Some of these basic, ancient words seem to take ages to write in kanji. But I can see how that’s acceptable if you’re going to write it in kana anyway (but then you’ve got to watch out for the copious homonyms).
Even more so, 建築業者! How can a man write four complex characters for this?!
Interesting to read about the dominance of modern loanwords in the treasure section. I never really looked into it, but perhaps precious stones (other than jade) weren’t widely traded in the Orient as a whole?
You find it boring, but I think it is a bit interesting that these loanwords are continuing a 2000- or 3000-year-old etymological lineage that began in India and the Middle East in the Bronze and Iron Age.
(Recall Sanskrit उपरि => उपल => Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος => Latin opalus => French opale => opal)
Finally, yeah, Hagoromo chalk is supposed to be great. I watched a whole video about it on Numberphile a while ago.
I will have to come back later to do the last three sections.
Vocab Solution
The Roman calendar is a complex subject and I can’t do it any sort of justice, but I’ll make all the translations and see where we go from there.
Note from Wikipedia:
In Latin, the month names are used as adjectives. In the Classical period, this adjective modifies a noun identifying a particular day, from which the date was reckoned. In Medieval Latin and later periods, the adjective modifies a numeral for the day of the month.
To discuss the month as a noun, you use the real noun mēnsis (month).
For instance, mēnsis Iānuārius, the month of February. I’ll use this convention in the table.
Second note:
-uary in English months derives from Latin -ārius, which converts nouns into adjectives.
-ember derives from Latin -mēmbris, month, which was originally appended.
The names of the months would have been much more understandable to the Roman ear than ours are to us. I assume the traditional Japanese month names are similarly intelligible (of course, the modern Japanese month names are just numbers, so boring ) Then again, half the Roman month names were numeral as well u__u
I will be using the original Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE, as the base of this table.
English
Latin
Meaning
January
mēnsis Iānuārius
month of Janus
February
mēnsis Februārius
month of offerings
March
mēnsis Martius
month of Mars
April
mēnsis Aprīlis
month of Aphrodite*
May
mēnsis Maius
month of Maia
June
mēnsis Iūnius
month of Juno
July
mēnsis quintilis**
fifth month
August
mēnsis sextīlis***
sixth month
September
mēnsis september
seventh month
October
mēnsis octōber
eight month
November
mēnsis november
ninth month
December
mēnsis december
tenth month
(*) Etymology unclear. It’s suggested that Greek Ἀφροδίτη became Etruscan 𐌖𐌓𐌐𐌀 (Apru), forming the base of the month name.
(**) Quickly renamed in 44 BCE Iūlius, after Julius Caesar, which is the root of July.
(***) Renamed Augustus in 8 BCE, after Emperor Augustus.
The Roman week was (usually) eight days long, and fell between the market days called nūndinae: so obviously it was called an internundinum. The different days of the internundinum were apparently not named at all, but denoted sequentially in writing with the letters A – H.
The seven-day week was introduced by the followers of Eastern religions in the early Imperial period, and as was referred to as a hebdomas. Our modern English days, of course, refer to the hebdomas.
English
Latin
Meaning
Notes
Monday
diēs lūnae
day of the moon
Calqued into English
Tuesday
diēs Martis
Mars’s day
Calqued into English, substituting Tiw for Mars
Wednesday
diēs Mercuriī
Mercury’s day
Calqued into English, substituting Woden for Mercury
Thursday
diēs Iōvis
Jupiter’s day
Calqued into English, subsituting Thor for Jupiter
Friday
diēs Veneris
Venus’ day
Calqued into English, substituting Frige for Venus
Haha, that’s even more confusing. 手 is move, 厚い is generally thickness in go. So I’m kinda thinking 手厚い(が)一着です like move’s thickness is superb? Or something?
Context is a very short comment on a go move, but I don’t have the position anymore:
Alright, it seems that 一着 is a go term (see point 4 here), being a synonym of 一手, which means “one move”. 手厚い is indeed “courteous” or “cordial”, but it has a strong connotation of putting effort in or taking care. So 手厚い一着です means “This is a thoughtful move”
Noun - a style of music, when it is repeated as “go go”
The last three meanings also give rise to corresponding adjectives, e.g., “go go dancer”, “go books”, which might refer to books about the game or the programming language.
Hence, in a manner similar to saying “buffalo” a bunch of times in a row, it should be possible to construct a grammatically valid sentence that is just the word “go” repeated many times, taking advantage of the many different meanings of the word.
So, here’s my grammar challenge (since you all seem to enjoy that so much):
What is the longest grammatically correct sentence that you can construct that only consists of “go” repeated over and over?
Please provide a valid syntactical interpretation that demonstrates the meaning and grammatical correctness of your constructed sentence.
*apparently, some people on this forum actually might play this game occasionally
I’m pretty sure this is a thread-derail at this point, but since folks were talking about brushing up on their Latin, I figured I’d post one of my favorite things - this old LiveJournal post from 2003:
De clunibus magnis amandis oratio
Mixaloti equitis
mehercle!
(By Hercules!) Rebecca, ecce! tantae clunes isti sunt!
(Rebecca, behold! Such large buttocks she has!)
amica esse videtur istorum hominum rhythmicorum.
(She appears to be a girlfriend of one of those rhythmic-oration people.) sed, ut scis,
(But, as you know) quis homines huiusmodi intellegere potest?
(Who can understand persons of this sort?) colloquuntur equidem cum ista eo tantum, quod scortum perfectum esse videtur.
(Verily, they converse with her for this reason only, namely, that she appears to be a complete whore.) clunes, aio, maiores esse!
(Her buttocks, I say, are rather large!) nec possum credere quam rotondae sint.
