgeddin. T’eh faggys da’n laaragh Bangor ec kione yn ard-straid, as faggys da’n tie c’raad ta mee cummal nish. Ta feme echey er lhiasaghey ennagh, agh ta enney aym er sleih foddee jannoo shen.

Teach

An seachtain seo caite chinn mé ar theach a cheannach in áit an árasán sa sean séipéal. Teach sraith atá ann leis seomra suí as cistin thíos staighre, dhá seomra leapa as seomra folctha thusa staighre, as gairdín sa chúl. Tá sé in aice leis lár Bangor ar bun na príomhshráide, agus níl sé chomh fada ón teach cá bhfuil mé mo chónaí ar faoi láthair. Tá oibreacha feabhsúcháin de dhíth air, ach tá aithne agam ar daoine atá ábalta sin a dhéanamh.

Tŷ

Yr wythnos diwethaf penderfynais brynu tŷ yn lle’r fflat yn y hen gapel. Tŷ rhes ydy o efo ystafell byw a chegin lawr grisiau, dwy ystafell wely ac ystafell ymolchi lan grisiau, a gardd yn y cefn. Mae o’n ymyl canolfan Bangor ar waelod y Stryd Fawr, a dydy o ddim mor bell o’r tŷ lle dw i’n byw ar hyn o bryd. Mae angen gwaith gwella, ond dw i’n nabod pobl sy’n medru gwneud hynny.