In Chinese, the word for clock 鐘 and watch 錶 are also very different. And there are words for timepiece 計時器, but a relatively modern word. Although originally the word 鐘 means a bell type instrument, that could also be used to sound the alarm to tell time, like a church bell.
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I learnt two new Anglo-Latinate words just now due to watching a video about stingless bees.
The first is scopa, -ae. A scopa is a broom-like mass of hair on the back of the hind legs of most bees, used for gathering pollen.
It’s not entirely clear what this meant in Classical Latin. Wiktionary cites scópa as “branch” and scópae, literally “branches”, as “broom”.
LatDict, though, says that the singular scópa is “broom” and that scópae is a bundle of branches, which would be called in Latin a fascis and in English, loosely, a “faggot”. The Oxford Latin Desk Dictionary has no entry for scópa but does for scóparius, “(male) sweeper”.
The second is corbicula, -ae. A corbicula is a “pollen basket”, a hole in the hind legs of bees which don’t have scopae. In Latin, a corbis, -is is a “basket” or “basketful”. -culus / -cula / -culum is a diminutive suffix, making the sense “little basket”.
I also learnt two Anglo-Chinese terms reading about the New Book of Tang (Xīn Tángshū / 新唐書).
A 藩鎮 / 藩镇 fānzhèn or 方鎮 / 方镇 fāngzhèn was a “border town” or “military district” during the Tang Period.
The 方镇 fāngzhèn were administered by 節度使 / 节度使 jiédùshǐ, “regional governors”.
Singled out different words, make me rethink and have to look up why those words were chosen. 鎮 means town or a compact gathering place. 藩 used to mean a client states and as a noun still used today meaning a barrier or protective boundary. And historically 藩鎮 started with bordering states or places with unrest requiring a standing military presence.
And 使 is a general word for government officials, normally a special appointment dispatched officials. And 節度 is the ancient form of symbols and seals representing the power of the central government and the will of the emperor. Hence 節度使 originally was special appointed central government military overseers dispatched to troubled land leading military operations. But if they stay too long in a border area and gain loyalty from the military they controlled, would then be able to force the local people and governors to do their biddings, and essentially became warlords.
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I took the table of popes at List of popes - Wikipedia and condensed it to only show their unique Latin names, making the custom more obvious.
Papal names used officially at least three times are emboldened and shown with their English equivalent.
| Name | Name-# | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Petrus | 1 | 30-3, 64-8 |
| Linus | 2 | 64-8 ,76-9 |
| Anacletus | 3 | I 76-9, 88-91 “II” (a.p.) 1130-8 |
| Clemens (Clement) | 4 | I 88-99 II 1046-7 “III” (a.p. b. Pietro) 1080-1100 III 1187-91 IV 1265-8 V 1305-14 VI 1342-52 “VII” (a.p. b. Robert) 1378-94 “VIII” (a.p. b. Gil) 1423-9 VII 1523-34 VIII 1592-1605 IX 1667-9 X 1670-6 XI 1700-21 XII 1730-40 XIII 1758-1769 XIV 1769-74 |
