Translate, please? I speak only English, un poquito de Español, y un poquito to de Greek. It's sad how much Greek I have forgotten in two years.
I love the word octothorpe. Seriously, best ever.
Not an answer, Willowham, but...
I love the word octothorpe. Seriously, best ever.
And of course there's the stupidly long word with no real need to exist, antidisestablishmentarianism. Favorite of a friend who tried to impress everyone by rattling it off in conversation every once in a while, without it pertaining to the sentence in any way...
Oh oh, and my favorite Lithuanian word so far is the word for thank you. A?i?. Which keeps not showing up correctly on my screen for some reason.
YES.
And of course there's the stupidly long word with no real need to exist, antidisestablishmentarianism. Favorite of a friend who tried to impress everyone by rattling it off in conversation every once in a while, without it pertaining to the sentence in any way...
One of my favorite English words to baffle people with is "monopsony." It's the mirror-image of "monopoly." In a monopoly, one supplier controls the market for something, holding all the buyers hostage.*cackles maniacally* I knew what that was! Thank you microeconomics class that I otherwise would've probably not used much.
In a monopsony, one *buyer* controls the market, holding all the *suppliers* hostage. I'm not sure there are pure monopsonies in the U.S. (at least where the gov't isn't involved, e.g. buying nuclear bombers). However, Wal-Mart is at least a partial monopsony; it's a VERY powerful buyer, so all its suppliers (Colgate-Palmolive, etc.) jump when it snaps its fingers.
For example do you know the longest german word?I also really like what that means... :D
"Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsmütze"!
(okay, it is a composite word, but I really like how German allows to make up your own words in simply glueing them together: Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsmützenständer...
I really like how German allows to make up your own words in simply glueing them together: Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsmützenständer...
Favourite swear word- Nincompoop!
Too much words ! ^^ On the edges of my classes, even in university, I can find some "crépusculaire", "livide", "incandescent", "s'étioler", "diaphane", "enchevêtré", "ombrageux". I still do that and always wonder later "Why have I done it ? It must have a reason, but which ?" ...
Maybe I can chose "réminiscence", which is nearly the same in english :) I find it beautifuler than "memory".
What do these mean? "enchevêtré", "ombrageux". I'm guessing the last one probably means "shadowy," by analogy with Latin "umbra" = "shadow."Let me find my french-english dictionary and I will come back to explain ^^°
So, if someone could explain to me how to quote just part of someone's post, that would be great. How is it skaldic powers?
Like this.
Nope. That is all. Soooooo maaaagical! ( theramins, it is a quote from MLP. )
I know it's really low-brow to be amused/intrigued by perfectly ordinary words in other languages, but when I was about 12 I was just knocked over to learn:
1) "Pamplemousse" = "grapefruit" in French
Oh, so many beautiful words! How could I choose one over the other? ;)
For example do you know the longest german word?
"Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsmütze"!
(okay, it is a composite word, but I really like how German allows to make up your own words in simply glueing them together: Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsmützenständer... Donaudampfschiffahrtskapitänsmützenständerverordnung...Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsmützenständerverordnungsmappe... okay, I stop now).
Petrichor: the smell of earth after rainThis one is beautiful.
2) "Kartoffel" = "potato" in German. It's just fun to say. Kartoffel, Kartoffel, Kartoffel. ;DWelcome to the maelstrom (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kartoffel#Regionale_Namen) ...
However, Wal-Mart is at least a partial monopsony; it's a VERY powerful buyer, so all its suppliers (Colgate-Palmolive, etc.) jump when it snaps its fingers.That'ld be Aldi (http://www.aldi.de/) (either half) over here. They're known to have pumped up suppliers by placing ever-bigger orders, and then forced them to lower the price or flat out canceled the contract so as to have them go bankrupt.
I know how to say mushroom, window, and spinach in French, amongst other givens ( mui, excuse mui, etc.) .("Excusez moi".)
("Excusez moi".)
