Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le gel; la gelée frost rhew; llwydrew; barrug rev
le givre hoarfrost barrug; glasrew; llwydrew kler
faire tourner to spin troi; troelli reiñ tro
jouer à pile ou face to spin a coin taflu ceiniog
inspecteur de police principal chief inspector Prif Arolygydd (yr Heddlu) pennenseller polis
le tollé outcry protest; banllefo brotest; gwrthgri hulch’o
un tollé général a public outcry protest cyhoeddus
la benne skip sgip benn
mécanique clockwork perfedd; clocwaith; peirianwaith mekanek
marcher comme sur des roulettes to go like clockwork mynd fel cloc; troi fel deiol
thé (de cinq heures);
thé de l’après-midi		 afternoon tea te prynhawn/pnawn; prynhawnbryd te goude kreistez (?)

Buiten

By Simon

Tthe Dutch word buiten /ˈbœy̯.tə(n)/ is one I’ve heard quite a bit while listening to Dutch radio, and though I know what it means – outside; out of – I wasn’t sure where it came from. Today I discover that it is related to uit (out, from).

Buiten also means: villa, abroad, forth, apart from, besides, outdoors, except for, but, except, other than, peripheral, external, outer – so it’s quite a useful word.

Related words and expressions include:

– buiten adem = breathless
– buiten kennis/westen = unconscious
– buiten werking = out of order
– van buiten = by heart
– buitenkant = periphery, outskirts, surface, exterior
– buitenland = foreign country
– buitenspel = offside (football); sidelined
– buitenshuis = outdoors
– uitbuiten = to exploit, utilize, rack, vamp

One thing I like about Dutch is that many compound words are made up of native roots, which makes them easy to understand, as long as you know the meanings of the individual components. There are some loan words from other languages, such as French and English, but far fewer than in English, which has layers and layers of vocabulary from different languages (Anglo-Saxon, Norman, French, Latin, Greek, Old Norse, Dutch, etc).

For example, the relationship between hydrogen and water is not obvious in English, unless you know that hydrogen comes from the Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (hudōr – water) and γεννάω (gennaō – “I bring forth”). Hydrogen entered English via the French hydrogène, a term coined by Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau [source]. Whereas in Dutch hydrogen is waterstof (“water stuff”). Another water-related word in English is aquatic, which comes from Latin – in Dutch this is either aquatisch or waterhoudend / waterig, (houdend = having, keeping).

Wirlie

By Simon

In a book I read recently (one of Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series) I came across a number of Scots words that were unfamiliar to me. One that I particularly like is wirlie, which, according the Dictionary of the Scots Language (DSL), means:

“a place where a field-wall crosses a stream; an opening in a wall to let running water pass through”.

An interesting meaning that I would never have guessed from the word or the context. It is apparently a Shetland word which comes from the Old Norse árhilð (á = river, hlið = an opening or gap in a fence), according to Shetland Words – A dictionary of the Shetland dialect.

If you came across this word, without knowing the above, what would you think it meant?

In some contexts it might be a euphemism for being drunk or confused – he was a bit wirlie.

Are there similar words in any other languages?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
recommandé; prudent; conseillé advisable doeth; call; buddiol erbedet; avizet
récurrent;
périodique (math)		 recurring dibaid; cylchol oc’h addonet; mareadeg
soins intensifs intensive care gofal arbenning;
gofal dwys		 prederioù askoridik
cours intensif intensive course cwrs carlam staj d’an daoulamm
la paquet bundle (clothing) sypyn; swp; bwndel pakad
la liasse bundle (banknotes; newspapers sypyn; swp; bwndel strobad
un vrai boute-en-train a bundle of fun hwyl anfarwol ur kaser ar cholor
ce n’était pas une partie de plaisir it wasn’t a bundle of laughs doedd hi ddim yn hwyl anfarwol
coûter bonbon;
coûter une fortune		 to cost a bundle/packet costio yn ddrud;
costio ffortiwn		 bezañ un dirañson
la brique brick bricsen; priddfaen brik

SpeakTalkChat: Linking Language Enthusiasts and Learners

By Simon

Today we have a guest post by Aodhán Ó Duagáin (Aidan Duggan) of www.SpeaktalkChat.com

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SpeakTalkChat is a language platform that allows users to link based on shared languages and shared interests. Our goal is to link us together based on shared interests to chat through our shared languages. Our philosophy is that much progress in our languages is achieved by language peers chatting together about the things in life that we have in common. It is our belief that shared interests are one of the things that provide the glue of our conversations.

