In current linguistic classification, the Slavic languages are split into three groups: East, West, and South.
Polish is a West Slavic language (together with Czech and Slovak). Russian is, of course, an East Slavic language. So on that basis, we wouldn’t automatically assume comprehension to be very good.
On the topic of “assymetric intelligibility”, NativLang made a good video.
On a different but related note, I enjoyed this video as well:
I’m very comfortable with my native German and Swiss German and I think I can formulate even long and convoluted sentences without losing my thread and while still staying clear to an attentive listener. The glueing-together of German words is a cliché; we don’t to it that often. But it allows to formulate one’s thought very precisely without the need of sticking to the words that are already established. What is really handy are small, unstressed words that convey what the speaker thinks the listeners relation to the spoken things should be.
This is what I also like about Ancient Greek. There are words you’ve never seen before but you understand them immediately, and the “particles that clarify the meaning” establish a quite precise relation between sentences with each other and with the reader.
In French, Latin and some extent English, this is not quite the case. The most common style of English today is very clear and straightforward, but these little words make everything sound blunt. Or sharp, because the words are so bare and not tendered by some moderating wordlets.
In French, everything sounds either posh other like street talk; and even many words that are “middle register” look to me quite artificial because they’re neolatin, as the naturally evolved words have become slang. Despite this, I quite like talking French, but I’m really insecure when writing it.
The Serbian speakers I know have been living in Switzerland for over 30 years and grew up here and bilingually, so their Serbian, as far as I understand it, sounds not much different than Swiss German to me. It’s just different words, phonology and grammar. Sometimes I’m surprised by some words for a very peculiar concept like upašiti se ‘to tuck one’s shirt or wifebeater into one’s trousers’.
Standard Italian is beautiful but the words are unnecessarily long. They usually have one or even more syllables more than French, Rumantsch. When Rumantsch can say fö 
, Italian says 
fuoco 
, when Rumantsch says a revair, sta bain 
, Italian goes * 
eh ciao, ci vediamo, stabbene 
. so I quickly lose patience when reading Italian texts, and prefer reading French or Rumantsch or even Italian dialects because the speed of reading and progressing with the thought fits my own pace more, even if I understand less.
I love Italian.
Time for a good ol’ vocabulary challenge, before the first letter of LLL starts standing for linguistics.
Give me at least twenty words about autumn and / or winter in your target language.
I can’t to seem to nail down what the word for ice is. latin-dictionary.net gives variants on gelum and crystallum, but Wiktionary disagrees.
| English | Latin | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| autumn | autumnus, -i | |
| winter | hiems, -is | |
| rain | pluuia, -ae | |
| snow | nix, niuis | A rare monosyllabic noun |
| acorn | glans, -andis | |
| chestnut | castanea, -ae | |
| apple | malum, -i | |
| blackberry | rubus, -i | |
| frost | gelu, -us | |
| stag | ceruus, -i | These rutting in the autumn |
| bear | ursus, -i | These gathering food for hibernation |
| bath | balneum, -ei | Irregular declension |
| boar | aper, -ri | Boar just feel autumnal, with the nemora frondosa and all that |
| oak | quercus, -us | eg. falling oak leaves |
| hot spiced wine | caldum, -i | |
| mead | hydromel, -melitis | Probably also quite nice warm |
| pine | pinus, -i / -us | Uncommon 2nd dec. / 4th dec. noun |
| fire | ignis, is | |
| hearth | focus, -i | |
| beer | ceruesia, -ae | |
| winter solstice | bruma, -ae |
Now my head is full of wonderful images of ancient, rural Italy as the orange quercus leaves begin to fall, and poor families go out gathering the castaneae in the cool morning air.
'djuvare tibi habeo, frater. [I gotchu, fam.]
pes, urbs, cor, os, res, mus, nox, vir, Mars, bos, fur, mas …
| English | Rumantsch Vallader | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| autumn | l’utuon m | |
| winter | l’inviern m | |
| rain | la plövgia | |
| snow | la naiv | |
| acorn | il glogn, la glanda, l’egla f. | Differences are probably regional. |
| chestnut | la chastogna, il marrun | |
| apple | la maila | |
| blackberry | l’amura f | |
| plum prunus domestica ssp. domestica | la brümbla | popular fruit in Switzerland with an adorable name. |
| frost | la dscheta, la braïna | the stuff that covers grass in the morning; frozen dew. |
| stag | il tschierv | |
| bear | l’uors m | |
| bath | il bogn | |
| boar | il püerch sulvadi | |
| oak | il ruver | |
| masonry heater | la pigna | |
| fire | il fö | |
| kitchen | la chadafö | lit. ‘fire-house’. |
| winter solstice | solstizi d’inviern | |
| Thanksgiving | la festa da la racolta | |
| taking the livestock down from the alps back to the village | s-chargiada | In springtime, livestock is brought uphill to spend the summer on the alpine pastures, in autumn it’s driven back home. |
| an evening spent on the spinning wheel chatting with friends and telling stories | üna sairada da filadè |
fúr (thief)
Ah, the eventual root of furtive.
