Cotton, Pamuk, etc.

Many of you probably didn't know that the Turkish Nobel prize winning author Orhan Pamuk's last name means cotton in Turkish. Turkish cotton gave Hungarian a word, pamut, with the same meaning. Hungary was under the Ottoman rule for more than a hundred years.

Portuguese algodão and Spanish algodón, even though they may not look like it at first glance, come from the same source as English cotton,  from Arabic qutn, probably of Egyptian origin. Other languages also have this Arabic-based word, as Dutch kotoen, German Kattun (a kind of cotton), French coton, Italian cotone, among others.

The usual German word, though, is Baumwolle, literally tree-wool, which became bavlna in Czech/Slovak and bawełna in Polish. Vlna and wełna also mean wool (and also wave in Czech/Slovak) as in German, and the ba part comes from German Baum, "tree", and means nothing. This in one of many German calques in Slavic languages.

Maioritário e majoritário

Tudo leva a crer que a forma maioritário é preferida em Portugal e majoritário, no Brasil. Nem o Aulete, brasileiro, nem o VOLP da Academia Brasileira de Letras registram maioritário. O Houaiss tem um critério meio estranho: procurando-se maioritário, não se acha nada; procurando-se majoritário, lê-se ao fim da definição sin(ônimo)/var(iante): maioritário. O Priberam e a Infopédia, ambos portugueses, registram as duas formas. Na revista Época, brasileira, maioritário (e variações) não aparece nenhuma vez. No site da Folha de São Paulo, também brasileira, maioritário aparece uma vez e maioritária cinco vezes, sendo que a forma maioritário que ali se vê é da Agência Lusa, de Portugal. Outra ocorrência de maioritária é de um jornalista português que "é colunista da Folha. Reuniu seus artigos para o Brasil no livro "Avenida Paulista" (Ed. Quasi), publicado em Portugal, onde vive. Escreve quinzenalmente, às segundas-feiras, para a Folha Online". As demais, com exceção de uma da Deutsche Welle, que deve ser tradução, parecem ser genuinamente brasileiras, inclusive uma da pena, como pude apurar, de um jornalista de Ribeirão Preto, SP. Não obstante isso, majoritário aparece 1580 vezes nesse mesmo jornal, majoritários 512, majoritária 1770 e majoritárias 316. Não sei se, quando se procura majoritário e majoritária, já se inclui o s do plural. De qualquer forma, há nítida preferência pelas formas com j.

No Córpus do Português, todas as ocorrências de maioritário (e variações) são de Portugal. Quanto a majoritário (e variações), todas, com exceção de uma, são do Brasil.

Canapé e outras palavras de origem francesa

Hoje descobri no dicionário Houaiss, corroborado depois pelo Aulete, que se deve escrever canapé, com acento agudo. Interessante, porque não conheço nenhum brasileiro que pronuncie a palavra com o mesmo e de café. Ou será que quando se começou a usar a palavra em português, ou pelo menos no Brasil, as pessoas tinham consciência de que em francês canapé se escreve com acento agudo mas se pronuncia fechado e as gerações posteriores as seguiram? Mas o interessante é que os dois dicionários citados grafam canapé como verbete em fonte normal, como se fosse palavra portuguesa/aportuguesada, o que de certa forma nos obrigaria a pronunciar com o mesmo e de café, pronúncia que nunca ouvi. Ambos os dicionários também dizem que canapé é também uma espécie de sofá, uso que eu só conhecia em francês, mas nunca ouvi em boca de brasileiro (o que também não significa muito).

Toda esta história me leva à pronúncia de algumas palavras de origem francesa. O ballet francês deu, segundo o Houaiss, dicionário brasileiro, balé, e segundo o Priberam, dicionário português, balé e balê. A escrita balé corresponde à pronúncia majoritária no Brasil, mas há também quem diga balê, com e fechado.

Bidet virou bidê e bidé segundo o Houaiss e o Priberam. O interessante é que o bidê do Houaiss, que é a única pronúncia que eu já ouvi, remete a bidé no mesmo dicionário. Já o Priberam, português, faz o contrário: diz que bidé é o mesmo que bidê e é em bidê que define a palavra.

Outra palavra é o francês bébé, que virou bebê no Brasil, tanto na escrita quanto na pronúncia, mas bebé em Portugal (mas na Internet encontra-se muito bébé, o que sugere que muitos portugueses continuam a grafar o termo à francesa). Veja-se aqui sobre a palavra bebé em Portugal.

Qual é a situação em francês?

Bébé e canapé em francês, por terminarem em é, são pronunciados com vogal fechada. Aí se vê que eles têm uma convenção gráfica diferente da nossa por o nosso é ser aberto e o deles fechado. Já ballet e bidet, que terminam em et, teoricamente seriam pronunciados com o e aberto nessa língua, como se pode ver neste dicionário, mas na prática ouvem-se cada vez mais com e fechado, com variações regionais.

