Month: April 2024

Omniglot News (28/04/24)

By Simon

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Omniglot News

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot.

There are new language pages about:

  • Central Teke (Tɛgɛ) – a Bantu language spoken in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Catio (ẽberã) – a Chocoan language spoken mainly in northwestern Colombia.
  • Pagibete (Apagibete) – a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • Kukuya (Kikukuya) – a Bantu language spoken in the Plateaux Department in the Republic of the Congo

New constructed script: Pan-Caucasian alphabet, a unified writing system proposed by Vazgen R. Ghazaryan for the Northwest Caucasian and Northeast Caucasian languages.

Sample text in the Pan-Caucasian Alphabet script

New numbers pages:

  • Central Teke (Tɛgɛ) – a Bantu language spoken in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • Babine-Witsuwitʼen, a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in parts of British Columbia in Canada.

New page about telling the time in: Swahili (Kiswahili).

On the Omniglot blog there’s a new post entitled Surfing the Mountains, about French words for snowboarding, and the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language is spoken in Poland.

The mystery language in last week’s language quiz was
Tongva, an Uto-Aztecan language which was spoken in Southern California and which is currently being revived.

In this week’s Celtic Pathways podcast we’re sweeping French floors with Celtic Brooms.

On the Celtiadur blog there are new posts about words for Barns, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Brushes and Broom and Grey.

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

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Celtic Pathways – Brooms

By Simon

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In this episode we’re sweeping French floors with Celtic shrubs.

brooms

The Proto-Celtic word *banatlo- means broom, as in the shrub Cytisus scoparius (a.k.a. common broom / Scotch broom) or similar plants. It comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰenH-tlom (way, path) in the sense of “cleared path (in a wood)” [source].

Related words in the modern Celtic languages include:

  • bealaidh [bɛl̪ˠɪ] = broom in Scottish Gaelic
  • banadl [ˈbanadl] = broom in Welsh
  • banadhel = broom in Cornish
  • balan [ˈbɑːlãn] = broom in Breton

They all mean broom, as in the shrub, although the exact species of broom plant they refer to may vary from language to language.

According to An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language by Alexander MacBain (1982), there is a cognate in Irish: beally/i, however it doesn’t appear in any of the Irish dictionaries I’ve checked.

The French word balai (broom, broomstick, brush) ultimately comes from the same Proto-Celtic root, via Old French balain (bundle of broom), Middle Breton balain, balazn, Old Breton balan (broom) and Gaulish *balano- (broom, broom plant), as does bálago (straw, Spanish broom) in Spanish and balea (broom) in Galician, possibly via Celtiberian *bálago-, *bálaco- [source].

Words same PIE roots possibly include bana (course, path, trajectory) in Swedish, baan (road, path, track, job, orbit) in Dutch, and Bahn (route, trail, railway) in German [source].

More about words for Brushes and Broom and related things in Celtic languages.

Incidentally, the tune at the beginning of this episode is one of my own compositions called Apple Blossom / Blodau Afal. Here’s a longer recording of it:

You can find more connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog. I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

Omniglot News (21/04/24)

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Omniglot News

Here’s the latest news from the world of Omniglot for the past three weeks – I was away on holiday in Scotland for a week, and didn’t have time to record newscasts during that time. (More on that later).

There are new language pages about:

  • Niuatoputapu-Tafahi, an extinct Polynesian language or dialect cluster which was spoken on the islands Niuatoputapu and Tafahi in what is now Tonga.
  • Isinai, a Central Cordilleran language spoken in the Province of Nueva Vizcaya in Luzon in the Philippines.
  • Owa, a Southern Solomonic language spoken in Makira-Ulawa Province in the Solomon Iands.
  • Desano, Carapana (Mõxtã), Tuyuca (Docapúaraye), and Yurutí, which are all Eastern Tucanoan language spoken in Colombia and in Brazil.

New constructed script: Marubhasha, an alternative way to write Telugu invented by K. Kiran Kumar.

Sample text in the Marubhasha script

New constructed script: Erm, an alternative way to write English invented by Jeffy Huang and based mainly on the classical Mongolian script.

Sample text in the Erm script

New constructed script: Ayxanər, which was created by Ayxan Eyvazov as an alternative way to write the Azerbaijani language.

Sample text

New phrases and numbers pages: Dogri (डोगरी), a Western Pahari language spoken in northern India.

