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Saudações do Brasil!
On the subject of the word “obrigado”, which originally means “forced, compelled” (when accompanied by verbal noun), or “committed to, owing to” (when accompanied by indirect object):
The usage as an expression of gratitude comes from European Portuguese phrase “fico-lhe obrigado”, meaning “I’m committed to you, I’m owing to you”. That’s why the participle must agree in gender with the speaker (women should always say obrigada).
In modern Brazilian Portuguese, however, the verb “obrigar” had a small semantic shift, and lost completely the meaning of “committed” when accompanied by indirect object. We only use this verb to say someone is forced to do something. Consequently, most Brazilian people use the expression “obrigado” without knowing exactly where it comes from, and unschooled women usually say “obrigado”, without the proper agreement.
In my life, I’ve never seen someone say “obrigados/as”, speaking for a group of persons, but I’m aware that such occurs in formal or archaic texts, and also in very-polite European Portuguese speech.
re: pendramwnwgl, the word wynebwaered is more ‘upside-down’, wyneb = the side you can see; waered (from gwaelod)= the base, bottom-side.
nice blog btw 🙂
Shwmae Simon, dwi heb edrych ar Omniglot Blog ers amser maith. Heddiw gofynnodd rhywun i fi am y gair ysgol yn meddwl ‘school’ a ‘ladder’. Dwi’n meddwl i fi ychwil y gair o’r blaen a gweld bod ysgol-school yn dod o école, escuola, scholar etc, ond bod ysgol-ladder yn dod o wraidd gwahanol. Mae’n gyfleus i feddwl am “school” fel “ladder” trwy addysg ond dwi’n meddwl taw syniad cyfleus yw hyn, a bod gwahanol gwraidd i’r gair Ysgol am ladder.
Wyt tin’n gwybod?
Diolch,
Diana
Bidie-in: love it. Non-judgmental, gender-neutral. Sharing this with everyone.
You wrote:
“I haven’t come across any other homographs like this in Swedish, but there probably are others. Do you known any more in Swedish or other languages?”
There are a lot of homographs in Swedish:
1. a) man = indefinite pronomen, means “one”, “you”; b) man = the same meaning as in English; c) man = the hair of the horse head; pronoounced with at long “a”, the other short “a”.
2. a) pass = passport;; b) the divide between two mountains; c) pass – a hunter is sitting at a certain place to shoot an animal; d) a card term meaning that the player will not make a move or ask for new cards.
Hi.
I would like to leave such a correction to the transliteration of Burmese according to MLC Transcription:
lutuing:sany tu-nyi lwatlang.sau: gun.si.khka.hprang. lany:kaung:|
tu-nyi-lwatlang.sau: ahkwang.-are:mya:hprang. lany:kaung:|
mwe:hpwa:la.su-mya: hpracsany|| htuisutui. puing:hkra: wehpantatsau:
nyanhnang. kyang.wat si.tatsau: ci.tui.hri.kra.rwe htuisutui.sany
ahkyang:hkyang: mettahta:rwe hcakhcamkyang.sum:sang.e||
and the approximate phonetic transcription too:
lù.táiɴ.ðè tù.ɲì lṵʔ.lìɴ.ðɔ́ go̰uɴ.ðḭʔ.kʰa̰.pʰjḭɴ lé.káuɴ|
tù.ɲì.lṵʔ.lìɴ.ðɔ́ ʔa̰.kʰwḭɴ.ʔa̰.jé.mjá.pʰḭɴ lé.káuɴ|
mwé.pʰwá.la̰.ðù.mjá pʰjiʔ.ðè|| tʰò.ðù.to̰ páiɴ.ʨʰá wè.pʰàn.ta̰ʔ.ðɔ́
ɲàn.n̥ḭɴ ʨḭɴ.wa̰ʔ ðḭ.ta̰ʔ.ðɔ́ sḭ.to̰.ʃḭ.ʨa̰.jwe tʰò.ðù.to̰.ðè
ʔa̰.ʨʰíɴ.ʨʰíɴ mèʔ.ta̰ʔ.tʰá.jwe sʰɛ̰.sʰàɴ.ʨḭɴ.ðóuɴ.ðḭɴ.ḭ
I am not fluent in Burmese, but it is somehow an interest of mine because I study a little of the pāḷi canon of theravāda buddhism.
Greetings from South Brazil!