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1157

I was reading today about a Latin riddle collection called the Engimata., composed by the Anglo-Saxon clergyman Aldhelm in the 7th century.

I couldn’t find a free translation or even editorial standardisation, but I did find this list of his riddle solutions, which gives us some insight into the Anglo-Latin vocabulary of the time.

Anglo-Latin English A-L E A-L E
  1. terra | earth | 34. locusta | locust | 67. cribellus | sieve
  2. ventus | wind | 35. nycticorax | night-raven | 68. salpix | trumpet
  3. nubes | cloud | 36. scnifes | midge | 69. taxus | yew
  4. natura | nature | 37. cancer | crab | 70. tortella | loaf
  5. iris | rainbow | 38. tippula | pond-strider | 71. piscis | fish
  6. luna | moon | 39. leo | lion | 72. colosus | colossus
  7. fatum | fate | 40. piper | pepper | 73. fons | spring
  8. Pilades | Pleiades | 41. pulvinus | pillow | 74. fundibulum | sling
  9. adamas | diamond | 42. strutio | ostrich | 75. crabro | hornet
  10. molosus | mastiff | 43. sanguisuga | leech | 76. melarius | apple tree
  11. poalum | bellows | 44. ignis | fire | 77. ficulnia | fig tree
  12. bombix | silkworm | 45. fusum | spindle | 78. cupa vinaria | wine cask
  13. barbita | organ | 46. urtica | nettle | 79. sol et luna | sun and moon
  14. pavo | peacock | 47. hirundo | swallow | 80. calix vitreus | glass cup
  15. salamandra | salamander | 48. vertico poli | sphere of the heavens | 81. Lucifer | morning star
  16. uligo | flying fish | 49. lebes | cauldron | 82. mustella | weasel
  17. perna | bivalve | 50. myrifyllon | milfoil (yarrow) | 83. iuvencus | steer
  18. mymicoleon | ant-lion | 51. eliotropus | heliotrope | 84. scrofa praegnans | pregnant sow
  19. salis | salt | 52. candela | candela | 85. caecus natus | man born blind
  20. apis | bee | 53. Arcturus | Arcturs | 86. aries | ram
  21. lima | file | 54. cocuma duplex | double boiler | 87. clipies | shield
  22. acalantida | nightingale | 55. crismal | chrismal | 88. basiliscus | serpent
  23. trutina | scales | 56. castor | beaver | 89. arca librara | bookcase
  24. dracontia | dragon-stone | 57. aquila | eagle | 90. puerpera geminas enixa | woman bearing twins
  25. magnes ferres | lodestone | 58. vesper sidus | evening star | 91. palma | palm
  26. gallus | rooster | 59. penna | pen | 92. farus editissima | tall lighthouse
  27. coticula | whetstone | 60. monocerus | unicorn | 93. scintilla | spark
  28. Minotaurus | Minotaur | 61. pugio | dagger | 94. ebulus | dwarf elder
  29. aqua | water | 62. famfaluca | bubble | 95. Scilla | Scylla
  30. elementum | alphabet | 63. corbus | raven | 96. elefans | elephant
  31. ciconia | stork | 64. columba | dove | 97. nox | night
  32. pugillares | writing tablets | 65. muriceps | mouser | 98. elleborus | hellebore
  33. lorica | armor | 66. mola | mill | 99. camellus | camel
    | | | | | 100. Creatura | Creation

What differences can we note between Classical Latin and Ango-Latin?

Inconsistency in doubled consonants: C.L. camelus → A-L camellus but CL. colossus → AL. colosus.

Loanwords are dropping H: E. heliotrope → A-L elotropus, E. hellebore → A-L elleborus.

C.L. sal has become A-L salis, the genitive form.

Some words didn’t need to exist in Classical Latin: molossus (mastiff), bombix (silkworm)

There’s also wholesale word replacement.
C.L. bulla (bubble) → A-L famfaluca, C.L. achilleos (milfoil, yarrow) → A-L myrifyllon.

A-L scnifes (midge) is an especially interesting innovation, obviously Anglo-Saxon in form.
The C.L. word is culex.

Plus this comfy little video from Luke. 39s for the poem.

