Tag: English

Fire Arrows

By Simon

The other day the word 火箭 (huǒ​jiàn) came up in my (Mandarin) Chinese lessons. It means rocket or literally “fire arrow”.

2207太空中心＿ARRC火箭專案＿屏東旭海

I knew that the first characters meant fire, but wasn’t sure about the second character. Once I knew that the word meant rocket, I guessed that the second character meant arrow or something similar. I was right.

One of the things I like about Chinese is that rather than borrowing words other languages, they often coin new words based on native roots, or borrow words from Japanese that are based on Chinese roots.

Other examples featuring the character 火 (huǒ​), which means fire, flame, burn, anger or rage, include:

  • 火车 [火車] (huǒ​chē) = train, (lit. “fire cart / vehicle”).
  • 火印 (huǒyìn) = brand, branded mark (lit. “fire seal”)
  • 火山 (huǒshān) = volcano (lit. “fire mountain” – should not be confused with a 山火 (shānhuǒ) = mountain fire, wildfire
  • 火筷子 (huǒkuàizi) = fire tongs, hair curling tongs (lit. “fire chopsticks”).
  • 火石 (huǒshí) = flint (lit. “fire stone”)
  • 火药 (huǒyào) = gunpowder (lit. “fire medicine”)
  • 火星 (huǒ​xīng) = (the planet) Mars, spark (lit. “fire star”) – not to be confused with 星火 (xīnghuǒ​) = spark, meteor.
  • 火星人 (huǒ​xīngrén) = Martian (lit. “fire star person”) – borrowed from Japanese 火星人 (kaseijin)
    [source]

The character 箭 (​jiàn) means arrow and appears in words like:

  • 射箭 (shèjiàn) = to shoot an arrow, to let loose an arrow; archery
  • 弓箭 (gōngjiàn) = bow and arrow
  • 弓箭手 (gōngjiànshǒu) = archer
  • 箭猪 [箭豬] (jiànzhū) = porcupine (lit. “arrow pig”).
  • 箭鱼 [箭魚] (jiànyú) = swordfish (lit. “arrow fish”).
    [source]




Ashen Hearted

By Simon

The word 灰心 (huī​xīn) came up in my Chinese lessons recenlty. It could be translated literally as ‘ashen heart’ or ‘heart of ash(es)’, but what does it actually mean?

Discouraged

灰心 (huī​xīn) means to lose heart, to be discouraged or to despair. 灰 (huī​) means ash(es), dust, lime or mortar, and 心 (​xīn) means heart, mind, intelligence or soul [source].

灰 can also mean grey/gray when combined with 色 (sè – colour), as in 灰色 (huī​sè), so I thought at first that 灰心 meant ‘grey heart’ [source].

Related phrases include 灰心喪氣 (huīxīnsàngqì), which means disheartened, discouraged, downhearted, downcast or in dispair, or literally “ash heart lose qi”, and 心灰 (xīnhuī), which means extremely disappointed or discouraged [source].

The character 心 (​xīn) also appears in phrases such as:

  • 开心 [開心] (kāixīn) = happy, delighted, to make fun of (sb), to open up the mind, to enlighten the mind, (lit. “open heart”).
  • 关心 [關心] (guānxīn) = to be concerned about, to care for, to put first, (lit. “closed heart”).
  • 担心 (dānxīn) = anxious, worried, uneasy, to worry, to be anxious (lit. “to carry (the) heart”).
  • 小心 (xiǎoxīn) = to be careful of something, to mind, to beware of, to take care, to be careful (lit. “small heart”).
  • 耐心 (nàixīn) = patient (lit. “to withstand (the) heart”).
  • 黑心 (hēi​xīn) = ruthless and lacking conscience (lit. “black heart(ed)”).
  • 好心 (hǎoxīn) = goodheartedness, kindness (lit. “good heart(ed)”) [source].




Dressed to Pieces

By Simon

The word ワンピース (wanpīsu) came up in my Japanese lessons the other day. You could translate it as ‘one-piece’, and it refers to an article of clothing, but which one?

SDF_2147

ワンピース (wanpīsu) [wàńpíꜜìsù] actually refers to a dress or other piece of clothing that comes in one piece, such as a bathing costume / swimsuit, and can be shortened to ワンピ(wanpi). It was borrowed from the English term one-piece, which is an adjective meaning ‘composed of a single integral unit, or so appearing’, e.g. a one-piece metal hammer, or a one-piece article of clothing, especially a swimsuit [source].