| Evaristus | 5 | 89-105 |
| Alexander | 6 | I 105-15 II 1061-73 III 1159-81 IV 1254-61 “V” (a.p.) 1409-10 VI 1492-1503 VII 1655-67 VIII 1689-91 |
| Sixtus / Xystus / Xyxtus | 7 | I 115-25 II 257-8 III 432-40 IV 1471-84 V 1585-90 |
| Telesphorus | 8 | 125-36 |
| Hyginus | 9 | 136-40 |
| Pius | 10 | I I40-55 II 1458-64 III 1503 IV 1559-65 V 1566-72 VI 1775-99 VII 1800-23 VIII 1829-30 IX 1846-78 X 1903-14 XI 1922-39 XII 1939-58 |
| Anicetus | 11 | 155-166 |
| Soterius | 12 | 164-74 |
| Eleutherius | 13 | 174-89 |
| Victor | 14 | I 189-99 II 1055-7 III 1086-7 “IV” (a.p. b. Gregorio) 1138 “IV” (a.p. b. Ottaviano) 1159-64 |
| Zephyrinus | 15 | 199-217 |
| Natalius (antipope) | ~199 – ~200 | |
| Callixtus | 16 | I 217-22 II 1119-24 “III” (a.p. b. Giovanni) 1168-78 III 1455-8 |
| Hippolytus (antipope) | 217-35 | |
| Urbanus (Urban) | 17 | I 222-30 II 1088-99 III 1185-7 IV 1261-4 V 1362-70 VI 1378-9 VII 1590 VIII 1623-44 |
| Pontianus | 18 | 230-35 |
| Anterus | 19 | 235-6 |
| Fabianus | 20 | 236-50 |
| Cornelius | 21 | 251-3 |
| Novatianus (antipope) | 251-8 | |
| Lucius | 22 | I 253-4 II 1144-5 III 1181-5 |
| Stephanus (Stephen) | 23 | I 254-7 II 752-7 III 768-72 IV 816-7 V 885-91 VI 896-7 VII 929-31 VIII 939-42 IX 1057-8 |
| Dionysius | 24 | 259-68 |
| Felix | 25 | I 269-79 “II” (a.p.) 355-65 III 483-92 IV 526-30 “V” (a.p.) 1439-49 |
| Eutychianus | 26 | 275-83 |
| “Caius” (prob. Gaius) | 27 | 283-96 |
| Marcellinus | 28 | 296-304 |
| Marcellus | 29 | I 308-9 II 1555 |
| Eusebius | 30 | 309-10 |
| Miltiades / Melchiades | 31 | 311-14 |
| Sylvester | 32 | I 314-35 II 999-1003 III (a.p.?) 1045 IV 1105-1111 |
| Marcus | 33 | 336 |
| Julius | 34 | I 337-352 II 1503-13 III 1534-49 |
| Liberius | 35 | 352-66 |
| Damasus | 36 | I 366-84 II 1048 |
| Ursinus (antipope) | 366-7 | |
| Syricius | 37 | 384-99 |
| Anastasius | 38 | I 399-401 II 496-8 III 911-3 IV 1153-4 |
| Innocentius (Innocent) | 39 | I 401-17 II 1130-43 “III” (a.p. b. Lando) 1179-80 III 1198-1216 IV 1243-54 V 1276 VI 1352-62 VII 1404-6 VIII 1484-92 IX 1591 X 1644-55 XI 1676-89 XII 1691-1700 XIII 1721-4 |
| Zosimus | 40 | 417-8 |
| Eulalius (antipope) | 418-9 | |
| Bonifacius / Bonifatius (Boniface) | 41 | I 418-22 II 530-2 III 607 IV 608-15 V 618-25 VI 896 VII (a.p.) 974, 984-5 VIII 1294-1303 IX 1389-1404 |
| Caelestinus / Coelestinus (Celestine) | 42 | I 422-32 “II” (a.p. b. Teopaldo) 1124 II 1143 III 1191-8 IV 1241 V 1294 |
| Leo | 43 | I 440-61 II 682-3 III 795-816 IV 847-55 V 903 VI 928 VII 936-9 VIII (mainly as a.p.) 963-5 IX 1049-54 X 1513-21 XI 1605 XII 1823-9 XIII 1878-1903 |
| Hilarius | 44 | 461-68 |
| Simplicius | 45 | 468-83 |
| Gelasius | 46 | I 483-96 II 1118-9 |
| Symmachus | 47 | 498-514 |
| Laurentius (antipope) | 498 - 506/8 | |
| Hormisdas | 48 | 514-23 |
| Ioannes (John) | 49 | I 523-6 II 533-5 III 561-4 IV 640-2 V 685-6 VI 701-5 VII 705-7 VIII 872-82 IX 898-900 X 914-28 XI 931-5 XII 955-64 XIII 965-72 XIV 983-4 XV 985-96 “XVI” (a.p.) 997-8 XVII 1003 XVIII 1003-9 XIV 1024-32 XXI (there is no XX) 1276-7 XXII 1316-34 “XXIII” (a.p. b. Baidasarre) 1410-15 XXIII 1958-63 |
| Dioscorus (antipope) | 530 | |
| Agapetus | 50 | I 535-6 II 946-55 |
| Silverius | 51 | 536-7 |
| Vigilius | 52 | 537-55 |
