Month: October 2020

Desist latron!

By Simon

If I told you that I had been subjected to a latrocination by a latron, would you have any idea what I was talking about?

Latron is an old word from a robber, brigand or one who plunders. It comes from the Latin latrō (mercenary, highwayman, brigand, bandit, robber), from the Proto-Indo-European *leh₂t- (to grant, to possess) [source].

The Welsh words lleidr [ɬei̯dr] (thief), lladron [ˈɬadrɔn] (thieves, robbers), lladrad (theft, robbery), lladrata (to steal, rob) and lladratwr (thief) all come from the same root.

Highwayman

A latron might latrocinate or commit latrocination (robbery), latrociny (theft, robbery), latronage (robbery) or Latrocinium (an act of brigandage).

Latrocination is a legal term meaning “the act of robbing; a depredation” [source] – If any lawyers are reading this, is this a word you’ve ever used or heard?

A depredation is “An act of consuming agricultural resources (crops, livestock), especially as plunder; A raid or predatory attack.” [source] or “the act or an instance of plundering; robbery; pillage” [source]

According to The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities – A Yearbook of Forgotten Words by Paul Anthony Jones, latrocination first appeared in English in the mid-17th century, and is “a formal word for theft of robbery”.

Latrocinium [ˌlætɹəˈsɪniəm] is an act of brigandage or an illegitimate church council [source]. It comes from the Latin latrōcinium (military service for pay; robbery, banditry, highway robbery, piracy, brigandage; pillage, plundering; an act of banditry or brigandage; a band of robbers; villany, roguery, fraud) [source].

The English word larceny (the unlawful taking of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it permanently) comes from the same root, via the Middle English larceni and the Anglo-Norman larcin (theft) [source].

A related Latin word is latrunculus – a highway or robber, or a piece in the ancient Roman boardgame ludus latrunculorum (“the game of brigands”), which was apparently somewhat like chess or draughts / checkers, and was popular throughout the Roman Empire [more details].

Fortunately no latrons have latrocinated anything from me recently.

By the skin of your teeth

By Simon

An interesting word that came up in my Swedish lessons this week was hinna, which to have sufficient time to do something, to manage to do something in time, or to be on/in time, not to be late. That’s quite a lot of meaning packed into a small word!

Clock

Here are some examples of how it’s used:

  • Hinner du idag? = Do you have time today?
  • Jeg hinner inte i dag = I don’t have enough time today
  • Vi hinner inte leka lekar just nu = We don’t have time to play games right now
  • Hann du läsa alla sidorna? = Did you manage to read all the pages?
  • Om vi inte går nu så hinner vi inte till tåget = If we don’t go now, we’ll miss the train
  • Det hinns inte. Kom nu! = There’s no time. Come now!

A possibly related word is hinna, which means a coat(ing), skin (on liquids) film or membrane. So perhaps you’re doing something by the skin of your teeth when you hinna, although the meanings aren’t quite the same.

Doing something by the skin of your teeth means to barely manage to do something, or narrowly succeed in doing something. It apparently comes from the Bible (Job 19:20) “… I am escaped with the skin of my teeth”, and is a literal translation of the original Hebrew.

Do you know any other teeth-based idioms?

Sources: Wiktionary, bab.la, The Phrase Finder, The Idioms

Linguistic Quarantine

By Simon

According to an article I came across today in the New York Times, quarantine has brought linguistic benefits to many bilingual homes.

Parents who raise their children with two or more languages often find that if one of their languages is not spoken, or not widely spoken, outside their home, their children will develop a preference for the dominant language of their community. This commonly happens after the children start school and discover that all, or most, of their classmates speak the dominant language. They may speak the non-dominant language, or at least understand it, but rarely use it.

Apparently in places where children have been spending a lot of time at home with their parents due to quarantine and lock downs, they have started speaking the non-dominant language(s) more.

For example, in Nigeria, where children are taught in English at school, but speak many other languages at home and elsewhere, they are now speaking more local languages, such as Luganda.

If you have a bilingual or multilingual household, have you noticed any differences in language use recently?