Òrain Ghàidhlig / Gaelic Songs

By Simon

I arrived safely at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (SMO) last night. It was raining a bit when I arrived on Skye, and the skies were cloudy this morning, but this afternoon the sun came out and its rather warm.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

There are quite a few different courses happening here this week, including Gaelic language at various levels, Gaelic for Irish speakers, Gaelic song, and accordion. There was a wine and cheese welcome event last night, and I saw a few people who I know from previous visits to SMO, and met some interesting new people. I spoke some Scottish Gaelic, and quite a bit of Irish and English.

The courses started today, and in the song class we learnt seven songs. I knew some of them already, or had at least heard them before, so they were relatively easy, but others were new to me. The theme of the class is songs from Lewis, one of the Western Isles off the west coast of Scotland. Our tutor, Christine Primrose, is a renowed Gaelic singer from Lewis, and is full of fascinating stories about the songs we’re learning, about the people who wrote them, and about the times when they were written.

On the road to Skye

By Simon

Glasgow / Glaschu

Today I’m in Glasgow, and have been exploring a bit. I’m staying here tonight, then continuing my journey tomorrow to Mallaig, then to the Isle of Skye, where I’ll be doing a course in Scottish Gaelic songs from the Isle of Lewis at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic college.

This is the 6th time I’ve done a course there. I always enjoy it, learn lots of songs, get to speak Gaelic, and other languages, and meet some interesting people.

I plan to make the next episode of my podcast about Scottish Gaelic, and hope to interview a few people at the college for it.

I’m looking forward to the train ride from Glasgow to Mallaig along the West Highland Line tomorrow – the scenery is wonderful, and includes the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which appears in one of the Harry Potter films.

West Highland Line / Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean

Phubbing

By Simon

In May 2012 a group of lexicographers, authors, and poets at Sydney University were asked by an advertising agency to come up with a new word for the habit of snubbing someone in favour of a mobile phone.

The word they chose was phubbing, which combines the words phone and snubbing. It was spread around the world by the Stop Phubbing campaign, created by the advertising agency, and is also part of a campaign to promote the new Macquarie Dictionary of Australia.

Phubbing is defined as “The act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of paying attention” [source].

See also:

And: Wikipedia

I hadn’t heard of this word before until I saw the video about it on Facebook. It’s not often that you know exactly where a word comes from, when it was first coined, and who was responsible.

Do you phub? I try not to.

Do any other languages have a word for this practise?

Hyppytyynytyydytys

By Simon

Pomppulinna / bouncy castle

I discovered a very useful word in Finnish today – hyppytyynytyydytys – which apparently means “bouncy cushion satisfaction”.

You can hear it pronounced on Forvo.

It breaks down as follows:

hyppy = to jump, leap, hop, bounce
tyyny = pillow, cushion, oad, bolster
tyydytys = satisfaction, gratification

I suspect it was made up for fun.

Bouncy (elastic, springy) in Finnish is kimmoisa, and a bouncy castle is a pomppulinna, which appears to be a brand name.

So if you were satisfied with your bouncy castle, could you say you have “pomppulinnatyydytys”?

What if you were dissatisfied with your bouncy cushion or castle?

Bouncy castles are also known as inflatable castles or jumping castles. The first such inflatable structures were made in the USA and known as “space walks”. What do you call them?

Sources: The Language Closet, GoogleTranslate, bab.la, Wikipedia

Fair friends

By Simon

Bra vänner är som stjärnor. Du ser dem inte alltid, men du vet att de alltid finns där.

I learnt two words for friend in Swedish this week – vän [vɛːn] and kompis [kɔmpɪs]. The former is translated as “buddy” in my Swedish lessons, and the latter as “friend”.

Vän can mean friend, comrade, lover, mate, pal, sympathizer, well-wisher or acquaintance, and is also an old word for fair or beautiful. It comes from the Old Norse vinr (friend), from the Proto-Germanic *winiz (friend, loved one), from the Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (to seek, desire, love, win).

The element -win in names such as Darwin, Edwin, Godwin, Irwin, etc comes from the same root, as does the name Venus (via Latin).

Kompis cane be translated as brother, buddy, friend, chum, comrade, crony, mate, mucker, and is a contraction of kompanjon (partner, associate) +‎ -is.

Vän appears in expressions such as:

– flickvän = girlfriend
– pojkvän = boyfriend
– hjärtevän = beloved, close friend, sweetheart
– ovän = enemy
– väninna = female friend (of a female)
– vänlig = friendly, kind, gentle, amicable, affable
– vänling = kind, nice, sweet
– vänskap = friendship
– vänskaplig = friendly, amicable
– väntjänst = a service done out of friendship
– vänkrets = circle of friends
– vänort = sister town, twin town

Other Swedish words for friend or acquaintance include:

– kamrat = friend, associate, chum, comrade, fellow, mate, partner, fellow
– bekant = friend, acquaintance
– polare = brother, buddy, mate, dawg, mucker, crony, pally
– fränder = kinsman

Which of these are most commonly used?

The words on the image mean “Good friends are like stars. You do not always see them, but you know they are always there.” This is one of the things that pops up when you search for “vänner” (friends), e.g. on this site.

Sources: Wiktionary, bab.la

Treading Together

By Simon

Treading Together

In Swedish one word for a meeting is ett sammenträde. I wondered about the origins of this word, so thought I would investigate.

Sammenträde comes from sammanträda (to meet, to hold a meeting, to convene), which comes from sammen (together) and träda (to tread, walk, step). So when you have a meeting in Swedish, you are “treading together”.

Sammenträde also means session, conclave or assembly. Related expressions include:

– sammanträda igen = to reconvene
– sammanträde som försiggår i plenum – plenary session
– regeringssammanträde – cabinet meeting

Other Swedish words for meeting include:

– möte = meeting, assembly, conference, convocation, encounter, engagement, rally, meet
– konferens = meeting, conference, consultation, school meeting
– samling = array, gathering, meeting, accumulation, aggregate, assembling, assembly, battery, body, bunch, circus, cluster, coalition, collection, crowd, cumulation, garner, huddle, lot, meet, pack, corpus
– sammenkomst = assembly, gathering, gettogether, meeting, conference, session (“arrive together”)
– församling = assembly, parish, cure, flock, township, meeting, congregation, diet

Are there interesting words for meeting in other languages?

Sources: Wiktionary, bab.la

Filling Up Your Years

By Simon

Hourglass image

One way to say that you have a birthday in Swedish is to use the verb fylla (to fill up, load, pack). For example:

– Jag fyller i april = My birthday is in April*
– Du fyller år i morgen = Tomorrow is your birthday
– Han fyller nämligen år i dag = It’s his birthday today
– Hon fyllde 40 år i går = She was 40 years old yesterday

Birthday in Swedish is födelsedag [ˈføːdɛlsɛˌdɑːɡ /ˈfœlsɛˌdɑː(ɡ)], and Happy Birthday is Grattis på födelsedagen. Födelsedag comes from födelse (birth) and dag (day). Födelse comes from föda (to feed, give birth), which is related to the English words food and feed; and -else (a suffix that makes verbs into nouns).

*Could you also say Min födelsedag är i april (My birthday is in April)?

When asking how old someone is in Swedish, could you ask many years they’ve filled?

Is it polite to ask someone’s age in Sweden?

Are there interesting ways to refer to birthdays in other languages?

Sources: bab.la, Wiktionary