Also, once I was in France and we were looking for restaurants to have dinner at, when my brother and I saw some redonculous translations from French to English. The most memorable, however, was this: Squid has the Romar. I do not know what it was, but it was funny. Still is! :):)
Also, Spanish, I am not sure how to spell this, so I will sound it out. Call me immature, but hey! 5th grade happens. Pu-pee-tré. It means a school desk, I think.
Just remembered another all-time favorite: swimmingly 8)
Emil likes it too! (See panel 4 here. (http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=183))
Also, pony. That word has been ruined for me. To the point where it doesn't even sound like a word anymore...Might I ask how??
thrice (people really need to use this one more!!)
amalgamation
thrice (people really need to use this one more!!)
Yes. I agree wholeheartedly. Also "defenestrate," but I guess that has slightly less opportunity for use...
I've seen it in use on the chat several times. There's ample opportunities there apparently.
I obviously must go on the chat more, then. I tend to be on less than thrice a week.
Estivate: to spend the summer.
Yes. I agree wholeheartedly. Also "defenestrate," but I guess that has slightly less opportunity for use...
For Swedish I have to go with örngott (pillowcase, but sounds like something from the Swedish chef) and lilla gumman (some kind of affectionate term, like "darling").Speaking of pillows though, how adorable is kudde?
Speaking of pillows though, how adorable is kudde?To a Norwegian it's anything but adorable (like so many other Swedish words) due to unfortunate near-homophones in the Norwegian language. An aquaintance of the family who is a nurse told us about a Swedish nurse who got herself into trouble for using that word with an elderly Norwegian patient.
To a Norwegian it's anything but adorable (like so many other Swedish words) due to unfortunate near-homophones in the Norwegian language. An aquaintance of the family who is a nurse told us about a Swedish nurse who got herself into trouble for using that word with an elderly Norwegian patient.
You can't just leave it there, explain! :D
Well then: The nurse offered to "rista upp kudden lite" (shake up the pillow a little). Because there is a word in Norwegian that sounds almost exactly like that, but refers to the male genitalia, the elderly man was all kinds of outraged by the apparent forwardness of Swedish nurses.That's good to know. Be careful talking about pillows in Swedish with Norwegians.
Well then: The nurse offered to "rista upp kudden lite" (shake up the pillow a little). Because there is a word in Norwegian that sounds almost exactly like that, but refers to the male genitalia, the elderly man was all kinds of outraged by the apparent forwardness of Swedish nurses.
...wow, that was actually about ten times worse than anything I was expecting. ;D
One lovely word play in Finnish is: Kokko kokoa koko kokko. Koko kokonko? Koko kokon. Kokositko Kokko koko kokon? Kokosin koko kokon.
I'm more reminded of the buffalo sentence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo).Knock yerself out (http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2014/06/26/0593-buffalo-buffalo/). ;)
One lovely word play in Finnish is: Kokko kokoa koko kokko. Koko kokonko? Koko kokon. Kokositko Kokko koko kokon? Kokosin koko kokon.
It means tending to cause harm.And if you want a word that means "I do harm", period, there's nocebo, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocebo) the opposite of placebo. ;)
I was remembered of a word that I really like a while back: Tintinnabulation. :DTintinnabulation is beautiful because you can hear it while saying it :) (Am I clear ? I fear I'm not...)
Tintinnabulation is beautiful because you can hear it while saying it :) (Am I clear ? I fear I'm not...)I think I know what you mean. It's one of those words that sound like what they mean in a way.
I think I know what you mean. It's one of those words that sound like what they mean in a way.That's it ! :)
as a finnish word, I do love Kakkiainen, which I was just thought and it grew on me xD (Pffffft, amazing!my brother's fav finnish word is perkele, he even used it for long time as his nickname xD)
for hungarian, the "szaunni", which is not even an actual word. it was a wordplay/joke in a hungarian movie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4ip5IaulDA), related to Sauna (people asked for Sauna there). this word was described by a probably nordic person as Sauna, while the person (nothungarian but in hungary) was thinking of the toilette. this word is a verb means something about "doing something in the wooden cabin" (the actual discription of sauna was "wooden cabin where you sit naked" which applies both Sauna and the old toilettes. and in hungary the Saunas were not known)
so the actual meaning is more like "peeing/pooing in the toilette"
Also, pretty much all Icelandic.
