Word of the Day

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Moč in Czech and Slovak

Funny thing I have found out recently: moč, urine, is feminine in standard Czech, but masculine in standard Slovak, which has consequences in its declension. It is the second word I have found with differing genders in both languages. The first is Olomouc, a city in central Moravia, feminine in standard Czech, but masculine in standard Slovak.

In Czech:
nominative - moč
genitive - moči/moče
dative - moči
accusative - moč
vocative - moči
locative - o moči
instrumental - močí

In Slovak:
nominative -  moč
genitive - moču
dative - moču
accusative - moč
locative - o moču
instrumental - močom

Nevertheless, this slightly outdated Czech dictionary also lists moč as masculine, which would have the following declension:

nominative - moč
genitive - moče
dative - moči
accusative - moč
vocative - moči
locative - o moči
instrumental - močem

According to this corpus, feminine moč is more frequent than masculine moč, at least when comparing the probably most strikingly different case forms, močem and močí in the instrumental.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Tutor em português

Como foi a sua infância?
Arun Gandhi - Foi muito diferente, porque nunca frequentei a escola. Fui educado pelos meus pais e por tutores. Mesmo não tendo ido para a escola, eu tenho sete especializações.

Tutores? Quando ouço tutor em português, penso primeiro nisto \ô\ s.m. (sXIII) 1  jur indivíduo que exerce uma tutela   (Houaiss), mas tutor também pode ser 2  p.ext. aquele que ampara, protege, defende; guardião   3  em algumas escolas, aluno a quem se delega a instrução de outros alunos 4  agr vitic estaca ou vara us. para amparar uma planta de caule frágil n adj. 5  que tutora; que exerce tutela, judicial ou não (Houaiss).

Não se pode tratar da acepção 3, até porque o entrevistado revela nunca ter ido à escola. Então o que explica isso? Tradução malfeita! Tutor do jeito que usaram na revista é inglês, não português. Aí se poderia traduzir como professor particular.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Naproti plus genitive

I've recently heard naproti kostela, opposite the church, with the genitive, instead of standard naproti kostelu, with the dative, which reminded me of Russian protiv, against, which requires the genitive. This text, in Czech, says that naproti with the genitive is dialectal and cannot be assigned to a German or French influence, as it appears in Moravian dialects without such influence, but rather should be interpreted as close in meaning to vedle (beside) plus genitive.

I talked about protiv here.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Pardál and pardal

Both Czech pardál and Portuguese pardal refer to animals, but different ones. The former is a leopard, the latter a sparrow. The funny thing is that Spanish pardal can be either and more.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Tieta, teta

La tieta ja se n'havia anat feia un parell de setmanes a la seva hisenda de Farena, on solia passar els mesos d'estiu.

The aunt(ie) had already left a couple of weeks before for her farm in Farena, where she spent the summer months.

It just occurred to me that the Catalan diminutive tieta, auntie, is very similar to Czech/Slovak teta, aunt, which looks and sounds a lot like Portuguese/Spanish teta, tit, breast, and Italian tetta.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Entrada no interior

Anúncio num restaurante: Proibida a entrada com animais no interior do restaurante.

Por que tão palavroso? Não seria muito mais simples, econômico e menos redundante Proibida a entrada/Proibido entrada/Proibido entrar no restaurante com animais? Como dizia a minha avó: o diabo quis enfeitar tanto o filho que acabou por lhe furar o olho.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Copenhagen in Slovak

BRATISLAVA/COPENHAGEN – Dánska rodinná firma Lego môže oslavovať. Jej hračky určené pre dievčatá, ktoré už pri uvedení sprevádzala kritika za podporu rodových stereotypov, sú trhákom. Za prvých šesť mesiacov tohto roka spoločnosti priniesli zisk v rádoch stoviek miliónov eur. 

Why Copenhagen and not Kodaň in a Slovak newspaper? What does English have to do with this? I would understand if they had written København in Danish, but Copenhagen beats me.

In case anyone is curious about what the text says: The Danish family firm Lego has reason to celebrate. Their girls' toys, which got under criticism for supporting family stereotypes, are a hit. In this year's first six months the company has made profits reaching hundreds of millions of euros.