Русский & français

By Simon

Last Saturday at my brother’s wedding I had plenty of opportunities to use my Russian – my brother’s wife is Russian, and while she speaks very good English, few of her family speak any, so I did my best to speak with them in Russian. I was able to have some basic conversations, with help from the Ukrainian bridesmaid, who speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English. I wasn’t worried about making mistakes, just trying to communicate, and managed to do so reasonably well. It was a little difficult to explain that I live in Wales and that it isn’t part of England, but is part of the UK.

I also had a chance to speak French as the bride’s brother-in-law speaks it – he learnt it in school and he visits France regularly on business – and there there were a couple of French people there – one of whom is the bridesmaid’s husband. So it was quite an international and multilingual gathering.

Russian is starting to sound more familiar now and I’m getting better at reading it. I don’t understand a lot much, but am continuing to learn a bit more every day and making progress.

Spench, spence and sbens

By Simon

Recently a friend told me that in North Wales the area under stairs is know as the spench – I hadn’t heard it before and didn’t know how to write it so this spelling is a guess. I found spench in the Urban Dictionary, which defines it as “the area under the stairs (often a cupboard) where things are stored. Used in North Wales.”

In the Geiriadur Mawr, one of my Welsh dictionaries, I found the Welsh word sbens, which is defined as “twll dan y grisiau” (a hole under the stairs) and is translated as spence.

The OED defines spence as “a room or separate place in which victuals and liquor are kept; a buttery or pantry; a cupboard.” and says that it is dialectal or archaic. It comes from the Old French word despense (to dispense), from the Latin word dispendere (to dispense, weigh out; pay out; open, spread out), from the Latin word pendere (to hang; depend; weigh out; pay) plus the prefix dis-.

Have you heard this word before, or do you have another word for the area/cupboard under the stairs?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– un ruisseau = stream = nant = gwazh-dour
– une boîte (de conserve) = tin = tun = boestad
– un boîte de soupe = tin of soup = tun cawl = boestad soubenn
– un pot de peinture = tin of paint = tun paent = boestad livadur
– un moule à gateau = cake/baking tin = tun teisen/cacen = moull-gwestell
– un bocal = jar = jar = pod gwer
– un bonnet à pompon = bobble hat = boned-toupenn (?)
– réellement, vraiment, en fait, en réalité = actually = mewn gwirionedd = evit gwir
– une fuite = leak = diferiad, gollyngiad = fuiñ
– un poireau = leek = cenhinen = pour
– un ouvrier du bâtiment = builder (labourer) = adeiladydd = micherour
– un maçon = builder (bricklayer) = briciwr = mañsoner
– un entrepreneur (en bâtiment) = builder (owner of firm) = tisaver

English – a Scandinavian language?

By Simon

According to an article I came across today, researchers at the University of Oslo believe that English is descended from Old Norse and not from Old English as it is closer in terms of grammar to the modern Scandinavian languages than to the West Germanic languages such as Dutch and German. They say that Old English or Anglo-Saxon is very different from modern English, and believe that Old English died out while Old Norse developed into modern English, with influence from Old English, which is the opposite to the standard model. English grammar and word order certainly has changed a lot over time.

I’m not sure how they came to these conclusions, but I am sceptical. There certainly was Old Norse influence on the dialects spoken in areas of Norse settlement, such as the north of England, and I’ve heard that north eastern varieties of English, such as Geordie, are phonologically similar to Danish.

Downies, duvets and slumberdowns

By Simon

While listening to a programme on Radio Scotland today I heard mention of downies, which seems to be a Scottish word for duvet. These days I usually call these things duvets, but when I was a child I had a slumberdown, which I think might be a trade name. I’ve also heard them called quilts or continental quilts, and think they’re called comforters in the USA.

The definition of duvet in the OED is “A quilt stuffed with eider-down or swan’s-down”, and it comes from the French word duvet (down), from dumet, a diminutive of Old French dum (down).

What do you call these things?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– la déviation = diversion (of route) = dargyfeiriad = diroudennañ
– la diversion = diversion (distraction) = gwrthdyniad = distroadenn
– faire diversion = to create a diversion = creu gwrthdyniad = distroiñ an nen
– le meeting / rassemblement = rally = rali = bodadeg
– un meeting de prostestation = a protest rally = rali protest / gwrthdystiad = manifestadeg
– un rassemblement pour la paix = a peace rally = rali heddwch
– la ceinture de sauvetage = liftbelt = gwregys achub
– sauter à cloche-pied = to hop = hercian / hopian
– le trisaïeul = great-great-grandfather = hen hen daid/dad-cu
– la trisaïeule = great-great-grandmother = hen hen nain/mamgu
– la boulette de viande = meatball = pellen gig (?)

Tête en l’air

By Simon

Penn-skañv ac’hanout? Es-tu tête en l’air? Is your head in the clouds?

Recently I came across the French expression (être) tête en l’air (‘(to be) head in the air’) which is given as the French equivalent of the Breton expression penn-skañv (‘light head’). I hadn’t seen it before and wasn’t quite sure from it meant. From the context I thought it meant something like forgetful. According to Reverso it means scatterbrained, and according to this discussion, it also means absent-minded or distracted.

An equivalent English idiom is to have one’s head in the clouds, which is also used in French – avoir la tête dans les nuages. Do you know any similar idioms in English, French or other languages?

The Welsh expression pen-ysgafn, which is a literal translation of the Breton expression, but has a related different meaning – ‘light headed’. Forgetful is anghofus in Welsh.