Language Learners' Library

[square.defender]

@bugcat

Some of these basic, ancient words seem to take ages to write

With keyboard its no longer true.
And with color screen its possible to return

[Barbanaira]

There’s an app for that, too! Two or three, actually, one with a dictionary, the other one with flashcards to learn the hieroglyghs.

[Vsotvep]

Time for another, the topic is time

Vocabulary challenge

Months

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

Weeks

• week
• weekend
• Sunday
• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday

Days

• today
• tomorrow
• yesterday
• the day after tomorrow
• the day before yesterday

Time of day

• morning
• noon
• afternoon
• evening
• night

Timekeeping

• hour
• minute
• second

Are there any other interesting time divisions in your language?

For the Grammar challenge, describe what you would do on a typical Wednesday in 5-7 sentences, using some aspect of time in each sentence.

[bugcat]

Great choice!

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
Saturday	diēs Sāturni	Saturn’s day	Calqued into English
Sunday	diēs Sōlis	day of the Sun	Calqued into English

[DVbS78rkR7NVe]

What would be possible meaning of 手厚い一着です

Is it like “very thick move”?

[Vsotvep]

手厚い means “courteous”, “cordial” or “warm” and 一着 is “first arrival” or first place in a race, so something like “it’s a pleasant first place”?

[DVbS78rkR7NVe]

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:

手厚い一着です 黒優勢です

[Vsotvep]

厚い means thick, thickness would be 厚さ, and a move’s thickness 手の厚さ, if translated literally (don’t know if it would make sense as a go term, though).

[DVbS78rkR7NVe]

Let’s put it on a back burner then until someone smarter figures it out.

From what you wrote I got interested in difference between 厚み и 厚さ, and that led me to this very nice post about it: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2982

[Vsotvep]

I’ll ask it when Japan wakes up, but it looks like a statement generally praising black for nicely being ahead

[Vsotvep]

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”

[yebellz]

Sorry, this may be a bit different from the rest of the thread, but I couldn’t think of a better place to put this.

The word “go” has a lot of different meanings in the English language. Here is a non-exhaustive list:

1. Verb - movement, operation, e.g., “I must go”, “My car won’t go”
2. Noun - a turn or attempt, e.g., “Give it a go”, “Have a go at it”
3. Adjective - properly functioning, e.g., “All systems go”
4. Noun - an abstract board game*, e.g., “igo”, aka “weiqi”, “baduk”
5. Noun - a programming language
6. 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

[Barbanaira]

Go go-go Go go “Go, Go!”

Go.adjective go-go.music Go.boardgames.plural go.make_a_sound “Go.verb_imperative Go.programming_language!”

“The ready Go plays that like go-go music cheer at a programmic language.”

[bugcat]

Just came across this :3

Story of Ahikar

Also, making a mental note to get the grammar and vocab challenges done at some point.

[tonybe]

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:

a musical interlude

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.

[bugcat]

List of language families

If you just want to boggle at something this evening

[bugcat]

Vocab Solution Part 2

English	Latin
today	hodiē
tomorrow	crās
yesterday	herī
morning	māne
noon	merīdiēs
afternoon	pomeridianus / postmeridianus (both marked as rare)
evening	vespers
night	nox
hour	hōra
minute	minūta (?)
second	secunda (?)

(*) As far as I know, there are no dedicated words for day-after-tomorrow and day-before-yesterday.

In diem (1) Mercurii, sero orior. (2)
On Wednesday, I get up late.

1. Not sure of the case. I put it in the ablative.
2. Not sure of the conjugation. I put it in the present active.

Horis tribus, (1) feles video.
For three hours, I watch cats.

1. Not sure of the grammatical construction here. I put it in the ablative.

In pomeridie, (1) cafeam bracio. (2)
In the afternoon, I make coffee.

1. You guessed it, I used the ablative.
2. bracio means “to brew beer”. I wasn’t sure of the right verb here.

Ante cenam edo, in foro (1) baduci (2) scribo.
Before I eat dinner, I post on the Go forum.

1. forum is literally “market”, I use it in its modern sense.
2. I invented the word baducus for Go, giving it an m2 declension.

In Vigile (1) dormio.
In the early morning, I fall asleep.

1. Vigil is a canonical hour, 2 – 3am. It probably shouldn’t be used in a secular context, but I fancied some variety.

[bugcat]

Challenge: Recipe

Translate a recipe into your target language.

This is mainly going to be a test of

1. Your vocabulary
2. The imperative
3. Time expression

[bugcat]

Placenta Victoriae

Ingredients

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

1. Ingredienta omnia in catillum inverge et pulsa ad levia sunt. Mixtio inter coquula separa et terga aequa.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Conditura in basim placentae utrae confunde. Cramum adipatum leniter flagella et quod basim placentae alius confunde. Placentae duae conduco. Saccharum frendus sparge.

5. Farcii!

Vocab

English	Latin	Inflection	Notes
cake	placenta	f1
Victoria (name)	Victoria	f1
egg	ovum	n2
medium	mediocris	adj. 3
butter	buturum	n2
soften	emollio	vb. 4
sugar	saccharum	n2
grind	frendo	vb. 3	in “caster sugar”
flour	farina	f1
rise	surgo	vb. 3	in “self-raising flour”
jug	guttus	m2	replacing “carton”
cream	cramum	n2
fatty	adipatus	adj. 1 / 2	in “double cream”
spoon	cochlear	n3
large	magnus	adj. 1 / 2	in “tablespoon”
level	aequus	adj. 1 / 2
berry	baca	f1
red	ruber	adj. 1 / 2	in “raspberry”
jam	conditura	f1
pan / tin	coquulum	n2
round	rotundus	adj. 1 / 2
tip	invergo	vb. 3
ingredient	ingredientum	n2
bowl	catillus	n2
beat	pulso	vb. 1	Probably not with this classical meaning
smooth	levis	vb. 3
divide	separo	vb. 1
mixture	mixtio	f3
surface	tergum	n2
make level	aequo	f1
bake	coquo	vb. 3
centre	centrum	n2
oven	furnus	m2
heat	calefacio	vb. 3
minute	minuta	f1
golden	flavus	adj. 1 / 2
spring back	resilio	vb. 4
press lightly	pertergo	vb. 3
remove	removeo	vb. 2
leave	linquo	vb. 3
cool	frigesco	vb. 3
drop out	effundo	vb. 3
rack	scutella	f1	I’m using its meaning quite generously
completely	undique	adv.
spread	confundo	vb. 3
base	basis	f3
whip	flagello	vb. 1	Again, I may be abusing this verb
lightly	leniter	adv.
join	conduco	vb. 3
gorge	farcio	vb. 4

[tonybe]

Gimme that old time placenta
it’s good enough for me