1158

Molossus (TLL VIII 1388, 9, first instance Lucretius) and bombyx (TLL II 2070, 20, first instance Propertius, though he uses it of silk) are classical.

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1159

Takumi writes biáng.

As discussed before, biáng is a type of noodle popular in Shaanxi.

I’m running out of language videos…

1 Like
1160

Who's up for a noun recap?

(I made this in a bit of a hurry~)

#1 2D shapes
shape, circle, oval, triangle, square, rectangle

#2 3D shapes
sphere, spheroid, pyramid, cube, cuboid

#3 Plant stuff
plant, leaf, flower, seed, root

#4 Fruits
fruit, apple, pear, orange, strawberry, banana

#5 Trees
tree, oak, pine, beech, maple, willow

#6 Insects & co.
insect, flea, beetle, fly, spider, scorpion

#7. Small animals
animal, mouse/rat, frog/toad, lizard, fox, racoon

#8. Large animals
sheep, cow, horse, zebra, elephant

#9. Predators
predator, wolf, bear, lion, tiger, crocodile

#10. Sea tetrapods
turtle, iguana, otter, seal, whale

#11. Fish
fish, cod, herring, mackerel, eel, shark

#12. Musical instruments
(musical) instrument, drum, guitar, trumpet, piano, violin

#13. Water formations
water, stream, river, lake, waterfall, sea

#14. Birds
bird, sparrow, pigeon, crow, eagle, ostrich

#15. Flooring
floor, tile, mosaic, carpet, rug, plank

#16. Drinks
drink, wine, cider, beer, juice, milk

#17. Scribal things
book, pen, ink, page, letter, manuscript

#18. Transport
transport , bicycle, car, chariot, aeroplane, ship

#19. Weapons
weapon, sword, axe, spear, gun, bomb

#20. Household objects
kettle, iron, knife, oven, table

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1161

The full title is cutoff, but here it is:

As an American in the UK, I’m learning all sorts of new words! Today I discovered that “queues” can also be called “wait rows!”

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1162

Let’s try this in Latin. Vowel quantity in these answers (usually) unmarked in endings.

#1 shape, circle, oval, triangle, square, rectangle
fórma, -ae; ánus, -i; óvum, -í; triangulum, -i; quadra, -ae; fórma réctangula

#2 sphere, spheroid, pyramid, cube, cuboid
globus, -i; sphaerois, -idis; méta, -ae; 1 cubus, -i; cubois, -idis 2

  1. Also cone
  2. Self-coined

#3 plant, leaf, flower, seed, root
grámen, -inis; folium, -ii; flós, -oris; sémen, -inis; rádix, -icis

#4 fruit, apple, pear, orange, strawberry, banana
pómum, -i; malum, -i; pirum, -i; arancium, -ii; arbutum, -i; ariera, -ae 1

  1. Or banana, -ae

#5 tree, oak, pine, beech, maple, willow
arbor, -oris; quercus, -ús; pínus, -ús/-i; fágus, -i; ácer, -eris; salix, -icis

#6 insect, flea, beetle, fly, spider, scorpion
insectum, -i; púlex, -icis; coleoperum, -i; culex, -i; aránea, -ae; scorpio, -onis;

#7 animal, mouse/rat, frog/toad, lizard, fox, racoon
animalum, -i; mús, -uris; rána, -ae; lacerta, -ae; vulpis, -is; procyon, -onis 1

  1. From the scientific name, though this is reflected in Italian.

#8 sheep, cow, horse, zebra, elephant
ovis, is; vacca, -ae; equus, i; zebra, -ae; elephas, -antis

#9 predator, wolf, bear, lion, tiger, crocodile
vénátor, -oris; 1 lupus. i; ursus, i; leo, -onis; crocodílus, i

  1. Technically “hunter”

#10 turtle, iguana, otter, seal, whale
testúdo, -inis; iguana, -ae; 1 lutra, -ae; phóca, -ae; cétus, i

  1. From the genus name. A more Latin-sounding name would be equána or aquána, though.

#11 fish, cod, herring, mackerel, eel, shark
piscis, -is; gadus, i; clupea, -ae; 1 scomber, -bri; anguilla, -ae; squalus, -i