ワンピース (wanpīsu) or One Piece is also a manga series, an anime TV series and media franchise. Here’s some music from one of the One Piece spin offs, One Piece film RED, sung by Ado:

A similar word is ツーピース (tsūpīsu) [tsɨːpʲiːsɨ], which means a two-piece suit, particular women’s suits. It comes from English two-piece, which refers to a suit or dress in two pieces [source].

Similar words are also found in Korean: 원피스 (wonpiseu) [wʌ̹npʰi(ː)sʰɯ] = dress, and 투피스 (tupiseu) [ˈtʰu(ː)pʰi(ː)sʰɯ] = two-piece suit / dress [source].

Another word for dress in Japanese is ドレス (doresu), which was borrowed from English dress [source].

Incidentally, the English word dress comes from Middle English dressen (to arrange, put in order, to direct or aim), from Anglo-Norman / Old French drecier (to stand up, get to one’s feet), from Late Latin *dīrēctiāre (to guide, direct, put in order), from Classical Latin dīrēctus (laid straight, direct, straight), from Proto-Italic *dwizrektos, from dīrigō (lay straight, direct, distribute) [source].

Words from the same roots include address, adriot (deft, dexterous, skillful) and direct in English, dresser (to raise, build, lift, prepare) in French, addirizzare (to straighten, correct, direct, guide) in Italian, díreach (straight, direct, exact) in Irish, and derecho (straight, upright, right, correct) in Spanish [source].




Sadly Satisfying Assets

By Simon

What connects the word asset to the words satisfy and sad?

Hotels and Pounds

An asset [ˈæsɛt] is

  • A thing or quality that has value, especially one that generates cash flows.
  • Any component, model, process or framework of value that can be leveraged or reused.

It comes from assets, from Anglo-Norman as(s)etz (enough), from Old French as(s)ez (enough, sufficiently), from Early Medieval Latin ad satis (copiously), from ad (to) and satis (enough) [source].

Words from the same Latin roots include assai (very) in Italian and assez (enough, quite, rather) in French [source].

The English word (to) satisfy also comes from the same Latin roots, via Middle English satisfyen, Old French satisfier (to satisfy, to pay) and Latin satisfacere (to satisfy, content, secure, pay off), which comes from satis (enough) and faciō (to make, construct). [source].

The Latin word satis (adequate, enough, plenty, satisfactory, sufficient) comes from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂tis (satiation, satisfaction), from *seh₂- (to satiate, to satisfy) [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include sásaigh (to satisfy, to please) in Irish, zat (fed up, have had enough, drunk, sated, full) in Dutch, satt (not hungry, satiated, full, done, fed up, sick of) in German, and (to) satiate (to fill to satisfaction, to satisfy) and satiety in English [source].

The English word sad used to mean sated, satisfied, weary, steadfast, valiant, dignified, serious, grave, naughty, troublesome, wicked, unfashionable, etc. In Middle English it meant sated, weary, firm, solid, heard, considered, thoughtful, serious, etc. From the 14th century it was used to mean inspiring or having sorrow.

It comes from Old English sǣd (full, sated, weary), from Proto-West Germanic *sad (sated, full), from Proto-Germanic *sadaz (sated, satisfied), from PIE *seh₂- (to satiate, to satisfy) – the same root as asset and satisfy [source].




Losing Marbles

By Simon

If you say that someone has lost their marbles, you either mean that they can’t find their marbles, or that they’re crazy, mad, incompetent, are losing their mind, or are suffering from a mental illness.

Marbles

It’s not known exactly when or why losing one’s marbles came to be associated with losing one’s mind. One early example that connects marbles with mental capicity appears in a story from April 1898 in The Portsmouth Times, a newspaper from Ohio in the USA:

Prot. J. M. Davis, of Rio Grande college, was selected to present J. W Jones as Gallia’s candidate, but got his marbles mixed and did as much for the institution of which he is the noted head as he did for his candidate.