also connected to ferre (fero, fers; tuli; latum)
Do you ladmates want to fill in a Swadesh list?
| English | Latin |
|---|---|
| I | ego |
| you (sg.) | tu |
| he | quis |
| we | nos |
| you (pl.) | vos |
| they | qui / quae |
| this | quis / quid |
| that | quis / quid |
| here | huc |
| there | illuc / ibi |
| who | quis / qui / quae |
| what | quid / quae |
| where | ubi |
| when | quando |
| how | quomodo |
| not | non |
| all | omnis |
| many | multus |
| some | aliqui |
| few | pauca |
| other | alius |
| one | unus |
| two | duo |
| three | tres |
| four | quattuor |
| five | qinque |
| big | magnus |
| long | longus |
| wide | latus |
| thick | crassus |
| heavy | grauis |
| small | paruus |
| short | breuis |
| narrow | breuis / artus |
| thin | tenuis |
| woman | femina |
| man | uir |
| human | homo |
| child | natus / nata |
| wife | uxor |
| husband | uir |
| mother | mater |
| father | pater |
| animal | animal |
| fish | piscis |
| bird | auis |
| dog | canis |
| louse | culex |
| snaker | serpens |
| worm | uermis |
| tree | arbor |
| forest | silua |
| stick | rudis |
| fruit | fructus |
| seed | semen |
| leaf | folium |
| root | radix |
| bark | cortex |
| flower | flos |
| grass | gramen |
| rope | rudens |
| skin | cutis |
| meat | carnis |
| blood | sanguis |
| bone | os |
| fat (n.) | adeps |
| egg | ouum |
| horn | cornu |
| tail | cauda |
| feather | pluma |
| hair | crinis |
| head | caput |
| ear | auris |
| eye | oculus |
| nose | nasus |
| mouth | os |
| tooth | dens |
| tongue (n.) | lingua |
| foot | pes |
| leg | crus |
| knee | genu |
| hand | manus |
| wing | pinna |
| belly | aluus |
| guts | ile |
| neck | collum |
| back | tergum |
| breast | pectus |
| heart | cor |
| liver | iecur |
| to drink | poto |
| to eat | edo |
| to bite | mordeo |
| to suck | bibo |
| to spit | spuo |
| to vomit | uomo |
| to blow | spiro |
| to breathe | spiro |
| to laugh | rideo |
By the way, when we reach a thousand posts I’m going to do some spring cleaning and rework the OP.
The thread’s looking a bit tangled at the moment…
Why don’t we try encountering Latin words “in their natural habitat”? This habitat being Pliny’s Naturalis Historiae.
Liber XIII
Ad reliqua transeamus animalia et primum terrestria.
Let us pass to the rest of the animals, and first those that live on land.
| Word | Type | Root | Root Meaning | cf. English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ad | pre | to | ||
| reliqua | n | the rest | ||
| transeamus | v | transeo | to traverse | transit |
| animalia | n | animal | animal | |
| et | con | and | ||
| primum | adj | primus | first | primal |
| terrestria | adj | terrestris | terrestrial |
Maximum est elephans proximumque humanis sensibus, quippe intellectus illis sermonis patrii et imperiorum obedientia, officiorum quae didicere memoria, amoris et gloriae voluptas, immo vero quae etiam in homine rara, probitas, prudentia, aequitas, religio quoque sederum solisque ac lunae veneratio.
The largest land animal is the elephant, and it is the nearest to man in intelligence: it understands the language of its country and obeys oders, remembers duties that it has been taught, is pleased by affection and marks of honour, nay more it possesses virtues rare even in man, honesty, wisdom, justice, also respect for the stars and reverence for the sun and moon.