In French it's chausseurs (shoes) especially ses chausseurs (her/his shoes) which is really fun to say and also sometimes hard :PAhem, excuse me... "chaussures" ;)
Ahem, excuse me... "chaussures" ;)
Hard to say ? Your teacher must have been nice not to make you say "Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches ?" ^^ (Even for us the tongue makes bows very quickly.)
Ahem, excuse me... "chaussures" ;)Weren't the chasseurs, like, cavalry?
Hard to say ? Your teacher must have been nice not to make you say "Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches ?" ^^ (Even for us the tongue makes bows very quickly.)
Weren't the chasseurs, like, cavalry?
Yes, but the term derives from a different verb, chasser (no U), which means chase or hunt.Ah, thanks- my only knowledge of French military history comes solely from Bernard Cornwell novels, so..
(English borrowed the word "chase" after the Norman Conquest, when only the French-speaking upper classes were -- theoretically -- allowed to hunt game animals. A similar thing went on in the farmyard. Words for most *living* farm animals stem from Anglo-Saxon -- cow, bull, calf, sheep, pig, chicken, etc. -- but when killed and cooked, their meat is described in French terms: beef, veal, mutton, pork, poultry, and so forth.)
Ah, thanks- my only knowledge of French military history comes solely from Bernard Cornwell novels, so..Haha, all I know how to say in French is "Hello, I can't speak French well, do you know how to speak English, please?"
Haha, all I know how to say in French is "Hello, I can't speak French well, do you know how to speak English, please?"
In Danish oohhh there are a lot of Danish words that I really like igennem (through) just because it's fun to say, and it's also in a song and also the word anderledes (different). The word lejlihed (apartment) is also a wonderful thing to hear and a very hard thing to say.
In Swedish it's no competition, my favourite word hands down is and will always be sköldpadda (turtle). I sometimes look this word up on the internet just to hear it said. It is beautiful. You should all go listen to it being said right now.
Those are some interesting words you like in Danish... Just for the record, it's spelled lejlighed, which both means apartment, and also occasion.
And turtle in Danish is almost the same as in Swedish ;)
Weren't the chasseurs, like, cavalry?It literally means "hunters", which is, of course, a term that likely many military groups liked to appropriate. Like the German Jäger led to Feldjäger, Gebirgsjäger ... Jagdflugzeug ... not to forget the Jägers of Foglio fame ...
In terms of tongue-twisters, try un chasseur sachant chasser sans son chien ("a hunter who knows how to hunt without his dog").Ah, yes, this one too... ::)
You might be a WordNerd if you see a misspelled word, and take wholly disproportionate delight in realizing it unintentionally makes perfect sense in a radically different context.
For example:
*DaveBro has ludicrous WordNerd moment, goes to plaid, and shares....
Our neighborhood doesn't have fully fenced yards, so there are opportunities to take short cuts. Thus wrote one of my neighbors: Since most of the people transpassing our properties are students going and coming from school we should tell the school to announce to their students that they should use regular streets and not people's gardens....
I don't doubt that this could actually be a word in the right context, but here it is, out of place as the proverbial fish. :)
Do you have a WordNerd moment to share? :D
transpassing
I don't doubt that this could actually be a word in the right context, but here it is, out of place as the proverbial fish. :)
This thread effected an affect of mine! :D
*imagines teenagers floating over houses*Now that's how to receive flak (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aircraft_warfare#Terminology) for their transgression.
[snip]
missing the dot there makes less signifikant changes to the word sounds)
Effectively, those are the same, i.e., an affection.I may have to effect a rescue for this trend.