By the early 20th century, losing or not having all one’s marbles was commonly associated with a decent into madness. For example, American Speech, Vol. 2, No. 8 (May, 1927) has a collection of dialect words from West Virginia that includes the definition:

marbles, doesn’t have all his (verb phrase), mentally deficient. “There goes a man who doesn’t have all his marbles.”

One French equivalent of this idiom is perdre la boule, which literally means ‘to lose the ball’.

Other ways to say this in French include:

  • perdre le nord = ‘to lose the north’ – see also Losing the North
  • perdre la boussole = ‘to lose the compass’
  • perdre la raison = ‘to lose the reason’
  • perdre le sens commun = ‘to lose the common sense’
  • se perdre les oies = ‘to lose the geese’
  • péter les plombs = ‘to blow the fuses’
  • péter un câble = ‘to blow a cable’

Incidentally, perdre comes from the same root as the English word perdition (eternal damnation, hell, absolute run, downfall).

Are there interesing ways to say that someone has lost their marbles in other languages?

Sources:
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/lose-your-marbles.html
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perdre_la_boule#French
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perdo#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perdition#English




A Nexus of Connections

By Simon

What connects the words nexus, annex(e) and connection?

Nexus

A nexus [ˈnɛksəs] is form or state of connection; a connected group, network or web; or a centre or focus of something. It comes from Latin nexus (bound, tied, fastened, connected, interwoven), from nectō (to connect, interweave, attach, bind, tie, oblige), possibly from nōdus (knot, bond, obligation) and/or nassa (a narrow-necked basket for catching fish) [source].

Apparently in Ancient Rome, a nexus was a person who had contracted a nexum or obligation of such a kind that, if they failed to pay, their creditor could compel them to work as a servant until the debt was paid. This practice was abolished in 326 BC [source].

If there is more than one nexus, there are several nexuses, nexusses or nexi. The plural in Latin is nexūs or nexûs, not nexi, by the way. Do you have a preferred plural for this word?

Related words include nexo (nexus, connection, sense, coherence) in Portuguese, nexo (link, connection, nexus) in Spanish and nexe (nexus, connection, link) in Catalan [source].

The word annex(e) (an addition, extension, appendix) also comes from the same roots, via French annexe (annex(e), appendix), from Latin annexus (tied, fastened, bound, related by blood), from annectō / adnectō (to bind, tie to, connect, annex), from ad- (to) and nectō (to connect, etc) [source].

Related words include anejo (accompaniment, affix) and anexar (to annex, attach) in Spanish, and annettere (to attach, add, annex, consolidate) in Italian [source].

Another connected word is the word connection, which comes from Middle English connexioun (connection), from Latin connexionem, from cōnexiō (junction, meeting, connection), from cōnectō (to connect, link, fasten together) from con- (with) and nectō (to connect, etc) [source].

Related words include connexe (closely related, connected) in French, connesso (connected, associated, linked, related) in Italian and conex (connected) in Romanian [source].




Yexing

By Simon

Have you yexed recently? If you have, what did you do to stop your yexes?

Hiccough

The word yex [jɛks] sounds like a made-up word you might find in a children’s book or linguistic experiment – the wug is yexing, yesterday it yex__. However, it is, in fact, a genuine English word, though archaic. As a noun, it means a hiccough / hiccup, belch or burp, and as a verb, it means to hiccough, belch or burp [source].

The verb to yex comes from Middle English yexen [ˈjɛksən] (to hiccough, belch, yawn, gulp, swallow convulsively, gasp, sob) from Old English ġiscian [ˈjis.ki.ɑn] (to sigh, sob), from Proto-West Germanic *giskōn (to gasp, yawn, gulp), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeys- (gaping, cracked) [source].

The noun yex comes from Middle English yexe / ȝ(e)oxe (the condition of having the hiccoughs), from Old English ġeocsa [ˈjes.kɑ] (sobbing, hiccough), which comes from the same roots as the verb [source].

Words from the same roots include ye(e)sk (a hiccough, belch, the hiccoughs) and to yesk (to hiccough, belch, vomit) in Scots [source], and yux (to sob, weep loudly) in Yola [source].




Mouchard

By Simon

One of the words that came up last night in the French conversation group was mouchard, which means an informant and various other things. I thought I’d look into it in more detail here.

