Re: Help me with semantic examples! (from Zomp's blog)
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 12:39 pm
Zomp's blog post : http://zompist.wordpress.com/2013/04/30 ... -examples/
I've made a thread, because email sucks.
English
- sandy beach --vs-- rocky headland ("shore" means both) (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shore)
- short (in height (vs "tall")) --vs-- short (in length (vs "long"))
- old (of people (vs "young")) --vs-- old (of things (vs "new"))
- floor (inside) --vs-- ground (outside) (In Britain, "floor" can mean both.)
German
- kennen, connaitre (know (to be acquainted with)) --vs-- wissen, savoir (know (as a fact))
- du, tu --vs-- sie, vous
- Wand (wall (of a room)) --vs-- Mauer (wall (of a city)) (http://www.quut.com/berlin/german/firewall.html)
- auf (on (a table, horizontal surface)) --vs-- (on (a wall, vertical surface))
- "treffen" can mean "meet" or "hit". Compare English "Will his shot connect?". (The context being basketball.)
Latin
- horn --vs-- antler ("cornú" means both.)
- roof --vs-- ceiling --vs-- canopy ("téctum" means all.) (It can also be used in a 'pars pro toto' manner to mean "house, dwelling, shelter".)
PIE
- *b^hleh_3-wo- gave both English "blue" and Latin "flávus" (yellow, blonde).
- animate water (*h_2ep-) --vs-- inanimate water (*wed- -> Latin "unda")
- animate fire (*h_1ng^w-ni- -> Latin "ignis") --vs-- inanimate fire (??*paewr- -> Greek "pyr", English "fire")
Japanese
- all the various terms for "I" (watashi, atashi, washi, boku, etc), "you" (kimi, omae, etc), etc
- older brother/sister --vs-- younger brother/sister
- jump --vs-- fly ("tobu" means both)
- ride (a horse) --vs-- drive (a car) --vs-- pilot (an airplane) ("noru" means all)
- sun --vs-- day (日 "hi" means both. There's also 火, again "hi", which means fire. I don't know whether the kanjis have the same reading by accident, or because they come from a single word/root whose meaning happens to be split in writing. The latter is certainly believable though; Compare English "day", which comes from PIE *d^heg^w^h, which means "to burn", and which also yielded Latin "febris", which means "fever", and Proto-Celtic *deg^wi-, which means "flame".)
- horn --vs-- antler ("tsuno" means both.)
- foot --vs-- leg ("ashi" means both) (http://wals.info/chapter/129)
- hand --vs-- arm ("te" means both)
- blue --vs-- green (青い "aoi" means both, but mainly blue. Grass and vegetables can be this color. Compare 緑 "midori", which is mainly green.) (http://wals.info/chapter/132)
- red --vs-- yellow (赤い "akai" means both, but mainly red. The sun can be this color. Compare 黄色 "kiiro", which is mainly yellow.)
I recommend searching google images with the desired kanji to get an idea of what a certain word can describe.
edit: I'd rather edit my first post then clutter up the thread with another post. All this really needs to be organized into a wiki page anyways.
I've made a thread, because email sucks.
English
- sandy beach --vs-- rocky headland ("shore" means both) (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shore)
- short (in height (vs "tall")) --vs-- short (in length (vs "long"))
- old (of people (vs "young")) --vs-- old (of things (vs "new"))
- floor (inside) --vs-- ground (outside) (In Britain, "floor" can mean both.)
German
- kennen, connaitre (know (to be acquainted with)) --vs-- wissen, savoir (know (as a fact))
- du, tu --vs-- sie, vous
- Wand (wall (of a room)) --vs-- Mauer (wall (of a city)) (http://www.quut.com/berlin/german/firewall.html)
- auf (on (a table, horizontal surface)) --vs-- (on (a wall, vertical surface))
- "treffen" can mean "meet" or "hit". Compare English "Will his shot connect?". (The context being basketball.)
Latin
- horn --vs-- antler ("cornú" means both.)
- roof --vs-- ceiling --vs-- canopy ("téctum" means all.) (It can also be used in a 'pars pro toto' manner to mean "house, dwelling, shelter".)
PIE
- *b^hleh_3-wo- gave both English "blue" and Latin "flávus" (yellow, blonde).
- animate water (*h_2ep-) --vs-- inanimate water (*wed- -> Latin "unda")
- animate fire (*h_1ng^w-ni- -> Latin "ignis") --vs-- inanimate fire (??*paewr- -> Greek "pyr", English "fire")
Japanese
- all the various terms for "I" (watashi, atashi, washi, boku, etc), "you" (kimi, omae, etc), etc
- older brother/sister --vs-- younger brother/sister
- jump --vs-- fly ("tobu" means both)
- ride (a horse) --vs-- drive (a car) --vs-- pilot (an airplane) ("noru" means all)
- sun --vs-- day (日 "hi" means both. There's also 火, again "hi", which means fire. I don't know whether the kanjis have the same reading by accident, or because they come from a single word/root whose meaning happens to be split in writing. The latter is certainly believable though; Compare English "day", which comes from PIE *d^heg^w^h, which means "to burn", and which also yielded Latin "febris", which means "fever", and Proto-Celtic *deg^wi-, which means "flame".)
- horn --vs-- antler ("tsuno" means both.)
- foot --vs-- leg ("ashi" means both) (http://wals.info/chapter/129)
- hand --vs-- arm ("te" means both)
- blue --vs-- green (青い "aoi" means both, but mainly blue. Grass and vegetables can be this color. Compare 緑 "midori", which is mainly green.) (http://wals.info/chapter/132)
- red --vs-- yellow (赤い "akai" means both, but mainly red. The sun can be this color. Compare 黄色 "kiiro", which is mainly yellow.)
I recommend searching google images with the desired kanji to get an idea of what a certain word can describe.
edit: I'd rather edit my first post then clutter up the thread with another post. All this really needs to be organized into a wiki page anyways.