I’m full / J’ai trop mangé

By Simon

When you’ve finished a meal and are asked if you’d like any more, in English you might decline the offer by saying “Thanks, but I’m full”; “No thanks, I’ve had plenty”; “No, I’d better not, thank you”; “Thanks, but I couldn’t eat another thing”; “No thanks, I’m stuffed”, or even “No thank you, I have had an elegant sufficiency and any more would be a superfluous indulgence.” Other ways to express this are discussed on this page.

In French you might say “J’ai trop mangé” (“I’ve eaten too much.”), “Je suis rassasié” (I’m satisfied), or “Je n’en peux plus” (“I can’t [take] any more.”) . One phrase to avoid, at least in France, is the literal translation of “I’m full” – Je suis plein – which means I’m pregnant or I’m drunk. Apparently in French-speaking parts of Belgium and Quebec Canada it’s fine to use it as it does mean “I’m full” [source].

How would you decline the offer in your language?

Is it polite to do so in your culture?

Logoburroo and other place names

By Simon

If an Australian visitor to the UK asked you for directions to somewhere they called Logoburroo [lɔgɜʉbəˈrʊː] would you know what place they were referring to?

A friend of mine heard an Australian pronouncing Loughborough, a town in Leicestershire in central England, in this way and thought it was an interesting attempt at the name. The usual pronunciation is [ˈlʌfbərə] (luff-buh-ruh) or [ˈlʌfbrə] (luff-bruh).

Loughborough features in the Doomsday Book of 1086 as ‘Lucteburne’, which possibly comes from the name Lehedeburh, “the town of Lehede” (named after someone called Lehede) [source].

Burh is variant form of the Old English word burg (city, town, fort, stronghold, dwelling place), which comes from the Proto-Germanic *burgz (fortification, stronghold, fortified city), from the Proto-Indo-European *bʰərgʰ- (fortified elevation), from *bʰerǵʰ- (to rise; high, lofty; hill, mountain) [source].

Borough, burgh, brough and bury, which all come from the Old English burg, are common elements in English place names, e.g. Loughborough, Canterbury and Middlesbrough; and are also found in Scottish place names as burch and burgh, e.g. Edinburgh and Jedburgh. Related words are also found in Dutch (burcht, burg, borg – castle, borough), French (bourg – market townn), German (burg – castle, fortifcation), and the Scandinavian languages (borg – castle, city).

The Proto-Indo-European root *bʰerǵʰ- (hill) is also the root of the Proto-Celtic word *brixs (hill), from which we get the Brythonic word *brigā, which is part of the name Brigantī, the Celtic tribe that occupied a large part of northern Britain at the time of the Roman invasion (43 AD). The element briga also appears in Gaulish place names; and from the same root is bre, an obsolete word for hill in Welsh, Cornish, Breton and Scottish Gaelic (also bré/brí in Irish).

Hill is usually bryn in Welsh, cnoc in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and torgenn in Breton; and the elements brae/bray/bre appear in some English, Irish and Scottish place names.

Incidentally, Leicestershire is pronounced [ˈlɛstəʃə] (lestuh-shuh).

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
le rouget red snapper brathwr coch (?)
saler to cure (by salting); to salt halltu
fumer to cure (by smoking); to smoke cochi; sychu mewn mwg; sychu trwy fwg
sécher to cure (by drying) sychu
traiter to cure (leather) cyweirio; barcio; cwrio
guérir to cure (illness, problem, habit) gwella; iach’au; mendio
le terrain de football football pitch mas/cae pêl-droed; cae ffwtbol
l’invasion de terrain pitch invasion ymosodiad ar faes

Curing, cleaning and caring

By Simon

Yesterday I discovered that there are quite a few different French translations of the verb to cure, depending on what kind of cure you’re talking about.

If you’re curing food by salting, the French equivalent is saler (to salt); curing by smoking is fumer (to smoke), and curing by drying is sécher (to dry). Curing leather is traiter (to treat), and curing illnesses, problems or habits is guérir (to cure, heal, recover).

The equivalents of these words in Welsh are:

– halltu = to cure (by salting)
– cochi (“to redden”); sychu mewn mwg; sychu trwy fwg = to cure (by smoking)
– sychu = to cure (by drying)
– cyweirio; barcio; cwrio = to cure (leather)
– gwella; iach’au; mendio = to cure (illness, problem, habit)

Do other languages have separate words for these?

