Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other langs
- Herr Dunkel
- Smeric
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Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other langs
As the title says.
I often jokingly refer to myself as a "Boar", from "Boarisch", from "Bayerisch" - and "boar" in English means something totally different from the term "Boar" in Boarisch.
Do you know of any?
Better yet, do you use any on yourself?
I often jokingly refer to myself as a "Boar", from "Boarisch", from "Bayerisch" - and "boar" in English means something totally different from the term "Boar" in Boarisch.
Do you know of any?
Better yet, do you use any on yourself?
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- Šm Mepuyoš ab Duhen
- Sanci
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Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
In Croatian,word for citizen of Tirana is same as the word for tyrant.So,tyrants live in Tirana.
languages were purty
languages are putrid
languages are putrid
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
In Hebrew, the root ʕ-R-B means "Arab", but also "interfere". So when you say "Don't interfere" in Hebrew, it looks/sounds like "Don't be an Arab". Not really the same, but it's funny.
- Skomakar'n
- Smeric
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Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
'Slavic' in Swedish ('slavisk') might as well mean 'slave-ic', and 'Slav' ('slav') actually is the same as 'slave', but has a different plural.
'Lätt' is a common interjection meaning something like "oh, yeah", "hell yeah" (but without the swearing) or like a positive counterpart of "no way" (it literally means 'easily'). This has made 'lettiska' ('Latvian') a funny word for me and one of my friends.
'!Kung' or whatever it's called is funny, since 'kung' means 'king' in Swedish.
'Lätt' is a common interjection meaning something like "oh, yeah", "hell yeah" (but without the swearing) or like a positive counterpart of "no way" (it literally means 'easily'). This has made 'lettiska' ('Latvian') a funny word for me and one of my friends.
'!Kung' or whatever it's called is funny, since 'kung' means 'king' in Swedish.
Online dictionary for my conlang Vanga: http://royalrailway.com/tungumaalMiin/Vanga/
#undef FEMALE
I'd love for you to try my game out! Here's the forum thread about it:
http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36688
Of an Ernst'ian one.
#undef FEMALE
I'd love for you to try my game out! Here's the forum thread about it:
http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36688
Of an Ernst'ian one.
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- Avisaru
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Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Yes, that's how <slave> was derived.Skomakar'n wrote:'Slavic' in Swedish ('slavisk') might as well mean 'slave-ic', and 'Slav' ('slav') actually is the same as 'slave', but has a different plural.
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Hell yeah isn't swearing.Skomakar'n wrote:"hell yeah" (but without the swearing)
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Well, I've never noticed that. However, there is a similar pun with ʕ-R-B. This is also the root for "evening"; so the adjective form of "evening" is written the same way as the word for "Arabic" or "Arab", and is sometimes pronounced the same as well. Whenever I do go to a synagogue, I think that תפילת ערבית (evening prayer) is an Arab prayer.Astraios wrote:In Hebrew, the root ʕ-R-B means "Arab", but also "interfere". So when you say "Don't interfere" in Hebrew, it looks/sounds like "Don't be an Arab". Not really the same, but it's funny.
Boer is pronounced the same as the Hebrew word בור, "ignorant, uneducated".
Languages I speak fluentlyPřemysl wrote:Oh god, we truly are nerdy. My first instinct was "why didn't he just use sunt and have it all in Latin?".Kereb wrote:they are nerdissimus inter nerdes
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Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Boor is also an old fashioned word for a stereotypically ignorant lower-class person, though according to some dictionaries it is simply a loanword of Boer and therefore not really a coincidence. (Others say it's native or a loan from a French word for farmer and thus cognate to bovine).
Sunàqʷa the Sea Lamprey says:
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Well, of course you haven't, because התערב doesn't actually mean "be an Arab" (though it technically could).Mr. Z wrote:Well, I've never noticed that.
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
That's not really a good example, because there's no audible k in that word, it's just orthographic convention.Skomakar'n wrote: '!Kung' or whatever it's called is funny, since 'kung' means 'king' in Swedish.
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
It's the way 99% of people pronounce it though. Even in academic circles, veeeeeeeery few people actually pronounce it with a click, as far as Ive heard. The only non-native speakers Ive heard pronounce clicks in any context are ZBBer's and Russell Peters in a comedy sketch with a probably made-up name.
Sunàqʷa the Sea Lamprey says:
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Yeah, in South Africa, the majority of the non-click language speaking population (basically the Coloured and white people) pronounces "Xhosa" with an initial [k~kʰ]. Granted, the "x" click in Xhosa does have a [k] coarticulation, but I don't think anyone who doesn't speak the language would say "oh yeah, I definitely hear a [k] there with the click", it just happens to be the closest approximation.Soap wrote:It's the way 99% of people pronounce it though. Even in academic circles, veeeeeeeery few people actually pronounce it with a click, as far as Ive heard. The only non-native speakers Ive heard pronounce clicks in any context are ZBBer's and Russell Peters in a comedy sketch with a probably made-up name.
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
as do most clicks – the only exceptions being the ones with aChibi wrote:Yeah, in South Africa, the majority of the non-click language speaking population (basically the Coloured and white people) pronounces "Xhosa" with an initial [k~kʰ]. Granted, the "x" click in Xhosa does have a [k] coarticulation,Soap wrote:It's the way 99% of people pronounce it though. Even in academic circles, veeeeeeeery few people actually pronounce it with a click, as far as Ive heard. The only non-native speakers Ive heard pronounce clicks in any context are ZBBer's and Russell Peters in a comedy sketch with a probably made-up name.
