Tag: languages

Exploring Linguistic Connections with #RaufLikesEtymology | April 08 2025, 16:22

I continue with etymological curiosities. This is my third consecutive post, #RaufLikesEtymology. It all started when I stumbled upon an etymological dictionary and began processing it programmatically, extracting all sorts of things.

It turns out that the words “жёлтый” (“yellow”), “зелёный” (“green”), and “золото” (“gold”) share a common Indo-European root related to brightness and luster — *gьltъ, which in English, for instance, became the basis for both gold and yellow. In German, “gelb” (yellow) comes from there too. In Russia, “желтый” has been known since the 13th century as a nickname, and as an adjective in written sources only since the 14th century.

It turned out that “известь” (“lime”) and “асбест” (“asbestos”) come from the same word, the Greek ἄσβεστος.

It turns out that the words шифр (“cipher”), цифра (“digit”), and zero all come from the same word — the Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “nothing, zero”), which itself is a calque from Sanskrit शून्य (śūnya, “emptiness, nothing”).

Pushkin wrote in “Poltava”: “In the night’s darkness they, like thieves… // Craft the ciphers of universals…” “Universals” in the Ukrainian language of those days were called Hetman’s edicts, and “цифр” back then meant what we now call a cipher — “secret writing”.

Interestingly, the word “кантон” (Switzerland consists of 26 cantons) – originates from Chinese, from Guangdong.

It turned out that grotto and crypt — come from the same word, Latin grupta/crypta. Well, about Saturday and sabbath everyone knows (that they are one word by origin).

The Russian word “колесо (wheel) and the Indian “чакра (chakra) are linked by origin — both come from the same ancient root in Proto-Indo-European — *kʷékʷlos — “circle”, “wheel”, “rotating”. “Колесо came through the Slavic branch, while “чакра — through the Indian (Vedic-Sanskrit) branch.

The words cloak (“cloak”) and clock (“clock”) derive from medieval Latin clocca — “bell”, but entered English differently. Cloak arrived in the 13th century through French cloque, which meant both “cloak” and “bell” — due to the shape of the garment. Clock appeared later through Dutch clocke, denoting a church bell that marks the time; subsequently, it came to mean “clock”. The word bell (“bell”) already existed in English as a designation for a metallic ringing object, so there was no need to introduce another word for this.

The apricot has had a very interesting journey. Here, look at the attached picture. Borrowed in the early 18th century from Dutch, which itself had borrowed from Romance languages (for example, French abricot). It’s interesting to trace this word further: it turns out that in French, it came from Arabic, and in Arabic from Latin. Latin praecox meant “early-ripening”. Thus, praecox became abricot.

My little script churned out about 2 thousand examples from wiktionary. I pick the most interesting ones, but I think there’s enough material for about five more posts like this 🙂 Plus, I have more ideas on how to process to uncover even more interesting things.

Read more good stuff by clicking here –> #RaufLikesEtymology

Unveiling Surprising Connections in English Etymology | April 07 2025, 21:09

In the previous post, I wrote about the little program I developed that searches for words far apart but sharing common etymology. It keeps bringing me new discoveries. Sharing them!

The words chaos and gas are essentially the same. The chemist Jan Baptista van Helmont introduced ‘gas’ as he deciphered ‘chaos’ in his Dutch interpretation, from the Greek χάος. The letter g in Dutch conveys a sound remotely echoing the modern Greek ch. “In the absence of a name,” he wrote, “I called this vapor ‘gas’, as it stems closely from the ancient concept of chaos.” Meanwhile, the word gasoline has no relation to gas. It derives from Cazeline (possibly influenced by Gazeline—a name from an Irish imitation), a trademark for petroleum-based lamp oil, originating from the surname of the man who first started selling it in 1862—John Cassell—and the suffix -eline. The name Cassell itself comes from the Anglo-Norman castel (related to the English castle), which, in turn, traces back to the Old French castel.

Cattle, capital, and chattel are etymological twins of each other, also linked to capital—all through the root caput (“head”), reflecting the ancient practice of counting wealth in terms of cattle heads. By the way, caput also gives rise to chief and captain.