| Pelagius | 53 | I 556-61 II 579-90 |
| Benedictus (Benedict) | 54 | I 574-9 II 684-5 III 855-8 IV 900-903 V 964 VI 973-4 VII 974-83 VIII 1012-24 IX 1032-48 “X” (a.p.) 1058-9 XI 1303-4 XII 1334-42 “XIII” (a.p. b. Pedro) 1394-1423 XIII 1724-30 XIV 1740-58 XV 1914-22 XVI 2005-13 |
| Gregorius (Gregory) | 55 | I 590-604 II 715-31 III 731-41 IV 827-44 V 996-9 VI 1045-6 VII 1073-85 “VIII” (a.p.) 1118-21 VIII 1187 IX 1227-41 X 1271-6 XI 1370-8 XII 1406-15 XIII 1572-85 XIV 1590-1 XV 1621-3 |
| Sabinianus | 56 | 604-6 |
| Adeodatus | 57 | I 615-8 II 672-6 |
| Honorius | 58 | I 625-38 “II” (a.p., b. Candalus) 1061-72 II 1124-30 III 1216-27 IV 1285-7 |
| Severinus | 59 | 640 |
| Theodorus | 60 | I 642-9 II 897 |
| Martinus (Martin) | 61 | I 649-55 IV (no II or III due to confusion with Marinus) 1281-5 V 1417-31 |
| Eugenius (Eugene) | 62 | I 654-7 II 824-7 III 1145-53 IV 1331-47 |
| Vitalianus | 63 | 657-72 |
| Donus | 64 | 676-8 |
| Agatho | 65 | 678-81 |
| Conon | 66 | 686-7 |
| Sergius | 67 | I 687-701 II 844-87 III 904-11 IV 1009-12 |
| Sisinnius | 68 | 708 |
| Constantinus | 69 | 708-15 |
| Zacharias | 70 | 741-52 |
| Paulus (Paul) | 71 | I 757-67 II 1464-71 III 1534-49 IV 1555-9 V 1605-21 |
| Adrianus (Adrian) | 72 | I 772-95 II 867-72 III 884-5 IV 1153-4 V 1276 VI 1522-3 |
| Paschalis | 73 | I 817-24 II 1099-1118 “III” 1164-8 |
| Valentinus | 74 | 827 |
| Nicholaus (Nicholas) | 75 | I 858-67 II 1058-61 III 1277-80 IV 1288-92 “V” (a.p. b. Pietro) 1328-30 V 1447-55 |
| Marinus | 76 | I 882-4 II 942-6 |
| Formosus | 77 | 891-6 |
| Romanus | 78 | 897 |
| Christoforo (antipope) | 903-4 | |
| Lando | 78 | 913-4 |
| Theodoricus (antipope) | 1100-1 | |
| Adalbertus (antipope) | 1101-2 | |
| Ioannes Paulus (compound name) | I 1978 II 1978-2005 | |
| Franciscus | 79 | 2013- (first new non-compounded name for over a millenium) |
This is also handy as a dating system.
Compare the phrases:
| Phrase | Range |
|---|---|
| 740s CE | 740-49 |
| 1490s AUC | 737-47 |
| 379th–401st Olympiads | 740-52 |
| in regnum Imperatoris Constaninus V | 741-75 |
| in papatia Pontificis Zachariae | 741-52 |
By the same methods, 2021 CE / AD can be otherwise described as:
- ⅯⅯⅮⅭⅭⅬⅣ AUC
- Anni Ⅳ Olympiae ⅮⅭⅠⅭ et Ⅰ Olympiae ⅮⅭⅭ
- Annus ⅬⅩⅩ in regnum Elizabeth II Reginae
- Annus ⅤⅢ in papatia Pontificis Francisci
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From the covid topic:
Apo+kalypto (από + καλύπτω) = apokalypto = apocalypsis = apokalypse. It just means to “reveal” and literally it means to “take something out of its cover” (the actual translation of an “unboxing channel” in Greek would have been closer to an “apocalyptic channel” ahahah)
Anyway, the reason that the word took cataclysmic proportions is due to John’s Revelations in the Bible, whose original title is “Αποκάλυψη του Ιωάννη” (John’s apocalypse) and considering its contents about the horsemen (of the apocalypse), people skewed the meaning of the word to actually de facto include some grand esoteric knowledge or destruction in it.
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Franciscus papa regnum incepit abhinc VIII annos, frater.
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Oops.