The English word cure comes from the French curer, which means ‘to clean out’ in Modern French, and meant ‘to take care of, to clean’ in Old French, and comes from the Latin cūrāre (to care for, take care of, cure), from cūra (care, concern, trouble), from the Old Latin coira-, from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷeis- (to heed).

Sources: Reverso, OED, Online Etymology Dictionary, Wiktionary

Woordenschat

By Simon

Woordenschat en een woordenkist

I came across an interesting Dutch word today – Woordenschat [ˈʋoːɾdəsxɑt] – which means vocabulary. Woorden = words and schat = treasure, and also love honey, darling, sweetheart. So woordenschat is a “treasure of words” or “word treasure”. It reminds me of the English expression wordhoard, an alternative term for vocabulary, from the Old English wordhord.

Are there similarly interesting terms for vocabulary in other languages?

Woord also appears in such expressions as:

– woordafbreking = hyphenation (“word breaking/splitting/dividing”)
– woordelijk = verbatim, literal, word-for-word (“word like”)
– woordenboek = dictionary (“word book”)
– woordenlijst = glossary, word-list (“word list”)
– woordenrijk = verboose, volubly (“word rich”)
– woordenstroom = verbiage (“word flow”)
– woordenwisseling = altercation (“word exchange”)
– woordenzifter = nitpicker, niggler, hair-splitter (“word sifter”)

Schat also appears in such expressions as:

– schatje = baby, honey, sweetheart
– schatkist = treasure chest
– schatmeester = treasurer
– schatrijk = immensely rich

Producing oneself

By Simon

I came across an interesting expression in a French newspaper article I read today – se produire – which means to produce, occur, take place, perform, appear, and appears in such phrases as:

– devoir se produire = to be bound to happen
– se produire sur scène = to appear on stage
– ce qui risque de se produire = what could well happen; what might happen
– laisser se produire = to allow to happen
– se produire en concert = to play in a concert

One literal translation of this expression is “to produce oneself”, and I like the idea that I produced myself (as if from a hat 🙂 at a gig last week.

Source: Reverso

Les mots de le semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg
fin thin (layer, cable, wire, fingers, paper) tenau; main
maigre thin (person, animal, smile) tenau; main
mince thin (face, argument, evidence) main
léger thin (fabric, coat) tenau
peu épais thin (soup, sauce) tenau; dyfrllyd
clairsemé thin (hair) tenau; moel
désépaissir to thin (hair) teneuo; moeli
éclaircir to thin (trees) teneuo; mynd yn denau
délayer to thin (sauce, paint) teneuo
fluidifier to thin (blood) teneuo
susceptible thin-skinned croendenau
épais thick trwchus; tew
épaisser thicken tewhau; tewychu
insensible thick-skinned croendew
bête thick (person) twp; hurt; gwirion
au beau milieu de qch;
en plain cœur de qch		 in the thick of sth yng nghanol rhywbeth
être au cœur de l’action to be in the thick of it bod yn ei chanol hi
contre vents et marées through thick and thin drwy’r tew a’r tenau; doed a ddelo
la brochure (gen); le tract (pol) pamphlet llyfryn; pamffledyn; pamffled

Schurrbart

By Simon

Schnurrbart

I came across the wonderful German word Schnurrbart [ˈʃnʊrba:ɐ̯t] recently and just liked the sound of it. The Bart part means beard – you can see the connection – and the Schnurr part comes from schnurren (to purr).

According to Wikipedia: “Ein Schnurrbart ist ein über der Oberlippe wachsender Bart.” or “A moustache is an beard growing over the lip”, and it is also referred to as an Oberlippenbart (overlipbeard). A large moustache is called a Schnauzbart (Schnauze = lip, muzzle, snout).

Other words used for moustache in German include Bürste (brush), Schnauzer (a type of dog), Schnorres, Schnorrati, Sör, Rotzbremse (“snot brake”) and Popelfänger (“bogie catcher”). Do you know/use any others?

Other words for moustache in English include tache/tash, whiskers, face fungus, tea/soup strainer, snot catcher/mop, lip rug, and crumb catcher.

The English word moustache comes from French, from the Neapolitan word mustaccio.

Do moustaches have interesting names or nicknames in other languages?

Sources: bab.La dictionary, PONS dictionary, Wikipedia, howtogrowamoustache.com, OED