I may have to effect a rescue for this trend.
(apprently same in turkish with i and ı, though missing the dot there makes less signifikant changes to the word sounds)
Do autocorrects count?
According to an online dictionary, transpass means "to pass over".
*imagines teenagers floating over houses*
I can't seem to find any WordNerding of my own at the moment, but when I do I'll be back!
Oh oh I have one! The phonic ambiguity of J has always made me a little miffed, especially when you see clearly Scandinavian last names pronounced with a g sound instead."Honest as a Yo block" instead of "Honest as a Joe block"? Johannson Blocks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_block (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_block)) were machined to standards-grade tolerances, and used among other things as a bench-test device for measuring calipers, micrometers, and the like.
Hmmm...
Bookkeeping cheers thee too, fellow Minnion? Keep expressing gleeful feelings!
Oh yes. ^-^ I think of it as "The Country of Letters." The Professora and I were in Boston for the American Literature Association conference one year (my Faculty Spouse gig), and stopped in at the Boston Public Library to look and admire. Now most American libraries stretch their budgets by having periodic book sales, usually run by official volunteers called Friends of the Library. Some libraries always have this room open, and old books for sale, so we went to the information desk to inquire. The room wasn't open...but the other "customer" at the information desk was the Friends' chairman. Recognizing a pair of kindred spirits, he graciously let us browse the officially closed stacks while he did some work in his office. We got 5 books :D, warm, fuzzy, feelings ^-^, and the Library got $10. I keep the chairman's business card in my flute case as a memento. (It's handy for aligning my headjoint; and because, memories ;) )
Haha, that's awesome :D Libraries and bookshops give me so much joy *u*
By the way, I made that post with the intent of it completely comprising words with double letters in them. :D
Ah yes, we've had discussions about these on the chatz many times. I see "thus" and "ought" relatively often, I think, but "lest" and "shan't" sure are rare. I have a whole list of words that have lost almost all their use, but should come back, like...
whence, thence, hence (in it's locative use), whither, hither, thither, wherefore, herefor(e), all of these + -soever, heretofore, nary, eke [cause it sounds so cool (and is one syllable shorter than "also"... >_>)], ...
Also, maybe we should start using the word "irregardless" with the sense "with regards to". It could, irregarless of the possible amount of our use of it, change its meaning to what it /should/ mean. \o/
OHMYGOD THITHER. YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I LOVE THE WORD THITHER. LET'S ALL USE THITHER MORE PLEASE. Ahem. Sorry. I'm just. a little passionate about the word thither.
Ellinaðra - A slang and also a portmanteau meaning an electric mobility scooter. This time of the words elli meaning old age, and the word skellinaðra meaning dirtbike. Skellinaðra is actually also a portmanteau of the words skellir meaning slams or loud noises, and the word naðra meaning snake.
But either way, the way Icelandic forms all of its vocabulary has always fascinated me. *-* Computer? I think you meant numberwitch...
Numberprophetess, actually (tala + völva = tölva). Numphotess?
Well, the second one would not be called a portmanteau, but rather a compound word.Oh right. I was just thinking about portmanteaus and therefore everything was portmanteaus. :p
But either way, the way Icelandic forms all of its vocabulary has always fascinated me. *-* Computer? I think you meant numberwitch...
Apricity - the warmth of sunlight in winter
I actually have several lists of words I like. XD I don't know if anyone said these before, but here's some words I like:
Petrichor - the smell of the rain hitting the ground after a long period of hot, dry weather
Apricity - the warmth of sunlight in winter
Defenestrate - throw someone out of a window
Oneironaut - a person who travels through dreams
Valediction - the act of saying farewell
Yerd - to beat an object with a stick
Oh, I never knew there was a word for that! Though it's a feeling I know quite well ^-^It's always such a nice feeling. ^-^
Wow, I never knew any of these before! Cool that there's a word for that smell, I love petrichor.Eee, so glad I got to share words with y'all! You want to know any more weird words, I could prolly help. ;D (I'm such a nerd, I have so many more written down in a huge assortment of lists. I actually have a friend who writes songs, and he's asked me several times for words with specific meanings and sounds to fit in his songs.)