  1. From the genus name. In Classical Latin, a clupea was a type of shad.

#12 musical instrument, drum, guitar, trumpet, piano, violin
organum, -i; tympanum, -i; cithara, -ae; cornu, -ús 1, clávile, -is; violína, -ae

  1. Literally horn. cf. tuba, a long trumpet.

#13 water, stream, river, lake, waterfall, sea
aqua, -ae; rivus, -i; flúmen, -inis; lacus, -ús, cataracta, -ae

#14 bird, sparrow, pigeon, crow, eagle, ostrich
avis, -is; passer, -is; columba, -ae; cornix, -icis; aquila, -ae; strúthiocamélus, -i

#15 floor, tile, mosaic, carpet, rug, plank
solum, -i; later, -is, tapés, -etis; axis, -is;

I can’t push myself to do the final 25 right now.

1163

Today I discovered that “queues” can also be called “wait rows!”

Carlin used to have good collections of things like that :slight_smile: here is a “rare” example which was not part of his most famous routines that appeared in his specials:

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1164

Why not animale, -is?

orbis, -is is more natural.

Here, you forgot the t after the p. But I think there must be a more natural word for beetles.

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1165

Ah, yeah, I misremembered animalum.

Although the nominative is actually animal, says Wiktionary.

When would we want to use ánus, or orbis, or circulus?

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1166

What’s a Christmas tree in different languages?

Let’s explore~ (with thanks to Glosbe)

Language Word
Old English trēo, trēow
Middle English trew, trow etc.
Modern English tree
Old Norse, Icelandic tré
Norwegian tre
Danish træ
Dutch boom
German Baum
Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌲𐌼𐍃 bagms
Irish crann
Welsh coeden
Old / Poetic Latin arbōs
Latin arbor
Italian albero
Siciliann àrbulu, àrvulu etc.
Spanish árbol
Portuguese árvore
French, Catalan arbre
Romanian arbore
Russian де́рево dérevo
Polish drzewo
Czech, Slovak strom
Latvian koks
Lithuanian medis
Hungarian fa
Finnish, Estonian puu
(Modern) Greek δέντρο déntro, δένδρο déndro
Armenian ծառ caṙ
Turkish ağaç
Arabic شجرة šajara
Persian, Urdu درخت daraxt
Sanskrit वृक्ष vṛkṣá
Hindi पेड़ pēṛ
Nepali रुख rukh
Tamil மரம் maram
Telugu మ్రాను mrānu
Tibetan ཤིང shing
Standard Chinese 木 / ㄇㄨˋ / mù
Hokkien 木 bo̍k
Japanese 木 / き ki (and other readings)
Korean 나무 namu
Jeju 낭 nang
Malay. Indonesian pohon
Thai ต้นไม้ dtôn-máai
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1167

Wrong. No one calls it “koks”.

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1168

What word do you use?

This is the only option Glosbe gave me, and I checked it against Wiktionary.

1169

“Koks” means “tree”, yes. But for “Christmas tree” we use “winter-fest sprucey”. Yes, it’s that stupid.

Oh and in Latvian – Ziemassvētku eglīte.

3 Likes
1171

I never actually mean to imply that I was listing tree as a component of Christmas tree.

I was just listing words for tree.

1172

but everyone is confused
“tree” is part of “Christmas tree” in English, but it may has nothing to do with it in other languages

more clearly would be something like:

Since its Christmas today, lets explore word “tree” (from Christmas tree)
*please note that some languages may use completely different words for “tree and Christmas tree”

2 Likes
1173

True, true. My Anglo mistake.

In other matters, here is a reader for An Icelandic Primer with grammar, notes, and glossary (1895).

Although not stated, this is a primer for Old Icelandic, “between 1200 and 1350”.

This language might also be called Old West Norse or simply Old Norse.

A small table from the second page:

C/O - - - - - -
open e ē o ō ö œ
closed ę æ ǫ – ǫ̈ –
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1174

Another tidbit, this time from Page 17: numbers in Old Norse.