(Nor am I able to believe how round they are.) en! quam exstant! nonne piget te earum?
(Lo! How they stand forth! Do they not disgust you?) ecce mulier Aethiops!
(Behold the black woman!)
magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri.
(Large buttocks are pleasing to me, nor am I able to lie concerning this matter.) quis enim, consortes mei, non fateatur,
(For who, colleagues, would not admit,) cum puella incedit minore medio corpore
(Whenever a girl comes by with a rather small middle part of the body) sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos
(Beneath which is an obvious spherical mass, that it inflames the spirits) virtute praestare ut velitis, notantes bracas eius
(So that you want to be conspicuous for manly virtue, noticing her breeches) clunibus profunde fartas (*1) esse
(Have been deeply stuffed with buttock?) a! captus sum, nec desinere intueri possum.
(Alas! I am captured, nor am I able to desist from gazing.) o dominola mea, volo tecum congredi
(My dear lady, I want to come together with you) pingereque picturam tui.
(And make a picture of you.) familiares mei me monebant
(My companions were trying to warn me) sed clunes istae libidinem in me concitant.
(But those buttocks of yours arouse lust in me.) o! cutis rugosa glabraque! (*2)
(O skin wrinkled and smooth!) dixistine te in meum vehiculum intrare velle?
(Did you say you wish to enter my vehicle?) in arbitrio tuo totus veni
(I am entirely at your disposal) quia non es mediocris adsecula.
(Because you are not an average hanger-on.) vidi illam saltantem. (*3)
(I have seen her dancing.) obliviscere igitur blanditiarum! (*3a)
(Forget, therefore, about blandishments!) tantus sudor! tantus umor!
(Such sweat! Such moisture!) vehor quasi in curru quadrigarum! (*4)
(I am borne along as if by a four-horse chariot!) taedet me in diurnis legendi
(I am tired of reading in the gazettes) planas clunes gratiores iudicari.
(That flat buttocks are judged more pleasing.) rogate quoslibet Aethiopes: responsum erit
(Ask any black men you wish: the answer will be) se libentius expletiores (*5) anteponere.
(Rather that they prefer fuller ones.) o consortes (quid est?) o consortes (quid est?)
(O colleagues [What is it?] O colleagues [What is it?]) habent amicae vestrae magnas clunes? (certe habent!)
(Do your girlfriends have large buttocks? [They certainly have!]) hortamini igitur ut eas quatiant (ut quatiant!)
(Encourage them therefore to shake them! [To shake them!]) ut quatiant! (ut quatiant!)
(To shake them! [To shake them!) ut quatiant illas clunes sanas!
(To shake those healthy buttocks!) domina mea exstat a tergo! (*6)
(My mistress stands out behind!)
[Etc.]
(*1) Any apparent connection with flatulence, even in this context, is purely coincidental.
(*2) The original doesn’t make much sense either. Is it a cellulite reference? – ADDENDUM Nov. 14, 2003 : The reading of the text here is a problem which has much exercised the scholarly community, with attempts to explain “rumpled smooth skin,” or to suggest that it is a pun (a lame one, if you ask me) on Rumplestiltskin. The likeliest reading is “rub her smooth skin” ( cutem glabram eius tere [or terere volo ]). Now, there are ten pages of comments below, and a great many of them are devoted to this matter. Please familiarize yourself with the status quaestionis before making your own contribution. – UPDATE 12/9/03 : a reader tells us that Sir Mixalot’s official site confirms the lyrics “rub all of that smooth skin.” I am therefore willing to declare the matter solved, and wish to hear no more of it. Thank you.
(*3) Or saltare ?
(*3a) I can find no obvious Latin expression that implies “romantic courtship.” – ADDENDUM 10/14/03: Amores has been suggested, but that can also be used for purely sexual liaisons, which is clearly the goal here, and so not to be thus dismissed.
(*4)All right, how would you say “got it goin’ like a Turbo 'Vette”? And what exactly is “goin’” here? I have chosen to understand that the unnamed woman’s extraordinary callipygy has inspired a primal response in the narrator, rather than that she “has got it goin’ on ,” i.e., that she “is all that” – although the later lines (not included here) concerning Fonda’s Honda and the speaker’s anaconda can, ultimately, be invoked in support of either interpretation. – ADDENDUM 10/24/03: I have heard from several readers that the music video suggests that this line should rather be interpreted along the lines of “she shakes her posterior most vigorously.”
(*5) Or uberiores ? Although that’s perhaps better reserved for a different fetish.
(*6) This line is not as succinct as the original, to be sure. – ADDENDUM 10/24/03: I wish I’d said puella here, as domina suggests a power relationship different from the English original.
III ova mediocria
CLXXV g buturum emollitus
CLXXV g saccharum frendus
CLXXV g farina surgens
CXLII ml guttus crami adipati
IV – VI cochlearia magnorum conditurae bacarum rubrarum aequa
II x XVIII cm coquula rotunda
Ratio
Ingredienta omnia in catillum inverge et pulsa ad levia sunt. Mixtio inter coquula separa et terga aequa.
Placentae in centrum furni calefactus coque cum CLXXX°C / CCCL°F ad XX – XXV minutas, vel ad placentae surgus esse et flavae sunt, et resiliunt cum in centrum perterge.
Placentae furnum remove et quae in coquula cum V – X minutas ad frigescunt linque, tunc quae in scutellum effunde et quae ad undique frigescunt linque.
Conditura in basim placentae utrae confunde. Cramum adipatum leniter flagella et quod basim placentae alius confunde. Placentae duae conduco. Saccharum frendus sparge.
) Then again, half the Roman month names were numeral as well u__u