Cur scribis in regnum cum accusativo sed in papatia cum ablativo? Et quid iam de illo “Constantinus” faciendumst? Nonne oportet Constantinum nostrum declinari?
Ceteribus factis, naturaliter utimur ablativo absoluto et dicimus Constantinó V. imperatore vel Elizabethá reginá vel M. Tullió Cicerone C. Antonió Hybridá coss. (i.e. “consulibus”). Puto etiam sub idoneam praepositionem esse, viz. “sub regnó Caroló”, at non certus sum.
Item bene loquitur quisquis dicit “anno quinto regni Carolis” pro “the fifth year of the reign of Charles”.
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Wikipedia introduced me to a couple of new words today.
-
zariba or zeriba, Anglo-Arabic: “A fence of the type once commonly improvised in northeastern Africa from thornbushes”. Compare an English translation “briar-hedge” from O.E. brēr and heċġ.
-
lazarette, Anglo-Italian: A leper colony. This name derives from St. Lazarus, the patron saint of lepers, via Italian lazaretto, also adopted into English as “quarantine / disinfection centre”. The word leper is Graeco-English, from λεπῐ́ς lepis, in the sense of “skin scale”; a related synonym for lazarette is leprosarium, from Latin, using the -arium place suffix (cf. aquarium et al.).
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The index page for a beginner class (15k and below) textbook volume 1, with basic Chinese Go terminologies and how to pronounce them with bopomofo.
| index | Chinese | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 氣(ㄑㄧˋ) | liberties |
| 2 | 提取(ㄊㄧˊ ㄑㄩˇ) | capture |
| 3 | 逃跑(ㄊㄠˊ ㄆㄠˇ) | escape (atari) |
| 4 | 比氣(ㄅㄧˇ ㄑㄧˋ) | liberty race/count |
| 5 | 連接切斷(ㄌㄧㄢˊ ㄐㄧㄝ ㄑㄧㄝ ㄉㄨㄢˋ) | connect & cut off |
| 6 | 打劫(ㄉㄚˇ ㄐㄧㄝˊ) | ko fight |
| 7 | 禁著點(ㄐㄧㄣˋ ㄓㄜ˙ ㄉㄧㄢˇ) | forbidden(suicide) locations |
| 8 | 假眼(ㄐㄧㄚˇ ㄧㄢˇ) | false eye |
| 9 | 真眼(ㄓㄣ ㄧㄢˇ) | (real) eye |
| 10 | 死棋活棋(ㄙˇ ㄑㄧˊ ㄏㄨㄛˊ ㄑㄧˊ) | life & death |
| 11 | 雙活(ㄕㄨㄤ ㄏㄨㄛˊ) | seki |
| 12 | 星位(ㄒㄧㄥ ㄨㄟˋ) | star points (with basic fuseki terminologies) |
| 13 | 地域(ㄉㄧˋ ㄩˋ) | territory |
| 14 | 地域(補漏洞)(ㄉㄧˋ ㄩˋ ㄅㄨˇ ㄌㄡˋ ㄉㄨㄥˋ) | making territory (make living shape) |
| 15 | 雙叫吃(ㄕㄨㄤ ㄐㄧㄠˋ ㄔ) | double atari |
| 16 | 叫吃(ㄐㄧㄠˋ ㄔ) | atari |
| 17 | 征子(ㄓㄥ ㄗˇ) | ladder |
| 18 | 門吃(ㄇㄣˊ ㄔ) | net |
| 19 | 反提(ㄈㄢˇ ㄊㄧˊ) | recapture |
| 20 | 接不歸(ㄐㄧㄝ ㄅㄨˋ ㄍㄨㄟ) | serial atari,Oiotoshi |
| 21 | 攻殺(ㄍㄨㄥ ㄕㄚ) | basic semeai and attack(taking eye space,etc) |
| 22 | 連接(整形)(ㄌㄧㄢˊ ㄐㄧㄝ ㄓㄥˇ ㄒㄧㄥˊ) | settle |
| 23 | 收官(ㄕㄡ ㄍㄨㄢ) | end-game, yose |
There are some terminologies not separated in other languages.
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Since the last time they were mentioned:
polýMATHY (aka Luke) has made a few short etymological videos and a couple of podcasts.
ScorpioMartianus (Luke’s other channel) has published one instalment of Ancient Greek in Action! and one of Lingua Latina Comprehensibilis.