For a more detailed look, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4wGnzp2T2s Numbers in Old Norse, Jackson Crawford

English Old Norse
1. one, first einn, fyrstr
2. two, second tveir, annarr
3. three, third þrir, þriði
4. four, -th fjōrir, fjōrði
5. five, fifth fimm, fimmti
6. six, -th sex, sētti
7. seven, -th sjau, sjaundi
8. eight, eighth ātta, ātti
9. nine, ninth nīu, nīundi
10. ten, -th tīu, tīundi
11. eleven, -th ellifu, ellifti
12. twelve, twelfth tōlf, tōlfti
13. thirteen, -th þrettān, þrettāndi
14. fourteen fjōrtān
15. fifteen fimmtān
16. sixteen sextān
17. seventeen sjautān
18. eighteen atjān
19. nineteen nītjān
20. twenty tuttugu
21. twenty-one einn ok tuttugu etc.
30. thirty þrīr tigir etc.
100. (one / a) hundred tiu tigir
110. (one / a) hundred and ten ellifu tigir *1
120. (one / a) hundred and twenty hundrað *2
1200. (one / a) thousand, two hundred þūsund *3

*1 Perhaps the inspiration for Tolkien’s “eleventy-first”, Bilbo’s birthday at the beginning of LOTR.

*2 The “Germanic hundred” represented 120 in Germanic languages. It was written C in manuscripts, just like the “Latin hundred” (100). Eventually the Latin hundred replaced it.

*3 So too, the “Germanic thousand” was 1,200.

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1175

Billy Go’s Beginner Korean Course

Might be decent? Never watched it. There’re another 62 videos in the series so far.

The youtuber himself makes some pretty respectable Korean-related content, so I’d have reasonable hopes.

New video from Satura Lanx’ Latin podcast

And something new from Wikitongues

1176

What’s the word for year in different languages?

Language Word (nominative), plural, dual
Proto-Germanic *jērą, -
Old Norse ár, - (definite) / -in (indefinite)
Old English ġēar, -
English year, -s
Spanish año, -os
Italian anno, -i
Latin annus, -i
Attic Greek ἔτος, -η, -ει (étos, -ē, -ei)
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1177

Today I was reading my bilingual edition of Metamorphoses (Metamorphoses Libri, the Book of Transformations). (Loeb, Metamorphoses Books 7–11, Apuleius; edited & translated by J. Arthur Hanson).

This is an early-first-century Latin story set in Greece, in Thessaly. Early in the book, our hero is transformed by a magic ointment into the form of an ass (donkey); after a series of fortuitous and infortuitous events, he is presented in Book 8 for sale at a market.

He is there purchased by a man named Philebus; along with a group of catamites, they travel the countryside begging in the role of religious mendicants. This name is perhaps a sexual pun, meaning both “lover of youth” and “lover of youths”. Philebus is described as cinaedum et senem cinaedum.

The word cinaedus is a vulgar term which Wiktionary translates as “sodomite, catamite”. Latdict offers the additional senses of “effeminate man, male erotic dancer” and simply “pervert”. Hanson goes for the most general translation: “a pervert, and an old one at that”.

The most interesting part of this scene is a little literary trick available to writers in a gendered language. Philebus is concerned for the safety of a divine statue in his keeping and complains thus:

An me putas, inepte, iumento fero posse deam committere, ut turbatum repente divinum deiciat simulacrum, egoque misera cogo crinibus solutis discurrere et deae meae humi iacenti aliquem medicum quaerere.

egoque means “and I” or “and me”. misera is an adjectve that means “poor, wretched, miserable” and so on. However, misera is a feminine adjective (the masculine form is miser) and Philebus is a male speaker applying the word to himself. As a probable eunuch and so-called cinaedus, this small detail makes his speech sound much more effeminate in a way that cannot be directly translated into English.

A similar effect could be achieved in Japanese, for instance, by having Philebus refer to himself with a feminine pronoun like uchi.

Hanson’s translation of the paragraph runs:

“You fool, do you suppose I could entrust the goddess to an animal who was wild? He might suddenly upset her divine image and throw it off his back, and I would be forced to run around like a poor girl with her hair all over the place and hunt for a doctor for my goddess lying on the ground.”

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