Language Learners' Library

Thank you, @bugcat, but I was busy this forenoon (if that’s a word. In German we have Vormittag, which is the period between second breakfast and noon, and we use it almost more frequently than Morgen. At least students do…) eating raisin scones with tangerine marmalade and tea. I’m really not kidding, we’ve got a wonderful recipe for scones.

Anyway, I was talking about pronouns a few days earlier, so here we go. Please excuse formatting, I dinnae how to do vsotvep’s fancy tables, which I really like, by the way.

The Personal Pronoun

Case\Person : first singular “I” : second singular “thou” : first plural “we” : second plural “ye” : third person reflexive.
ego : tu : nos : vos : —
mei “of me” : tui : nostri, nostrum : vestri, vestrum : sui “of oneself”
mihi : tibi : nobis : vobis : sibi
me : te : nos : vos : se
me : te : nobis : vobis : se

I see you: ego te video
I see myself: ego video me ipsum
they see each other: ii videunt se ipsos
thou thinkest of me: tu meministi mei
I think of you: ego memini tui
(these to illustrate the use of the genitive.)

The Personal Pronoun of the Third Person (occasionally used as demonstrative)

Case\Gender: he : she : it
is : ea : id
eius : eius : eius
ei : ei : ei
eum : eam : id
eo : ea : eo

Plural:
ii (ei, i) : eae : ea
eorum : earum : eorum
eis (iis, is) : eis (iis, is) : eis (iis, is)
eos : eas : ea
eis (iis, is) like above.

He sees me: is me vidit
I see him: eum video
in this way: eo modo (ablative)
because of this: ea causa (ablative)
that means: id est (abbr. i.e.)
He killed his (own) father: occisit patrem suum
He killed his (an other person’s) father: occisit patrem eius (lit. ‘the father of.his’)

The Possessive Pronoun is an ordinary adjective of three endings:

meus, mea, meum: my
tuus, tua, tuum: thy
suus, sua, suum: belonging to the clause’s subject, even in plural
noster, nostra, nostrum: our
vester, vestra, vestrum: your.
for third persons that are not the clause’s subject, the genitive of the pronoun eorum, earum, eorum is used.

The brothers killed their father: fratres occiserunt patrem suum.
but: The brothers killed [other people’s] father: fratres occiserunt patrem eorum

The Demonstrative Pronoun of close Proximity (this here); can be used as adjective:

hic : haec : hoc
huius
huic
hunc : hanc : hoc
hoc : hac : hoc (all with long vowels)

hi : hae : haec
horum : harum : horum
his
hos : has : hae
his

By these words: his verbis
after these things were done: his rebus factis
this is my body: hoc est corpus meum (corpus corporis, 3.declension. Root to hocuspocus)
Not to be confused with hic ‘here’ (but related to it)

The Demonstrative Pronoun of stuff that is close to the listener. Slightly pejorative ('That guy'). In the courtroom, it refers to the accused.

iste : ista : istud
istius
isti
istum : istam : istud
isto : ista : isto

Isti : istae : ista
istorum : istarum : istorum
istis
istos : istas : ista
istis

Related to that is istic ‘there (with you)’

The Demonstrative Pronoun of Distance

ille : illa : illud
illius
illi
illum : illam : illud
illo : illa : illo

Illi : illae : illa
illorum : illarum : illorum
illis
illos : illas : illos
illis

Also illic ‘there’.

A Pronoun of reflexivity.

ipse : ipsa : ipsum
ipsius
ipsi
ipsum : ipsam : ipsum
ipso : ipsa : ipso

ipsi : ipsae : ipsa
ipsorum : ipsarum : ipsorum
ipsis
ipsos : ipsas : ipsa
ipsis

HM the Queen herself: regina ipsa.
He didn’t kill himself: non se ipsum occisit
By the fact itself: ipso facto

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Apparently forenoon is a word. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually heard it said, though. It sounds quite dated and obscure.

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I suspect that discobot tries to tell us that it can not roll a 750 sided die. How about we roll two dice: a 75 sided and a 10 sided one?

@discobot roll 1d75

Did you know that the maximum number of sides for a mathematically fair die is 120?

:game_die: 73

@discobot roll 1d10

:game_die: 8

73x10 + 8 - 1 = 737 is our new random number.

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Ah, I did suspect that…

Actually @Vsotvep I’ve been studying the table and I think 630 is in fact a fairer roll, since otherwise there’s a bias to Rongorongo which sits at the end. You want to do it again?

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Script_(Unicode)#List_of_scripts_in_Unicode is my reference btw)

@discobot roll 1d62

:game_die: 55

@discobot roll 1d10

:game_die: 6

We always get the weird ones, huh.

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556

(Actually I should just go up to 62, otherwise we would have gotten things over 630… I’m a rubbish mathematician)

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I was thinking today: "what are the oldest words for which we have recorded history?"

I’ve decided on a cut-off point of 1000 BCE.