I actually have several lists of words I like. XD I don't know if anyone said these before, but here's some words I like:
Petrichor - the smell of the rain hitting the ground after a long period of hot, dry weather
Apricity - the warmth of sunlight in winter
Defenestrate - throw someone out of a window
Oneironaut - a person who travels through dreams
Valediction - the act of saying farewell
Yerd - to beat an object with a stick
Petrichor is such a good word and sensation! <3All of those are super cool, eee!
My fave from English is "Yips" meaning little tremors or shakes, often in the hands. I'm kinda clumsy, so often at home I'd blame my accidents on a case of the yips, haha.
My love for Russian words knows no bounds though, because they LOVE to take English words and russify them, with really fun to say pronunciations! (Hamburger turns into Gambuyrgyer, Henna turns into Hkkhhna, essay is tyeext, so good.)
As a word on its own merits though, copok meaning 40 is such a cool Russian word because it doesn't match the numbering pattern at all and its origins are unknown. I really wonder where it came from and why!
There are two words, however, I love more. They are: szeleścić, polish for "to rustle" or "to sough", and öldungadeildarþingmaður, icelandic for "senator" (FunFact: I can pronounce it).Now I'm really curious as to how you actually pronounce both of those. XD
I find the word picayune to be really fun to say. It means petty, worthless, or "an insignificant object or person." Alternatively, it means "a small coin of little value, especially a 5-cent piece." I think it originates from French?And here I thought - when visiting New Orleans for a conference and seeing their local newspaper (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times-Picayune) - that it'ld be related to the better-known regional terminology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajuns). Yes, a french name for a small coin (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=picayune). French actually took it from Provençal, in turn, which is why it didn't look continental French to me, but there is a lot of overlap in practical usage around la Provence today; e.g., one of my France-based relatives lives in a street called petit-Juas ("small garden"), where the first part is French but the second Provençal. (It'ld be petit jardin in 100% French.)
Came across this one in a biology textbook: ubiquitylationI can agree with you there, that is one cool-looking word!
What it means is this: the process of attaching special molecules (ubiquitin) to a protein to mark it for destruction.
Mostly, I just thought it looked cool!
They aren't pretty words, but i think gubbe and gumma are really cute. Mosty because they can be used either towards young children, or elders. Nothing inbetween :))
I think this particular phenomenon owes its existence to the order by which people found the names for colours. The first colours that got named were red, black, and white, hence why you'd find, for instance, a bunch of birds described as "red" when they aren't particularly red, and why old Greek stories like the Odyssey described the sea as "wine-dark". The word to describe the exact colour of, say, a red grouse probably wasn't around at the time (it's brown), and the word to describe the exact colour of the sea probably wasn't around or at least not universal either (blue??? Green???).
So the idea of fire as a red thing was probably something left over from very very long ago, considering fire was also from pretty long ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_term#Basic_color_terms here's a link to a summary of it :P I don't know how well it holds up, but it's the only theory I've heard of about this sort of thing.
I think it has to do with the nature of the fires when words were first coined. Fire was rarely the tame, shy and smokeless high-temperature thing as we know in the past. It's not like that in the nature.I wonder how much of that "fire" red is actually radiation from embers diffused by the smoke ... but yes, point taken.
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/07/27/USAT/c957d831-a36f-4268-9b23-bd6f469717d3-AP_California_Wildfires_2.jpg)
Plus, bright yellow was reserved for the Sun.At least English has a "fire yellow (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RAL_colors#RAL_Design_System+)" by now. ;) (German apparently has not, if you ignore a couple occurences where some marketing dpt. seems to have had a trendygasm.)