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- Lebom
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Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Between Maori and English
ate - liver; seat of affections
here - string; tie up; leash
kite - see; discover, find; recognise
mate - danger; dead; death; ill; sickness; in love; suffering
me - and; if; with; like; should
mine - to gather together
more - bare; plain, not decorated; toothless
nana - eye brow
nuke - crooked
one - beach; sand; mud
pane - head
pea - perhaps, maybe
pine - close together
poke - pollute
puke - hill
pure - ceemony to remove tapu
rite - agreed to; completed; like; equal; ready, prepared
take - beginning, cause, origin, reason; subject of discussion
toe - be left; remain
toke - worm
ate - liver; seat of affections
here - string; tie up; leash
kite - see; discover, find; recognise
mate - danger; dead; death; ill; sickness; in love; suffering
me - and; if; with; like; should
mine - to gather together
more - bare; plain, not decorated; toothless
nana - eye brow
nuke - crooked
one - beach; sand; mud
pane - head
pea - perhaps, maybe
pine - close together
poke - pollute
puke - hill
pure - ceemony to remove tapu
rite - agreed to; completed; like; equal; ready, prepared
take - beginning, cause, origin, reason; subject of discussion
toe - be left; remain
toke - worm
I KEIM HEWE IN THE ΠVEΓININΓ TA LEAWN WELX, ΠVVT NAW THE ΠVWΠVΣE FVW ΠVEINΓ HEWE IΣ VNKLEAW. THAT IΣ WAIT I LIKE TA MAKE KAWNLANΓΣ AWN THE ΣΠAWT.
TVWTLEHEAΔ
TVWTLEHEAΔ
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Cymraeg ("Welsh language") sounds almost exactly like English "cum rag".
If I had a Welsh drag name, it would be "Dusky Cumrag".
If I had a Welsh drag name, it would be "Dusky Cumrag".
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Please look up the dictionary definition of the term endonym. Thank you.Turtlehead wrote:Between Maori and English
[A LIST OF WORDS THAT ARE TOTALLY NOT ENDONYMS]
Obvious funnies in English: Turkey ~ turkey; Hungary ~ hungry.
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
But those are both exonyms. The endonym for "Turkey" is Türkiye, for "Hungary" Magyarország.Guitarplayer wrote:Please look up the dictionary definition of the term endonym. Thank you.Turtlehead wrote:Between Maori and English
[A LIST OF WORDS THAT ARE TOTALLY NOT ENDONYMS]
Obvious funnies in English: Turkey ~ turkey; Hungary ~ hungry.
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
OK, make a mark for me on the idiot tally list as well. No reason for you to be smug, Turtlehead, though.
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Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
In Portuguese, a turkey is a peru. (I believe it's named for the country.)
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
And in Turkish, it's a hindi.zompist wrote:In Portuguese, a turkey is a peru. (I believe it's named for the country.)
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Hmm, supposedly French coq d'inde ( dindon) refers to the West Indies. Could Turkish have calqued it on French?
- Skomakar'n
- Smeric
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Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
And why should you? It makes no sense to use a phoneme that isn't native to the language for one word. Words are usually adapted to the phonology of the language they're loaned into, and people on these fora should know that, if anyone. :SSoap wrote:It's the way 99% of people pronounce it though. Even in academic circles, veeeeeeeery few people actually pronounce it with a click, as far as Ive heard. The only non-native speakers Ive heard pronounce clicks in any context are ZBBer's and Russell Peters in a comedy sketch with a probably made-up name.
Can't join in on the fun with Swedish. We say 'kalkon' which just reminds me of French 'quelqu'un', which doesn't have anything to do with the subject.linguoboy wrote:And in Turkish, it's a hindi.zompist wrote:In Portuguese, a turkey is a peru. (I believe it's named for the country.)
Online dictionary for my conlang Vanga: http://royalrailway.com/tungumaalMiin/Vanga/
#undef FEMALE
I'd love for you to try my game out! Here's the forum thread about it:
http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36688
Of an Ernst'ian one.
#undef FEMALE
I'd love for you to try my game out! Here's the forum thread about it:
http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36688
Of an Ernst'ian one.
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
More probably on the Arabic diik hindiy, which has the same meaning as the French (and is probably calqued on it, so yes, indirectly).zompist wrote:Hmm, supposedly French coq d'inde ( dindon) refers to the West Indies. Could Turkish have calqued it on French?
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
And in Catalan is a gall dindi, also known as indiot, paó, pioc o titot.linguoboy wrote:And in Turkish, it's a hindi.zompist wrote:In Portuguese, a turkey is a peru. (I believe it's named for the country.)
In the first case, dindi is the fusion of d'indi "from India" (literally "of Indian"), that is, "from the Indies". No, not these Indies, but these ones.
Un llapis mai dibuixa sense una mà.
Re: Endonyms that have intersting connotations in other lang
Basically most places seem to have taken the name from whoever the merchants were who originally sold guineafowl to them, because turkeys were discovered in America and mistaken for guineafowl – for us it was the Turkish, and for most other places it was Indians (dinde, hindi), while for the Dutch and Scandinavians, it's apparently from the city of Calicut in India.zompist wrote:Hmm, supposedly French coq d'inde ( dindon) refers to the West Indies. Could Turkish have calqued it on French?
Some kind of weird historical mixup. So it seems likely that the French and the Turkish independently came up with the same etymology.