Akkadian 𒁲 𒊑 => 𒅆𒂍𒉪 => ziggurat

Akkadian 𒂵𒈬𒉡 =~> Ancient Greek κύμινον => Latin cuminum => Old English cymen => Middle English comin => cumin

Aramaic נצב to מצב to מצטבתא => Arabic مِصْطَبَة => mastaba

Aramaic שולטנא => Arabic سُلْطَان => Turkish سلطان => French sultan => sultan

Egyptian bḫn => Ancient Greek βάσανος => Latin basanites => Latin Latin basaltes => basalt

Egyptian hbnj => Ancient Greek ἔβενος => Latin hebenus => Ecclesiastical Latin ebenius => Middle English hebenyf => ebony

Egyptian ꜣbw =?> Ancient Greek ἐλέφᾱς => Latin elephantus => Old French elefant => elephant

Egyptian ꜣbw => Demotic yb => Latin ebur => eboreus => Anglo-Norman ivurie => Middle English ivorie => ivory

Egyptian wḥꜣt => Demotic wḥj => Ancient Greek Ὄᾰσῐς => Latin Latin Oasis => oasis

Egyptian pr ꜥꜣ => Hebrew פַּרְעֹה => Ancient Greek Φαραώ => Late Latin Pharao => Old / Middle English pharao => pharoah

Hebrew פלשת to פלשתים to Ancient Greek Φυλιστῖνοι => Late Latin Philistinus => philistine

Hebrew סְדֹם => Ancient Greek σοδομίτης => Latin sodomita => sodomite

Hebrew אשקלון => Latin ascalonia => Medieval Latin escalonia => Middle French eschalote => French échalote => shallot

Phoenician 𐤀 => Ancient Greek ἄλφα => alpha

Phoenician 𐤂𐤁 to 𐤂𐤁𐤋 => Ancient Greek Βῠ́βλος => βύβλος => βυβλίον => βῐβλῐ́ον => βιβλιογράφος => _ βιβλιογραφία_ => bibliography

Sanskrit उपरि => उपल => Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος => Latin opalus => French opale => opal

Sanskrit रोटिका => Hindi रोटी => roti

Sanskrit लाक्षा => Hindi लाख => Persian لاک => Portuguese laca => French lacque => lacquer

Sanskrit पिप्पली => Persian پلپل possibly to Arabic فلفل to فَلَافِل => falafel

Sanskrit शृङ्गवेर => Sauraseni Prakrit सिङ्गबेर => Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις => Latin zingiberi => Medieval Latin gingiber => Middle English gingifer => gingivere => gingere => Modern English ginger

Sanskrit पर्पट => Tamil பப்படம் => papadam

Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 => Akkadian 𒄀 => Ancient Greek κάννα => Latin canna => canalis => Old / Middle French canal => canal

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The Coptic word is ⲡⲣ̄ⲣⲟ p-ᵊrro, by the way, ⲡ- being the definite article.
I can imagine that ebony and oasis being other egyptian loanwords are similarly old.

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Being a Germanic language, English is relatively poor in recorded ancient etymologies, if you want to go before Latin and Ancient Greek. I think the most fertile soil to find them in is probably:

  • Chinese
  • Indian languages
  • Iranian
  • Arabic
  • Hebrew
  • Coptic

It’s quite easy, just select the whole table below and copy it, you’ll see how it works

A B
C D
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@Sanonius, about demonstrative pronouns: I wasn’t aware (or forgot) that Latin distinguishes distance between second person and third person. It’s like Japanese in that regard.

Japanese has it both for demonstrative pronouns and other demonstrative adverbs:

First person Second person Third person Interrogative
これ
this one (near me)
それ
that one (near you)
あれ
that one (distant)
どれ
which
この
this (near me)
その
that (near you)
あの
that (distant)
どの
what
ここ
here (near me)
そこ
there (near you)
あそこ
there (distant)
どこ
where
こちら
over here (near me)
そちら
over there (near you)
あちら
over there (distant)
どちら
which way
こう
(in) this way / with my method
そう
(in) that way / with your method
ああ
(in) that way (distant)
どう
how
こんな
this kind of (near me)
そんな
that kind of (near you)
あんな
that kind of (distant)
どんな
what kind of

It existed in English as well, for example: here (proximity to speaker), there (proximity to listener), yonder (distant from both). In modern English there has largely absorbed the meaning of yonder.

Yonder was also used for the pronouns, see this Wiki page.

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That looks really neat, thank you. It’s interesting how that system is extended not only to directions but also manners. It Latin there’s ita ‘this way’, and circumscriptions that literally mean ‘this way’, and ‘that way’ (hoc/isto/illo modo). I quite like the Japanese ああ〜…

German’s got three distances, too: hier, da, dort, but “da” is rather in general proximity than precisely around the listener. I wonder if there are languages with four or more. Maybe one for objects one can’t see.

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