Wow, this is very interesting. In Russian word “red” also used to be the same word for “beautiful”.... heh, that reminds me. At least in the German version, the parents of Snow White wished for (and got) a girl "so weiß wie Schnee, so rot wie Blut und so schwarz wie Ebenholz" (as white as snow, as red as blood and as black as ebony, supposedly referring to complexion, lips, and hair, in that order, if you please ::) ). I guess Berlin-Kay is something straight out of fairy tales ... >:D
By the way, the explanation I was sorta expecting would have been that "fire red" came into existence as a shortening of "the red color of a fire engine".I don't know about English, but in Dutch the word vuurrood predates fire engines by at least several centuries.
Hmmmm. First off, I'm a tad wary of this theory, as far as its claim to reflect basic neurological or physiological constraints is concerned. The range of hues that our eyes and visual cortex are best suited to differentiate between are greens, presumably to better filter orientation "land"marks out of foliage, so why would red be the first actual color to get a name if the connection were that straightforward? (Note that I am giving the linguists enough credit to not suspect a case of "oh, languages have a ton of 'yummyberry bush in spring (colored)' terms before they get to 'red', the researchers just failed to recognize these as color terms because they don't exist to that specifity in their language".)It seems to me that, if you're living in an environment that is overwhelmingly green, it'd be more useful to be able to point out red (meaning: ripe) berries than a green bush.
I think it has to do with the nature of the fires when words were first coined. Fire was rarely the tame, shy and smokeless high-temperature thing as we know in the past. It's not like that in the nature.
I found a book from 1777 which lists a number of colours flowers can have, and it names vuurrood as well as rood and oranje. It then goes on to say there are more colours than names for colours, and gives some ad-hoc compounds that could be used for some of these.
It seems to me that, if you're living in an environment that is overwhelmingly green, it'd be more useful to be able to point out red (meaning: ripe) berries than a green bush.Two and a half point:
I remember seeing a BBC documentary about colours years ago, and they showed an experiment testing blue-green distinction among members of an African tribe. The experiment involved, among other tasks, asking the participants to choose the "odd one out" among a various shades of blue and/or green. For any combination of shades the "odd one out" that was chosen was very consistent within the tribe, and very different from the "odd one out" that a group of native English speakers in the UK chose (which was, again, very consistent within that group, and also what I, as a fellow native West Germanic speaker, chose).No contest there. FWIW, I'm wondering whether the linguists thought of holding up such differences to the latitude of the places where the terminology in question originates. Apart from emissive colors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color#Color_of_objects) (like fire 8) ), the question of "what does (an object of) color X normally look like" crucially depends on what spectral composition, and possibly intensity as well, "normal" (day)light in your place has, after all.
Colours & languages is a fascinating subject.
If the word fire red is really old it may have been a first try to name orange. But I have no idea how old this word is. I know it is two words, but in other laguages like german and dutch it is one word.... in the context of Berlin-Kay(-inspired theories), it is still not a basic color term (BCT); one word, yes, but nonetheless a compound one.
FWIW, I'm wondering whether the linguists thought of holding up such differences to the latitude of the places where the terminology in question originates. Apart from emissive colors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color#Color_of_objects) (like fire 8) ), the question of "what does (an object of) color X normally look like" crucially depends on what spectral composition, and possibly intensity as well, "normal" (day)light in your place has, after all.They also talked about comparing the colour vision of white people living in a temperate climate vs white people living in the tropics (white people for both groups to exclude as much as possible differences in colour vision caused by differences in genetic make-up). I don't remember anything else they said about this, though.
The blue-green tree, as opposed to what, the purple tree? Most trees, bushes, grasses, plants, are blue-green. If you want to point out a particular tree, you would probably be better off with other descriptors than a basic colour term it shares with most other trees.As I said, if(!) you want your train of thoughts on the matter to make a stop in the "physiological basics of color perception" station, you'll have to account for the fact that human eyes are better suited to tell hues of green apart than those of other colors, presumably for the exact reason to be able to extract waymarks from oodles of green foliage. Which would fit very well with the abovementioned fact that humans elsewhere (different plants) use frequency-shifted notions of "blue" and "green", of all basic colors.