Our philosophy drives our functionality which includes immediate/scheduled videochat, user search, internal messaging system and groups/forums/threads. STC is available on PC and mobile. We currently have 33 languages available at three levels of fluency (fluent, intermediate and beginner) and there are a 101 interests to choose from (you can choose as many as you like).

We are very interested in hearing people’s feedback about www.SpeakTalkChat.com. Feedback to date has been very positive especially in relation to our philosophy. However it is clear that we don’t do language learning in terms of grammar, exercise, games and so on. We feel there are other places to find these.

We decided to focus on what we feel is one of the core things to languages which is chatting with people with whom we have shared interests. We sometimes call STC a ‘social chatting media’ because of our focus on socialising and chatting together.

We have an interest in minority languages and you’ll see a number of these available in the profile section. You’ll also see that the site can be viewed entirely in English or Welsh or Irish. We hope to have the site available entirely in many other languages over the next while and as you can guess we’re always looking for interested translators.

We have a wide variety of interests to choose from. Some would come under hobbies like painting or gardening but we’ve also included ‘heavier’ interests like climate change and human rights. We’ve done this because we also hope that STC can be a platform for discussing some of these pressing issues.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this post and any feedback, comments or suggestions are very welcome.

Aodhán Ó Duagáin (Aidan Duggan)

Dirks, Saxons and Messers

By Simon

Dirk / sgian-dubh in sock

I discovered today that dolch is the German equivalent of dirk, the dagger that is worn in the sock in Scottish Highland dress (see photo). The dirk is known as a sgian dubh (black knife or secret knife) in Scottish Gaelic, and the word dirk, which first appeared in English as dork in the 17th century, possibly comes from the German word dolch (dagger) or dolk, which is found in Dutch, Danish and Swedish [source].

Another German word for knife is Messer, which comes from the Old High German mezzeres/mezzirahs/mezzisahs (knife), from the Proto-Germanic *matisahsą (knife), from *matiz (food) and *sahsą (knife, dagger). Messer is cognate with the Old Saxon metisahs/mezas (knife), the West Frisian mês, the Dutch mes (knife), and the Old English word meteseax (knife). [source].

The Old English word seax (knife, short sword, dagger), which appears in meteseax, shares the same root – the Proto-Indo-European *sek- (to cut) – with the Middle English sax (knife); the Danish and Swedish word sax (a pair of scissors), the Icelandic sax (a short heavy sword), and the Latin word secō (cut), as well as the English words Saxon and saw [source].

The English word mess (in the military sense of a dining hall or people who eat together) comes from a different root – from the Latin mittere (to put, place) via the Old French mets (food) [source].

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
veinard; chançard lucky devil/bugger cenau lwcus chañs
avoir de la veine;
avoir de la chance		 to be lucky bod yn lwcus
chanceux lucky lwcus eürus
l’échapée belle lucky escape dianc lwcus
le jour de chance lucky day dydd lwcus
le coup de vein lucky break ergyd lwcus taol -chañs
la cuve tank; vat; bunker byncer; daeardy; cerwyn pip
la cellule (prison/animal/plant) cell cell kellig
l’aquarelle (f) watercolour dyfrlliw dourliv
boiteux lame cloff kamm
la note chit darn papur notenn
délicat; nauséeux; barbouillé queasy (stomach) sâl; swp sâl; (stumog) wan da sevel ar galon; klañv
mal à l’aise queasy (uneasy) anesmwyth; anniddig; aflonydd diaes
le cercle vicieux vicious circle cylch cythreulig; cylch anfad kelc’h bac’h
la cote (betting) odds ods; ots