Freshness

By Simon

This week is Welcome Week at Bangor University when new students arrive for the first time, register, join clubs and societies, some of which they’ll actually go to, and so on. It’s also known as Freshers’ Week and the new students are known as freshers, though after this week, they’re generally known as first years.

I understand that in the USA a first year student at high school and college is known as freshman. Does this apply to female students as well? Is the plural freshmen used?

Freshman first appeared in writing in the 1550s meaning “newcomer or novice”, and was used to mean a first year student at university from the 1590s. The word freshwoman appeared in the 1620s. Related words include freshmanic, freshmanship, freshmanhood.

An alternative for freshman, underclassman, meaning “sophomore (second year) or freshman” first appeared in 1869 [source].

The word fresh comes from the Old English fersc (fresh, pure, sweet), from the Proto-Germanic *friskaz (fresh), from the Proto-Indo-European *preysk- ‎(fresh) [source].

What are first year students called in other languages?

Do you come here often?

By Simon

I’ve started to put together a new page on Omniglot with translations of the phrase ‘Do you come here often?‘. I got the idea after finding a Cornish version of this phrase (A wre’ta dos omma yn fenowgh?) on Learn Cornish Now.

Could you check the translations that are already on the page, and provide ones if other languages?

Have you ever used this phrase as a chat-up line or conversation opener?

What other phrases have you used?

A bit of a breeze

By Simon

One of the words that came up at the French conversation group this week was brise (breeze), which appears in the following expressions:

– pare-brise = windscreen / windshield
– brise matinale = early breeze
– brise insulaire = island breeze
– brise de mer = sea breeze
– brise de terre = land breeze

The French word brise and the English word breeze come possibly from the Old Spanish briza (cold northeast wind), which was used from the 1560s in West Indies and the Spanish Main to mean a “northeast trade wind”, and then a “fresh wind from the sea”. Breeze came to mean a “gentle or light wind” from the 1620s, and something easy from the 1920s in the USA.

Alternatively the English word breeze might come from is from East Frisian brisen (to blow fresh and strong), or the Saterland Frisian briese ‎(breeze) or the Dutch bries ‎(breeze).

Apparently as well as being a light, gentle wind, a breeze can be:

– Any wind blowing across a cricket match, whatever its strength.
– Any activity that is easy, not testing or difficult.
– Ashes and residue of coal or charcoal, usually from a furnace.
– An excited or ruffled state of feeling; a flurry of excitement; a disturbance; a quarrel.

Sources: Online Etymology Dictionary, Wiktionary and Reverso

Les mots de le semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
la brise breeze awel
convenable; adéquat; apte suitable addas
la poterie pottery crochenyddiaeth; crochenwaith
sculpté; gravél ciselé carved cerfiedig; nadd
tailler; sculpter; grave; ciseler to carve cerfio; carfio; naddu
plongée diving plymio
luxuriant lush toreithiog; iraidd; ir
enflé; gonflé swollen wedi chwyddo
la cheville ankle ffêr; migwrn
le bord edge min; ymyl
le pare-choc bumper (on car) bymper; ffender
le course à travers champ cross-country (race) ras ar draws gwlad / traws gwlad
seul; solitaire lonely unig; digwmni

Omniglot app

By Simon

There is now an Omniglot app for Andriod developed by علي الساعدي (Ali al-saaedi Ali shirpaz) from Iraq. It only works online at the moment, and is available here.

Any comments or suggestions on how it might be improved are welcome.

Many thanks to علي الساعدي for doing this.

Joskins, bumpkins and yokels

By Simon

Last week a friend asked me about the origins of the word joskin [ˈdʒɒskɪn], which I hadn’t come across before. According to the Urban Dictionary it is defined as follows:

North-Walian term used in both English and Welsh to describe anyone from a rural or farming background. It is used both affectionately and in a derogatory way depending on the audience.

Example: He’s a right joskin – he’s got a tractor and everything.

According to the Collins English Dictionary joskin is a slang word meaning “a country bumpkin; hick”.

Wiktionary suggests that is comes from the dialect word joss (bump) and (bump)kin. Alternatively it comes from the name Joseph + (bump)kin [source].

Bumpkin, a clumsy, unsophisticated person or a yokel, apparently comes from the Dutch boomken ‎(shrub, little tree) [source]. Or it might come from the Dutch bommekijn (small cask), from the Middle Dutch bomme (cask) [source], and was also used as a derogatory reference to short and dumpy Dutch people [source].

Yokel possibly comes from German dialect word Jokel, a diminutive of Jakob, or an English dialect word meaning woodpecker [source].

What other words are there for joskins?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
l’attaque d’apoplexie (f);
la congestion cérébral		 stroke strôc; trawiad
avoir un accident vasculaire cérébral to have a stroke cael strôc / trawiad
caresser to stroke tynnu llaw; anwesu
le trait de génie stroke of genius fflach / strôc o athrylith
le coup de chance stroke of good luck tamaid / tipyn / strôc o lwc
aller se promener to go for a stroll mynd am dro
l’atrophie (f) atrophy gwywiad; edwiniad; crebachiad
la corbeille d’arrivée;
la corbeille de courriers à traiter;
le classeur pour le courrier entrant		 in tray cawell derbyn; basged dderbyn
le courrier sortant out tray cawell allan
le plateau tray hambwrdd
le casier pigeon-hole twll colomen; cloer; colomendwll
cousin(e) au deuxième degré first cousin once removed plentyn eich cefnder/cyfnither
petit(e) cousin(e) second cousin cyfyrder (m); cyfyrderes (f)
enfant unique only child unig plentyn
le tonneau barrel (beer; wine) casgen; baril
la casque barrel (fish) casgen; baril
le baril barrel (oil) casgen; baril
l’animal empaillé;
l’animal en peluche		 stuffed animal anifail stwffiedig
le cogneur; le malabar bruiser colbiwr; paffiwr
diriger to conduct (an orchestra) arwain; tywys(u)
le chef d’orchestre conductor tywyswr; tywysydd; arweinydd
l’entrepôt warehouse warws; stordy; strorfa
la taille size maint
le pic woodpecker cnocell y coed
marcher sur la chaussée to jaywalk croesi diofal

World Museum

By Simon

World Museum in Liverpool

Information panel from the World Museum in Liverpool with Inuktitut syllabics

Last Sunday I went to Liverpool for a polyglot meet-up. Before the meet-up I went to the World Museum, which is fascinating and well worth a visit.

Among the artifacts and exhibits, there are examples of languages and scripts from around the world, including Cuneiform tablets from Sumeria, a Mayan codex and other artifacts with Mayan writing, and a collection of artifacts from the arctic with Inukutitut syllabics on the information panels (see photo).