Whether poisonous berries or ripe berries, in both cases it's useful to be able to point them out. "Look, that red over there, those are good berries, eat them!", or "Look, that red over there, those are bad berries, don't eat them!"If myself and the recipient of the information are standing in front of the object in question, the red color will happily point itself out. (As will the shape of leaves, their arrangement (rotational angle) on the stem, size of thorns, smell, ...) Words are necessary to stand in for the object in its absence.
The blue-green tree, as opposed to what, the purple tree? Most trees, bushes, grasses, plants, are blue-green. If you want to point out a particular tree, you would probably be better off with other descriptors than a basic colour term it shares with most other trees.
At what point in the evolution of a language do those "basic" color terms actually appear? I can easily imagine a nascent language making do for a long while with just the names of the objects thus colored, rather than creating terms for an abstraction of its color.
I wonder if that's not the beginning of abstract language; and perhaps even of abstract thinking -- the concept that one can separate the color from the thing colored, and consider the color as a thing in itself.I doubt that that would be its beginning, honestly. The way humans need to cooperate, I'd wager that they may have had a concept of "us" - their group, abstract from its current members, which change over time - before other abstract language constructs. Possibly before language, period, as there's no shortage of social species that don't have one (by the standards of John Current-Day Doe).
I doubt that that would be its beginning, honestly. The way humans need to cooperate, I'd wager that they may have had a concept of "us" - their group, abstract from its current members, which change over time - before other abstract language constructs. Possibly before language, period, as there's no shortage of social species that don't have one (by the standards of John Current-Day Doe).
The human mind, endowed with the powers of generalization and abstraction, sees not only green-grass, discriminating it from other things (and finding it fair to look upon), but sees that it is green as well as being grass. But how powerful, how stimulating to the very faculty that produced it, was the invention of the adjective: no spell or incantation in Faerie is more potent. And that is not surprising: such incantations might indeed be said to be only another view of adjectives, a part of speech in a mythical grammar. The mind that thought of light, heavy, grey, yellow, still, swift, also conceived of magic that would make heavy things light and able to fly, turn grey lead into yellow gold, and the still rock into a swift water. If it could do the one, it could do the other; it inevitably did both. When we can take green from grass, blue from heaven, and red from blood, we have already an enchanter's power—upon one plane; and the desire to wield that power in the world external to our minds awakes.
That’s just the point, isn’t it? You and I don’t have exact words for a jillion shades of green, yet if you go outside and compare the leaves of almost any tree of different species, they are all green but not exactly the same color. People dependent on the distinctions between plant species for survival might well come up with a lot more nuanced definition of different colors or shades within what we would call “green”. As research has shown they do, although nowadays it’s harder to research because almost all peoples have had at least some influence from other languages.People dependant on plant species for survival do not have exact words for a jillion shades of green either. Nor would they need them. Colour can certainly help with plant determination and recognition, but it is far from the only means. Size, shape, texture, etc. are all at least as important for telling one tree's leaves from another.
Plants don't stay the same shade of green at all growth stages of the plant, or at growth stages of individual leaves. Look hard at almost any green plant, at any time of year: you'll see more than one color there on the same plant, never mind different plants of the same species. We just don't usually look that hard.... if that were an impediment to identifying the plant in question by its (varying, even per time of day, but still distinct) colors, I'd wonder how we ever came to have a single term "berry", rather than separate words for budding and ripe ones ...
Here’s some Finnish word nerding (I came across this in comments for Chapter 3 of Adventure 1 so this might be a repost)
It’s interesting at least to me as a native Finn. I didn’t know Finnish has verb classes etc. I mean I would probably understood we do if I had given it some thought but. I still don’t know how many an what determines them :)
http://borealexpat.blogspot.com/2014/08/deconstructing-finnish.html