| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| le poney (des îles Shetland) | (Shetland) pony | merlen; merlyn; poni (Shetland) | pone (Shetland) |
| la mouette tridactyle | kittiwake | gwylan goesddu | karaveg |
| l’ornithologue | ornithologist | adaregwr, adaregydd | evnoniour |
| l’orinthologue amateur | bird-watcher; twitcher | gwyliwr adar; sbeciwr ar adar | evnoniour amatour |
| la menuiserie | woodwork (joinery) | gwaith coed | munuzerezh |
| sortir d’un peu partout | to crawl out of the woodwork | ||
| la charpenterie | carpentry | gwaith coed/saer; saernïaeth | frammerezh; kilvizerezh |
| l’ébénisterie (f) | cabinetmaking | gwaith saer | ebenouriezh |
| le cil | eyelash | blewyn amrant; blewyn llygad | (blev) malvenn |
| le sourcil | eye brow | ael | abrant |
| pire | worse | gwaeth | gwashoc’h |
| empirer | to worsen | gwaethygu; mynd yn waeth | gwashañ |
| ne faire que empirer | to get worse and worse | mynd o ddrwg i waeth | gwashoc’h-gwashañ |
| au pire | if the worst comes to the worst | os daw hi i’r pen; ar y gwaethaf | ar gwashañ |
Write
Last night a friend asked me why the word write begins with a silent w, so I thought I’d investigate.
According to the OED, the word write comes from the Old English wrítan (to incise, engrave, write, draw; bestow by writing). It is related to the Old Frisian wrîta (to score, write) and the Old Saxon wrîtan (to cut, write), which all come from the from Proto-Germanic *writanan (to tear, scratch).
So it seems that the w goes back to Proto-Germanic, a reconstructed ancestor of all Germanic languages which is thought to have been spoken between about 500 BC and 500 AD.
Does anyone know if the w in write used to be pronounced?
Shoogle
One interesting word I’ve heard people using in Shetland is shoogle [ʃogl; ʃugl; ʃʌgl; ʃʌugl], which means;
– to sway, move unsteadily, to rock, wobble, swing;
– to shake, joggle, to cause to totter or rock, to swing backwards and forwards;
– to jog along, move with little unsteady jerks; to shuffle in walking
It is also written shogle, schogle, shooggle, shougle, shuggle and shochle, and comes from the word shog (jolt, shake), from the Middle English shoggen, shaggen [source].
A related word is shoogly, which means wobbly.
Here are a few examples of usage (from the Dictionary of the Scots Language):
– It’s a bit rusty but it still works – you just have to give the key a bit of a shoogle in the lock.
– Gie the salad dressin a shoogle tae mix it right.
– It was gey shoggly and sometimes I fell off.
– Will I hae to shoogle hands wi’ a’ that crood?
I just like the sound of this word.
Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
Staying, stopping and living
I noticed recently that in Scottish English and Scots people use the word stay to mean that you live in a place, i.e. that you live there on a permanent or long-term basis.
When I hear this I usually know what is meant from the context, but it can be ambiguous at times, as to me a stay usually a short-term thing, such as holiday. I would use live to indicate a long-term stay – e.g. I live in Bangor, but am currently staying with a friend in Lerwick in Shetland.
According to the Online Scots Dictionary, stey [stəi] means “To stay, to remain, tarry. To dwell, reside permanently, to make one’s home.”
Related words include:
– bide [bəid] = to dwell, reside, wait, stay, await, stay for, remain
– stap [stap] = to live or stay at an address (among many other meanings)
– wone [wɔn, wɪn] = to dwell, live, stay habitually. To accustom oneself to, be reconciled to.
I can’t find an equivalent Scots words for a short-term stay, though I think bide is used in this context, particularly in Shetland.
In other varieties of English and in other languages is there a distinction between a short-term stay and a long-term one?
Partners, other halves and significant others
There was some discussion last night at the polyglot conversation group about the words boyfriend and girlfriend and their equivalents in other languages, particularly in Dutch. In English the words boyfriend and girlfriend seem to indicate someone who is relatively young, so don’t seem quite appropriate for use by more mature couples when referring to each other. There are many alternatives, including partner, life partner, other half, better half, companion, gentleman/lady friend, soul mate, significant other, sweetheart, lover, paramour and so on. Do you use or do you know others?
In Dutch it’s much easier – a special male friend is referred to as mijn vriend (my (male) friend), and a special female friend is referred to as mijn vriendin (my (female) friend). A non-intimate friend is simply een vriend(in) (a friend) or een vriend(in) van mij (a friend of mine).
In Welsh it’s straightforward as well – cariad covers both boyfriend and girlfriend, and cyfaill or ffrind is used for ordinary friends.
Les mots de le semaine
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| le mine (de charbon) | (coal) mine | mwynfa (glofa; pwll glo) | poull-glaou |
| le mine | (explosive) mine | ffrwydryn | min |
| se venger (de qn) | to take one’s revenge (on sb) | dial (ar rywun) | venjiñ |
| ingénieux; astucieux | clever (device, system) | dyfeisgar; medrus | ijinek; barrek |
| à double vitrage | double-glazed | dwbl-wydrog | gweradur doubl |
| le double vitrage | double glazing | ffenestri dwbl; gwydro dwbl | |
| le store | (window) blind | cysgodlen; bleind | rideoz |
| le volet | (window) shutter | caead | stalaf |
| le rideau | curtain | llen; cyrten | rideoz |
| le valeurs mobilières; les titres | stocks and shares | stociau a chyfrannau | teulioù |
| toxicomane; accro | addict | adict | drammgaezhiad |
| l’ardoisière (f) | slate quarry | chwarela llechi | meinglazeg |
| la déesse | goddess | duwies | doueez |
| la lance | spear | gwaywffon | goaf |
| la hanche | hip | clun | lez |
| nier; refuser | to deny | gwadu | nac’hañ |
| creuser; bêcher | to dig | cloddio; palu | kleuzañ; palarat |
Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
New server
Currently I’m in the middle of moving Omniglot to a new web server provided by Kualo. This is going smoothly so far, but if you notice any error messages of other strangeness, don’t panic! The new server is managed, so any problems that might occur should be fixed quickly. My current server is ‘managed’ by me, and I’m no expert in running one. I chose Kualo because they offer a good deal, and because they are a green company who run on renewable energy.
My home runs mainly on renewable energy, supplied by Ecotricty, and I am planning to switch to a broadband and phone provider that is run on a co-operative model and uses renewable energy. I support renewable energy because it seems like a sensible thing to do.
Feeling at home in a language and culture
The other day a friend of a friend asked me whether I’d found a language and/or culture in which I felt ‘at home’. She told me about someone she knows who has studied many languages and is always looking for a language community (other than his native one) where he fits in and feels comfortable – he has yet to find one. I hadn’t really thought about language learning in this way before. Have you?
I suppose that whenever I visit other countries and communities I kind of try them on for size and imagine what it would be like to live in them in the medium to long term. Each one has aspects that appeal to me, and others that I’m not so keen on – things like language, food, climate, scenery, music, etc. I’ve felt reasonably at home in various parts of British Isles and Ireland, in Taipei and Hong Kong, and in Australia and New Zealand.