Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
When is a moose not a moose?
In North America a moose is a large member of the deer family, also known by its Latin name alces alces. The word moose comes from Algonquian languages, such as the Naragansett moos or the Eastern Abenaki mos. These words are thought to come from moosu (“it strips”), from the Proto-Alonquian mo.swa.
The same animal is known as an elk in British English, and is called something similar in quite a few other European languages: elc in Welsh, Elch in German, elg in Icelandic, Danish and Norwegian, älg in Swedish, alce in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, and alnis in Latvian [source].
The word elk refers to a different species of deer in North America, however, which is also known as the wapiti or cervus canadensis in Latin [source]. The name wapiti comes from the Cree or Shawnee waapiti (elk; white rump) [source].
In French a moose or elk is élan [eɪˈlɑːn], wapiti [wa.pi.ti] or orignal [ɔ.ʁi.ɲal]. Élan probably comes from Lativan [source]. Orignal refers to the Canadian moose and comes from the Basque word oreinak, plural of orein (deer) [source].
Moose is also a way to write mouse in Scots – it’s pronouned [mus], and features in the famous saying “there’s a moose loose aboot this hoose”, which comes from the song Hoots Mon by Harry Robinson [source].
So a moose is a moose, except when it’s an elk or a mouse.
Here’s a tune I wrote called The Loose Moose / Yr Elc Rhydd:
Photos by Faris Algosaibi and Andrew E. Russell. Found on Flickr.
Wonky Strawberries
Yesterday I bought some ‘naturally wonky strawberries‘ at the supermarket. They were cheaper than the non-wonky strawberries, and do not meet the same aesthetic standards, but taste just as good. Normally such imperfect fruit would be thrown away, so selling them reduces food waste. Also I like the word wonky, and thought I’d find out more about where it comes from.
Wonky means lopsided, misaligned, off-centre; feeble, shaky, rickety; generally incorrect. It can also refer to “A subgenre of electronic music employing unstable rhythms, complex time signatures, and mid-range synths”.
It comes from the Middle English wankel (unstable, shaky), from the Old English wancol (unstable), from the Proto-Germanic *wankulaz (swaying, shaky, unstable), from the Proto-Germanic *wankōną (to sway, be unsteady), from Proto-Indo-European *wa(n)k-, *wek-, *wag-, *weg- (to swing, be unsteady, slant, be crooked) [source].
Wonky is also the nickname of the main character in Jasper Fforde’s new novel, Early Riser, which I just finished reading, and really enjoyed. It includes made-up words and word play, so is linguistically interesting, and I’d thoroughly recommend it.
Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
Bread, loaves and circles
In most Slavic languages the word for bread is chleb or something similar: Czech & Polish: chleb, Slovak: chlieb, Russian & Belarusian: хлеб, Ukrainian: хліб, Bulgarian: хляб, Macedonian: леб.
These words all comes from the Proto-Slavic *xlěbъ (bread), from the Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz (bread). [source]. *hlaibaz is also the root of the English word loaf, the German Laib (loaf), and words for loaf in other Germanic languages [source].
However, in Slovenian the word for bread is kruh, which means circle or ring in Czech, although the Czech word probably comes from a different root [source]. It comes from the Proto-Slavic *kruxъ (chunk, bread), which comes from *krews (crush, break) [source].
The bread in the photo is a type of Slovenian potato bread known as krompirjev kruh. You can find recipes here (in Slovenian) and here (in English).
Učenje slovenščine (Learning Slovenian)
Yesterday I started learning Slovenian (slovenščina) in preparation for the Polyglot Conference in Ljubljana in Slovenia in October. I always try to learn at least a little of any languages I’m likely to encounter on my travels – it’s only polite.
I’m using a Memrise course, and may use other resources – if you have any suggestions, do let me know.
A few years ago I went to a polyglot conference in Novi Sad in Serbia, and learnt some Serbian before going there. Slovenian seems to have a lot in common with Serbian, so far.
There was a lass from Ljubljana learning Irish in Ireland last week, and she taught me a few useful Slovenian phrases.
Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
Time flies when you’re learning Irish
The Irish language and singing courses I’ve been doing this week finished today. Tonight there is a concert with a singer from Belfast, followed by a céilí. The week seems to have gone by quickly when I look back at it, but as I was experiencing it, it seemed to last longer.
I learnt some interesting things in the Irish language class, including proverbs, idioms, bits of grammar, and a few songs. In the sean-nós class I learned some new songs, and re-learned some old ones. Our teacher also told us about the background to the songs and the people who wrote them, which was fasciniating.
As well as speaking plenty of Irish this week, I’ve also spoke some Russian, French, Breton, Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. I can understand most of the Irish I hear, though find songs in Irish more difficult to follow. I can sing them, but don’t necessarily know all the words. This is partly because songs, especially the sean-nós ones, often include obscure words and dialect variations.
Spot the sheep
Tomorrow I’m off to Dublin, then I’ll return to Bangor on Sunday.
Angelic voices
Yesterday morning I studied some more Swedish, Danish and Russian, did a bit of work, and went for a walk around the misty glen.
In the afternoon we saw an interesting film in Irish – Ag Lorg Annie (Searching for Annie), which was made for the BBC by Kevin Magee, who is studying Irish here this week. The film is about a painting of a local girl, Annie McGinley, that was painted in the 1920s by the American artist, Rockwell Kent, who spent quite a bit of time in this area. Kevin wanted to find out more about the painting and where the original is now. He found the painting in a private collection in New York, and other paintings by Rockwell Kent in St Petersburg.
In the evening the local chapel was packed for a concert by Anúna, an Irish choir who sing beautiful arrangements of songs in Irish, English, Latin, Spanish. They specialize in old songs, and the oldest they sang last night was written in the 9th century, and sounded angelic.
There was another concert after that in Oideas Gael featuring Sean Mac Corraidh from Belfast, his daughter, and a singer from Tory island. They sang traditional Irish songs, and told some interesting stories.
In the Irish language class we talked about verbs and other things this morning, and in the sean-nós class this afternoon we learnt four songs, three of which were already familiar to me. This evening there is a talk about Féiniúlacht agus Teanga (Identity and Language) by a lecturer in psychology from Dublin.
The Misty Glen
After quite a long journey, I arrived on Glenn Cholm Cille last night. I met some people I know on the way and spent much the journey chatting with them, so it didn’t seem so long. We talked in a mixture of Irish and English, with odd bits of German and Spanish. Last night I also spoke quite a bit of French. I found at first that Scottish Gaelic kept interfering with the other languages, especially Irish. Now I’m in Irish mode though.
As the bus went further north and west into Donegal the mist and rain came down, and by the time we arrived in Gleann Cholm Cille, the mountains had disappeared. Hence the title of this post.
Here are some photos of Gleann Cholm Cille from previous visits. The ones I took today of the misty geln are not online yet, but will appear soon.
I’m here for the Irish Language and Culture Summer School (Scoil Samhraidh Teanga agus Cultúir) at Oideas Gael, the Irish language and culture centre I’ve been to for a week or two every summer since 2005.
There will be Irish language classes in the mornings, a choice of cultural workshops in the afternoons, and various events in the evenings – concerts, talks, music sessions, and so on.
One new worksop this year is an introduction to Welsh. Quite a few of my friends here have said they’re interested.
There are also a couple of film crews here who will be interviewing people during the week.
I plan to interview a few people about their Irish learning adventures for the next episode of my podcast.