Italian gamba and Catalan cama

Only now did it occur to me that Italian gamba and Catalan cama, both meaning leg, are probably related. Catalan cama is a false friend with Portuguese/Spanish cama, bed. This Italian dictionary states that gamba comes through Late Latin camba or gamba from Greek καμπή (kampi), meaning curvature, joint. This Catalan dictionary says that cama is derived from vulgar Latin and is first attested in the 14th century, and that word is of unknown etymology, probably from a pre-Roman time. What surprises me is that Italian, which has kept Latin voiceless consonants, has gamba instead of camba or cama, whereas Catalan--along with Portuguese and Spanish--which has usually turned voiceless consonants into voiced ones, has cama instead of gama or gamba.

Both cama and gamba are related to French jambe, leg, and jambon, ham.

Slovak genitive in u

Slovak is the only Slavic language I am aware of that has genitive singular in u for masculine animate nouns ending in a. All other Slavic languages have a y/e there instead.

Slovak: Dostal som rozkaz od komunistu.

Czech: Dostal jsem rozkaz od komunisty.

Polish: Dostałem rozkaz od komunisty.

English: I received an order from a/the communist.

The u (in Polish ę) ending, though, is typical for both masculine animate nouns ending in a and feminine nouns with the same ending:

Slovak: Videl som tam komunistu.

Czech: Viděl jsem tam komunistu.

Polish:  Widziałem tam komunistę.

English: I saw a/the communist there.

Just Decided We Need MathJax

Now we can use LaTeX notations to display mathematic symbols and expressions in our Linguae Textae.
For inline maths, use the dollar sign to open AND close them.
For display maths (an independent line), use '\' immediately followed by '[' to open a math and use '\' immediately followed by ']' to close it.

Inverse proportionality is a relation between two numbers $x$ and $y$ ($x, y\in \mathbb R$) such that:

\[xy = k\]

Using a parameter $\theta$, any point on the relation $xy = k$ can be represented by: $(\cos\theta, \sin\theta)$

This gives the following parametric equation for inverse proportionality:
\[\cos\theta\cdot\sin\theta = k\]

If the shape of inverse proportionality on the Cartesian plain is tilted for $-45^\circ$ (clockwise rotation), any point on the resultant shape satisfies the following:

\[\cos(\theta+45^\circ)\cdot\sin(\theta+45^\circ) = k\]

The left of the equation is:

\[= (\cos\theta\cdot\cos45^\circ-\sin\theta\cdot\sin45^\circ) (\sin\theta\cdot\cos45^\circ+\cos\theta\sin45^\circ)\]
\[= {\sqrt2 \over 2}(\cos\theta-\sin\theta) (\cos\theta+\sin\theta) (\because \cos45^\circ = sin45^\circ = {\sqrt2 \over 2})\]

Thus the whole equation is:

\[\cos^2\theta - \sin^2\theta = \sqrt2k\]

This is identical to the graph of unit hyperbola magnified to a constant ($\sqrt2k$). We know from this that inverse proportionality can be mapped to hyperbola by simple rotation!

Links
MathJax Official Site
MathJax Documentation (easy-to-read intro for MathJax)
MathJax v1.1 Documentation
Using MathJax v1.1 in popular web platforms (Blogger, WordPress, Movable Type, etc.)

Málokdo, málokdy, and mnohdy

Czech málokdo (few people, hardly anyone) and málokdy (rarely, seldom) are composed of the indefinite pronoun/adjective/quantifier málo (little, few) and the interrogative pronouns kdo (who) and kdy (when). There is also the form mnohdy (frequently, often, oftentimes, many times), ultimately also from mnoho plus kdy, instead of the full form mnohokdy. There was an assimilation as the h in mnoho, followed by the g sound in kdy (kdy sounds like gdy), both guttural. The funny thing, though, is that there exists no mnohokdo or mnohdo, with the expected meaning of many people.

Tsunamirresistente

Tsunamirresistente es mejor que tsunami resistente, pero eso es sintaxis inglesa. En buen y corriente español es resistente a (los) tsunamis. ¿Pronto tendremos también huracanresistente, fuegorresistente, inundacionresistente, vientorresistente?

Portuguese spelling reforms

It would be easier for foreign learners of Portuguese if the circumflex accent in words like almôço (lunch, noun) and êle (he, pronoun) had been kept to differentiate their closed vowel pronunciations from almoço (I have lunch, verb) and ele (the letter L), with their open vowels. It would also be easier for said students if we still differentiated in the spelling que, qui and gue, gui from qüe, qüi, güe and güi, so once they saw a new word with those combinations they would immediately know whether the u is pronounced or not. Too late now! Now this poor teacher has to deal with the quizzical looks of his students as to why our spelling can sometimes be so chaotic. Didn't we have enough problems with x already?