| Word | Type | Root | Root Meaning | cf. English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| maximum | adj | maximus | largest, greatest | |
| elephans | n | elephant | ||
| proximum | adj | proximus | nearest | proximal |
| -que | con | and | ||
| humanis | n | humanus | human | |
| sensibus | n | sensus | perception | sense |
| quippe | adv | surely, indeed | ||
| intellectus | n | understanding | intellect | |
| illis | n | ille | that | |
| sermonis | n | sermo | conversation, language | sermon |
| patrii | n | patria | country, fatherland | patriotism |
| imperiorum | n | imperium | empire, order | imperial, imperative |
| obedientia | par | obediens | obedient | |
| officiorum | n | officium | duty | official |
| quae | gr | qui | who, that, which | |
| didicere | v | disco | learn, study | didactic |
| memoria | n | memory | ||
| amoris | n | amor | love, affection | amorous |
| gloriae | n | gloria | glory. honour | |
| voluptas | n | pleasure | voluptuous | |
| immo | adv | certainly, indeed | ||
| vero | adv | verily, truly, in particular | ||
| etiam | adv | also, furthermore | ||
| in | pre | in, on | ||
| homine | n | homo | human | hominid |
| rara | adj | rarus | rare | |
| probitas | n | honesty | probity | |
| prudentia | n | wisdom | prudence | |
| aequitas | n | justice | equitable | |
| religio | n | piety | religion | |
| quoque | adv | also | ||
| siderum | n | sidus | star | sidereal |
| solis | n | sol | sun | solar |
| ac | con | and | ||
| lunae | n | luna | moon | lunar |
| veneratio | n | reverence, worship | veneration |
You translated that yourself?
intellectus illis sermonis patrii is literally ‘understanding [is] on them of the paternal language’, illis being dativus possessivus and patrii the adjective patrius -a -um ‘of the homeland’.
No, the translation’s from Loeb, I’m afraid. I said that in a comment but I must have accidentally deleted it.
The genders and numbers in that first sentence are a bit confusing, too. Pliny starts out with maximum and proximum in the neuter, because he’s thinking of animal, but Cicero would have written maximus and proximus (or maxumus and proxumus) in the masculine because of elephans. The same happens later with delphinus est celerrimum omnium animalium. This not the most classical Latin. Then he changes into the plural and uses illis because he’s thinking of elephants as the species as a whole.
These pages from Robert Morrison’s 1815 publication 字典 A Dictionary of the Chinese Language, in Three Parts, Vol. I.—Part I. seem to be the first ever formal naming of the kangxi radicals in English, as this was the first Chinese – English dictionary.
Perhaps it was even Morrison who coined the term radical, in this book.
(As a side note, observe the use of archaic shew for show in the page title.)
A nice little Latin course c:
Maybe a bit off topic.
I see that with
you are entering the world of etymology.
In Dutch a mouse is called “een muis”.
Following link is a etymological dictionary for English words.
One of my favourites is a decoy.
[decoy (v.)
1650s, “to allure or entice;” 1670s, “to lure (someone or something) into a trap or snare, entrap by allurements,” from decoy (n.).
1610s, “a swindler;” 1650s, “anything intended to lead (someone) into a snare;” 1660s, “a lure employed in enticing game into a snare or within range of a weapon;” perhaps from Dutch kooi"cage," used of a pond surrounded by nets, into which wildfowl were lured for capture, from West Germanic *kaiwa, from Latin cavea “cage” (from cavus “a hollow” (from PIE root *keue- “to swell,” also “vault, hole”).
The first element is possibly the Dutch definite article de, mistaken in English as part of the word. If this is right, the later sense in English is the etymological one. But decoy, of unknown origin, was the name of a card game popular c. 1550-1650, and this may have influenced the form of the word.
This refers to the Dutch word “eendenkooi” (a small pond with a long cone-shaped wickerwork tunnel, used to catch wild ducks).
In English this was transformed into a decoy (een dekooi).
Source:
Interesting!
As a native speaker, I would have guessed at a surface etymology de-coy, an inflection of coy, which has one meaning “pretending shyness or modesty”. This would be similar in form to Latinate verbs like demonstrate or debase, and the decoy verb could have then spread to become a noun.
Folk etymology is fun, heh.
I read something interesting on Wikipedia last night, about the development of a certain indigenous Caribbean language:
A few decades prior to the arrival of the first conquistadores, people who spoke a Cariban language expanded into the Lesser Antilles and killed or displaced and also mixed with the Arawak peoples who already inhabited the islands. The resulting language—Kalhíphona or Island Carib—was Carib in name but largely Arawak in substance. This happened because Carib men took Arawak wives, who then passed their language on to the children. For a time, Arawak was spoken by women and children and Carib by adult men, but as each generation of Carib-Arawak boys reached adulthood, they acquired less Carib until only basic vocabulary and a few grammatical elements were left.
However, this whole claim is uncited, and the main page about Island Carib presents a more uncertain and controversial picture, with the possiblity that there never even was an invasion but rather a peaceful assimilation of the Arawaks into Carib identity.