Histoire de moucharder

Mouchard [mu.ʃaʁ] can mean:

  • a snitch, grass or tell-tale (police informant) – also known as indic, cafteur or cafard in French
  • a bug (hidden microphone)
  • a spyhole or peephole
  • a tachograph (device that records the distance and time traveled by a vehicle)
  • (a piece of) spyware
  • a spyplane
  • a black box, flight recorder

It comes from mouche (a fly, bullseye, historically: a spy employed by the ancien régime to seek out subversive ideas) and -ard (pejorative suffix), from Middle French mousche (a fly), from Old French m(o)usche (a fly) [source], from Latin musca (a fly, an inquisitive or prying person) , from Proto-Indo-European *mu(s)/*mews- (fly). Words from the same roots include midge in English and Mücke (midge, gnat, crane fly, mosquito) in German [source].

Related words include:

  • mouchardage = informing, grassing, ratting
  • moucharder = to rat (on), to tell tales

The French word mouchard has also been borrowed into English, and means an undercover investigator or a police spy, especially in a French-speaking country, or an inverted compass hanging above the captain’s bed. The activity of such people is known mouchardism [source].

Other fly-related expressions in French include:

  • faire mouche = to hit the bullseye, to come off, to hit home, to hit the nail on the head
  • mouche de coche = back-seat driver (person who pretends to be useful by offering unsolicited advice or by running around without actually doing any work)
  • pattes de mouche = scrawl, chicken scratch (illegible handwriting)
  • prendre la mouche = to get offended, to get in a huff, to fly off the handle [source]

Are there interesting equivalents of mouchard in other languages?




Pouring Rain

By Simon

Yesterday it rained quite a lot here in the UK, and rather heavily at times. This got me thinking about the saying it never rains but it pours.

Pouring Rain

This expression means unfortunate events occur in quantity or misfortunes never come singly. A related saying is bad things come in threes. Fortunately this wasn’t the case for me yesterday, apart from a few minor delays and disruptions on the trains I took [source].

It never rains but it pours can apparently also refer to good things happening all at once or to excess, though I suspect the negative meaning is more common. It first appears in It Cannot Rain But It pours, an article by Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope in Prose Miscellanies, and in It cannot Rain but it Pours OR, London ſrowʼd [strowed] with Rarities, a book by John Arbuthnot published in 1726 [source].

There are similar expressions in other languages, including some that refer to rain:

In some languages such sayings mean something like ‘misfortunes do not come alone’ or ‘a misfortune seldom comes alone’:

Here a few other examples that don’t mention rain or misfortune:

  • Ar ein skriðan er lopin er onnur væntandi = when one landslide is over, another is waiting (Faroese)
  • Sjaldan er ein báran stök = rarely is a single bear alone (Icelandic)
  • Nuair a thig air duine, thig air uile = when it befalls one, it befalls all (Scottish Gaelic)




Bons mots

By Simon

What connects bons mots with mottos and muttering? Let’s find out.

bon mot test 2 stitch-out

A bon mot [bɒn məʊ / bɑn moʊ] in English means a clever saying, a phrase or witticism or a witty riposte in dialogue. It comes from French bon mot [bɔ̃ mo], which means the same thing, or literally “good word”. You can also find bon mot in Dutch, Indonesian and other languages [source].

The word mot [mo] in French means a word, note, (short) message or the answer to an enigma. It comes from Middle French mot (word), from Old French mot (word), from Late Latin muttum (a mutter, grunt), from muttīre (to mutter, murmur, talk quietly) from muttiō (to mutter, murmer), which is of onomatopoeic origin and signifies “make a mu-noise” [source].

Other French expressions featuring mot include:

  • demi-mot = a hint (“half-word”)
  • fin mot = the real story, the (whole) truth (“final word”)
  • gros mot = dirty word, swear word (“coarse / rough word”)
  • grand mot = a strong word, strong term (“big-word”)
  • demi-mot = a hint (“half-word”)
  • mot d’esprit = a witticism, bon mot (“word of spirit / wit”)
  • dernier mot = last word

Other words from the same roots possibly include mot (word) in Catalan, motto and mutter in English, mote (nickname, motto) in Spanish, Motto (motto, slogan) in German and motto (philosophy, motto, watchword, byword) in Polish [source].

By the way, the plural of bon mot in French is bons mots, but in English it can be bon mots or bons mots. What about in other languages?