A related post here.

Cellars, beerhouses, and stores

There is some overlap of meaning among a couple of languages as to the meaning of pivnica, piwnica, pivnice, pivniță, and sklep. In Polish, Slovak, and Romanian, a Romance language with considerable Slavic vocabulary, we find piwnica, pivnica, and pivniță, respectivelly, all meaning cellar. A Czech pivnice is a beerhouse, a pub, a tavern, an alehouse, close to the meaning of Slavic pivo, beer. In Polish and outdated colloquial Slovak, using the words of my go-to Slovak dictionary, a sklep is a store, but in Czech a sklep is a cellar or a basement.

Slovak sklep can have genitive singular sklepa, like Czech, or sklepu, like Polish.

The fact that beer can be stored in a cellar and that stores/shops are places where things are kept in great numbers may have something to do with it

Masculine dative singular in Slavic languages

Slavic languages are divided in three main groups as far as the ending of masculine dative singular for hard nouns is concerned: u group, ovi group, or either group. To the u group belong South Slavic languages, i.e., Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, but not Macedonian and Bulgarian, as they have pretty much lost all their cases, and Russian. The ovi group is represented solely by Polish. The either group encompasses Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian. In this group, animate masculine nouns end in ovi and inanimate masculine nouns end in u.

u group

Animate:

Slovenian/Crotian/Serbian: profesoru (Serbian also Cyrillic професор)

Russian: професcорy (transliterated as professoru)

Inanimate:

Slovenian/Crotian/Serbian: telefonu (Serbian also Cyrillic телефон)

Russian: телефонu (transliterated as telefonu)

ovi group:

Animate:

Polish: profesorowi

Inanimate:

Polish: telefonowi

either group:

Animate:

Czech: profesorovi/profesoru (profesorovi is preferred)

Slovak: profesorovi

Ukrainian: професоровi

Inanimate:

Czech: telefonu

Slovak: telefónu

Ukrainian:  телефоновi/телефонy (transliterated as telefonovi/telefonu (телефоновi – telefonovi - is preferred)

It should be noted, though, than Bohu (to God) and člověku (to man) are preferred to Bohovi and člověkovi in Czech, and that in Polish these nouns don’t end in owi: pes – psu (dog), ojciec – ojcu (father), diabeł – diabłu (devil), Bóg – Bogu (God), czart- czartu (devil), świat - światu (world), brat - bratu (brother), osioł - osłu (donkey), lew - lwu (lion), chłop - chłopu (peasant), chłopiec - chłopcu (boy), pan - panu (sir), kat - katu (hangman), kot - kotu (cat), ksiądz - księdzu (priest).

Vestiges of dual in Czech and the instrumental plural case

I was thinking the other day why most Czech have such a hard time with the instrumental plural declension after the number two. Let's take a phrase like before/in front of those two young professors. The standard Czech rendering is před těmi dvěma mladými profesory, with three different endings, but it usually comes out as před těma dvěma/dvouma mladýma profesorama, with identical endings. The funny thing, though, that there a few Czech nouns that end in ma in the standard language, such as rukama (with the hands/arms), ušima (with the ears), očima (with the eyes) and nohama (with the legs/feet)  As can be seen, all these things exist in pairs, a remnant of the dual. When such words are coupled with adjectives, these also have to end in ma in the standard language: s těma velkýma rukama (with those big hands). If there is an "exception" for such words, you could have the same for the numeral two, which is dual: před těma dvěma velkýma nohama (with those two big legs/feet), which is already standard, and před těma dvěma mladýma lidma (with those two young people), which is not standard, but I propose it be. :)

Finally, Slovenian, another Slavic language, has retained its full dual declension, which is really similar to colloquial Czech in the instrumental plural. In Slovenian před těma dvěma/dvouma mladlýma profesorama would be pred tema dvema mladima profesorjema. For comparison's sake, no West Slavic language is so similar to colloquial Czech in this regard like Slovenian, a South Slavic language. In Slovak: pred tými dvomi/dvoma mladými profesormi, in Polish: przed tymi dwu/dwoma młodymi profesorami.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dê chance ao novo

Há uma propaganda de um candidato a vereador que brinca com o duplo sentido de Dê chance ao novo. Podemos interpretá-lo como Dê chance ao que é novo, às coisas novas, à novidade, ou Dê chance ao candidato, ao político novo, jovem.

Em espanhol há um expediente muito simples para desfazer a ambiguidade: usar lo para se referir a algo abstrato e el para algo concreto. Dele/Dale chance al nuevo é em referência à pessoa; Dele/Dale chance a lo nuevo é em referência àquilo que é novo.