New numbers pages:

  • Saurashtra (ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬꢵ), a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken in Tamil Nadu in southern India.
  • Chorti (Ch’orti’), a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
  • Midland Mixe (Ayüük), a Mixe-Zoque language spoken in Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

New Tower of Babel translation: Midland Mixe (Ayüük)

On the Omniglot blog there are new posts about Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (the Scottish Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye where I spent most of my holiday), Turas Fada (Long Journey) (about my journey to Skye), Giving Up (a April’s fool post), and Mr(s) Rumbling, about the Japanese word ごろごろ様 (gorogoro sama – thunder). There’s also the usual Language Quiz. See if you can guess what language this is:

Here’s a clue: this language was spoken in California in the USA, and is currently being revived.

The mystery language in language quiz of 7th April was
Interslavic (Меджусловјански / Medžuslovjanski), an international auxiliary language designed to be used by speakers of different Slavic languages to communicate with one another.

The mystery languages in the language quiz of 14th April were
Assamese (অসমীয়া), an Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken in India, Bangladesh and Bhutan, and Sylheti (ছিলটী), and Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bangladesh and India.

The recordings comes from YouTube:

New article: Lights, Camera, Action! Unleash the Power of Movies for Language Learning

In this week’s Adventure in Etymology, entitled Stable Stables, we find out whether the words stable (a building for horses) and stable (steady, permanent) are related.

On the Celtiadur blog there are new posts about words for Lies and Deceit and Ploughs, and I made improvements to the posts about words for Bridges, Seals and Purple.

I also made improvements to the Tindi, Kryts, Budukh, Hunzib, Bagvalal, Mi’kmaq, Guanano, Tzotzil, Tzeltal and Kubachi language pages.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

In other news, I had a great time in Scotland doing a course in Scottish Gaelic songs at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on the Isle of Skye. This is the tenth time I’ve been there doing courses in Gaelic songs, and we learnt about 30 songs in 5 days in the song class. I knew some of them already, but most were new to me. I’ve been learning Scottish Gaelic on and off for many years and speak it fairly fluently, so I tried to speak it as much as possibly while I was there. I also had conversations in French, Irish, Welsh, Mandarin Chinese and even English.

Gaelic Song Class April 2024
Gaelic Song Class April 2024 / Clas Òrain Ghàidhlig Giblean 2024

For more Omniglot News, see:
https://www.omniglot.com/news/
https://twitter.com/Omniglossia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/
https://www.facebook.com/Omniglot-100430558332117

JapanesePod101.com

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM or podtail.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo

Adventures in Etymology – Stable Stables

By Simon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this Adventure in Etymology we find out whether the words stable (a building for horses) and stable (steady, permanent) are related.

Stables

A stable is:

  • a building for the lodging and feeding of horses, cattle, etc.
  • a collection of animals housed in such a building. [other meanings are available]

It comes from Middle Englsh stable (a building for horses), from Anglo-Norman stable (a place for keeping animals), from Latin stablum (dwelling, stable, hut, tavern), from stō (to stand, stay, remain) and‎ -bulum (instrumental suffix) [source].

In Old English, a stable was a horsern [ˈhorˠzˌerˠn] (“horse place”) [source] or a steall [stæ͜ɑll], from which we get the word stall (a compartment for a single animal in a stable or cattle shed) [source].

As an adjective stable means:

  • Relatively unchanging, steady, permanent; firmly fixed or established; consistent; not easily moved, altered, or destroyed

It comes from Middle English stable, from Anglo-Norman stable / stabel (stable, firm), from Latin stabilis (firm, steadfast), from stō (to stand, stay, remain) and -abilis (able). It displaced the Old English word for stable, staþolfæst [ˈstɑ.ðolˌfæst] [source].

So it seems that these two words do come from the same roots. Other words from the same roots include stage, stand, state and stamina in English, stabbio (pen, fold, pigsty) in Italian, estar (to be) in Spanish, and ystafell (room, building, house) in Welsh [source].

I forget mention on the podcast, but the reason I chose the word stable for this adventure is because it’s related to the Scottish Gaelic sabhal [sa.əl̪ˠ] (barn), which comes from Middle Irish saball, from Latin stabulum [source], and I’ve just spent a week doing a course in Scottish Gaelic songs at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (“Ostag’s Big Barn”), the Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye [more details].

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podchaser, Podbay or Podtail and other pod places.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com

I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.

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