The same goes for the twins bank and bench. “Bank” originally meant “bench,” where a money changer sat, or the “counter” of a money exchanger. Compare typologically with the Russian word “лавка”—both “bench” and “store” (in old times—these were the same), “counter”—the place where trading happens, i.e., “by the bench.” The breaking of a bench—banca rotta—has also given us the word bankrupt (“bankrupt”), literally “broken bench.”

Separately interesting are Chicago/skunk. Chicago comes from the French Chécagou, a transcription of the word from the Miami people’s language šikaakwa—”wild onion” (or ramps, Allium tricoccum) and also “striped skunk.” Skunk means, in the same language, roughly “urinates badly” and indeed designates the skunk itself.

Hospital and hotel/hostel are also etymological twins. They trace back to hospes (“host, guest”).

Discussing that dress and director share a common root would take a lot, a supporting image is attached for help

Read more such good stuff by clicking here –> #RaufLikesEtymology

This translation preserves your style and maintains the HTML formatting as requested.

Global Names for the Same Melody | April 05 2025, 14:01

To my surprise, I discovered that our “Dog Waltz” is widely referred to here as “Shave and a haircut,” although in reality, Shave and a haircut is very well known as “knock! knockity-knock-knock… KNOCK-KNOCK!”.

I started digging. In Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway, it’s known as the “Flea Waltz” (Flohwalzer). In Bulgaria, it’s called “Cat March” (Bulg. Котешки марш), in Finland — “Cat Polka” (Fin. Kissanpolkka), in Korea — “Cat Dance” (Kor. 고양이 춤 Koyangi Chum), in Japan — “I Stepped on a Cat” (Jpn. 猫踏んじゃった Neko-funjatta), in Mexico — “Little Monkeys” (Spa. Los Changuitos), in Hungary — “Donkey March” (Hun. Szamárinduló), in Majorca — “Polka of Fools” (Spa. Polca de los Tontos), in China — “March of Thieves” (Chi. simpl. 小偷进行曲, pinyin. Xiǎotōu jìnxíngqǔ), in Spain — “The Chocolate Pot” (Spa. La Chocolatera), in France and Poland — “Cutlets (Chops)” (Fr. Côtelettes, Pol. Kotlety), in Switzerland — “Cutlet Waltz” (Ger. Kotelett-Walzer), in Denmark — “Meatballs Escape Over the Fence” (Dan. Frikadellens flugt over plankeværket), in Sweden — “Kalle Johansson” (Swe. Kalle Johansson), and so forth.

The piece is in 4/4 time, by the way. So it is something like a polka or galop. However, in the movie “Gentlemen of Fortune,” it is just the triple meter version found here and here.

Cultural Nuances in Chinese Piano Mastery | March 21 2025, 22:35

I recently heard an interesting thought about why there are so many Chinese on the piano scene, and why they are often associated with astonishing, virtuosic technique, but often lack emotional depth. The idea was that the Chinese language does not facilitate emotional intonation — this reflects on musical phrasing, artistic expressiveness. The tonal nature of Chinese, in which the pitch of vowels in four positions signifies different meanings of words, lacks what is found in the tradition of European languages — expression through intonation in speech as a reflection of human emotions. For the Chinese, expressing emotion through gestures, which in turn fit beautifully into the complex picture of national dance, Chinese theatre, is natural. But not in music. Moreover, for a Chinese person, copying what the best in the world do means much more than trying to create something own, individual. Indeed, we see this not only in music.

Denis Matsuev, when asked by a correspondent how China managed to create a real musical empire from virtually nothing, replied, “Because they present their culture as a national product. Today, if a boy is born in a family, he almost automatically enters a music school.”

The comment about weak intonation — weak compared to the very strong technique — applies to the average mass, but not to the top pianists, of course. But among these top performers, there are more Chinese than any other nationality. For instance, notable are Lang Lang, Yundi Li, Yuja Wang, Muye Wu, Haochen Zhang, and Ji Liu.

I’m thinking, maybe I should write about pianists and composers, as I sometimes write about artists. There’s a wealth of interesting stuff there, but musical videos don’t do so well on Facebook.

(The attached video features a 2.5-year-old)

Exploring the Secret Social Lives of Trees | March 05 2025, 00:14

I learned that trees exhibit a phenomenon called crown shyness, “застенчивость кроны” (see attached picture). Interestingly, it is observed only between the crowns of different trees (not different species, just different trees), but not between branches of the same tree. There’s no definitive explanation, only hypotheses. Apart from the mechanical theory, which inadequately explains its own branches but has weak evidence, there’s also a theory related to light exposure and a chemical theory. Both are somewhat questionable.

Furthermore, I found out that a vast clonal colony of quaking aspen is growing in Utah, USA. It’s the heaviest organism on the planet, all trees of which share the same genetic makeup and root system, covering an area of 43 hectares, and weighing approximately 6000 tons, making it the heaviest known organism. Its origins are estimated to be around 80,000 years old.

Additionally, I recently read that trees communicate with each other via mycorrhizal fungi. They warn their kin about animals that feast on them and pest attacks, and they also share nutrients and water with each other. In Africa, it has been observed that when giraffes start eating the leaves of acacias, the trees begin to release signaling pheromones, which “warn” neighboring trees downwind, and those trees start producing tannins and bitter chemicals. As a result, the giraffes find such tastes disagreeable and move on to search for another group of trees.

Navigating Life in a Spanish-Dominant World | February 25 2025, 23:50

Our half of the planet is primarily Spanish-speaking. 455 million (that’s 91% of all Spanish speakers) compared to 280 million English speakers. In other words, we, with our English, are in the minority here. Hence, it’s no surprise that during all my trips to Mexico and Colombia, my English was of no use to anyone. Even Portuguese is spoken almost as much as English, but Spanish leads the way.

Overall, I’m struggling here without Spanish. Nobody understands me. I have to explain complex concepts like “do you accept cards or only cash” or “how can I get to the library” using hand gestures.

It’s silly to wonder why they don’t teach English properly here. Probably, from their standpoint, we should be the ones learning Spanish, considering they outnumber us twofold, and Spanish is spoken in 19 countries, whereas English, or its variants, just in 13 (among them Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago).

Interestingly, in Canada French is an official language, yet it’s spoken throughout Americas as much as the Quechua language.

But the funniest thing is that the name of the city I’m currently in, Guadalajara, came from the Arabic Wādī al-Ḥijāra, which means “Valley of Stones” or “River flowing through stones.”

Exploring Ojibwe: Language, Cultural Heritage, and Translation Challenges | February 22 2025, 20:55

Interestingly, in the Toronto art museum, all labels are available not only in English and French but also in Ojibwe, also known as Anishinaabemowin (ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ); in the USA, the language is called Chippewa. The ethnonyms “Chippewa” and “Ojibwe” originate from the same word with different pronunciations, meaning “puckered”. It is the language of one of the largest Native American peoples in North America, roughly equal in number to the Cree, and second only to the Cherokee and Navajo. However, only about 10,000 people speak it in the USA and about 48,000 in Canada.

Chipmunk, wigwam, totem – these are borrowings from this language. And as for geographical names – there are loads. Illinois, Mississippi, Ottawa, Michigan.

Did you know that half (25) of the names of American states are named in honor of Native Americans? I found this very surprising at the time.

I inserted into the image another example of original, not adapted for the English alphabet, writing. These are the circles and stars, triangles. This is the Evans syllabic system. I don’t know how one can remember it: it consisted of only nine symbols, each of which could be written in four different orientations to represent different combinations of consonant and vowel. This allowed for a complete recording of the Ojibwe language. However, Evans’ superiors disapproved of his invention and prohibited its use. Later, he adapted his system for writing in Cree. Today, it is still found among some Ojibwe communities in Canada, but its use is limited. It is more common in Cree. In the USA, Ojibwe speakers mostly prefer Latin writing.

ChatGPT recognizes the language, but is unable to translate anything at all. There are also no online translators, and online dictionaries are very poor. Interestingly, the language has enough words to describe modern concepts.

I tried to translate Native expressions, which, according to the author’s intention, were supposed to mean “Europe” and “dilemma”, but nothing similar resulted. Then I compared how different LLMs translate a piece about the historical period of 1910–1930 when “Europe was shaken by war and its consequences”. Each system produces its own version of the text: some talk about the war on the Great Lakes, some about “the great bay” or spiritual practices, somewhere it’s even about protecting the Indian population (I fed them a text about artists). In the end, “war” is somewhat uniformly recognized (apparently, there are fifty words for war there), but the overall meaning varies significantly.