LatinTutorial has brought out Rules 68 (The Complementary Infinitive) and 69 (The Infinitive in Indirect Statement) of the 91 Rules of Latin Grammar series.
WikiTongues has made videos on Judeo-Malayalam, Sorani (Kurdish), and Luo.
Jackson Crawford has produced the second and third instalments of his analysis of the Lokasenna saga, and the eighteenth episode of his series Old Norse Class.
The relatively little-known channel Word Safari has conducted its thirteenth and fourteenth “Excursions”.
Grace Mandarin Chinese has crafted a few more videos.
Divus Magister Craft has been quiet for a few months and is apparently working on his current project, an explanation of the Forum of Augustus.
Dogen (Japanese) has produced several videos, including Japanese Phonetics #5.
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I was reading the blog of David Peterson, creator of Dothraki & Valyrian, and realised I’ve got his book:
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There’s so many good resources and links in this thread, I’ve been taking a look at it slowly…
Not sure if they have been posted already but in case they hasn’t, recently I’ve been enjoying watching these videos as Japanese practice. There’s lots of vocabulary and grammar I don’t know, but it’s pretty basic and I’m happy to discover how much kanji that I do know. There are Japanese subtitles in the videos which makes them a lot easier to follow.
And of course the subject matter (an introduction to Go) should be easy for anyone here 
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I found a big table of Imperial, royal and noble ranks - Wikipedia
Here are the edited highlights:
| Language | Emperor, Empress | King, Queen | Duke, Duchess | Prince, Princess | Count, Countess | Knight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | Imperator, Imperatrix | Rex, Regina | Dux, Ducissa | Princeps, Principissa | Comes, Comitissa | Eques |
| Italian | Imperatore, Imperatrice | Re, Regina | Duc, Duchessa | Principe, Principessa | Conte, Contessa | Cavaliere |
| Spanish | Emperador, Emperatriz | Rey, Reina | Duque, Duquessa | Principe, Princessa | Conde, Condessa | Caballero |
| French | Empereur, Impératrice | Roi, Reine | Duc, Duchesse | Prince, Princesse | Comte, Comtesse | Chevalier |
| German | Kaiser, Kaiserin | König, Königin | Herzog, Herzogin | Prinz, Prinzessin | Graf, Gräfin | Ritter |
In the process of making this table, I also learned about Katharevousa - Wikipedia.
Katharevousa (Καθαρεύουσα), the “purifying language”, is an 18th–century compromise between “Ancient” and “Demotic” (aka Modern) Greek orthography, being more modern in character than Ancient spelling but more conservative than Demotic.
Katharevousa was used as a written language, in increasingly formal contexts, until its abolition as an official language (as late as) 1976. For some temporal context, in 1977 the PRC released its failed second round of hanzi simplifications, and in 1981 the the first edition of the jōyō kanji standard replaced the previous 1946 tōyō collection.
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Ew, English phonetic writing.
This morning, I’ve been reading about 反切 fǎnqiè.
To quote Wikipedia:
Fǎnqiè is a method in traditional Chinese lexicography to indicate the pronunciation of a monosyllabic character by using two other characters, one with the same initial consonant as the desired syllable and one with the same rest of the syllable (the final). The method was introduced in the 3rd century AD * and used in dictionaries and commentaries on the classics until the early 20th century.
* The Third Century, which is to say 201–300 CE, corresponds to the late Han Dynasty (漢朝 Hàn Cháo, until 220), the Three Kingdoms (三國時代 / 三国时代 Sānguó Shídài, 220–280), and most of the Western Jin (晉朝 Jìn Cháo, 266–316). In Europe, this century is considered the beginning of Late Antiquity, ie. the decline of the Roman Empire.
The idea of fǎnqiè has been suggested to have been inspired by trade with India. At the beginning, at least, of the Third Century, the established power in India was the Kushan Empire (Κυϸανο). The Kushan Empire was a very intriguing culture which combined Greek, Bactrian, and Indian influences.
Hey, I didn’t know this theory about 反切 coming from India, so I looked it up, and when I looked up the claims, they are like “反切之學，自西域入中國”, and “切韻之學起於西域”, only said about 反切 theory came from Western Territory (modern day central Asia), and they came from books written in the 12th to 13th century, a millennium after the first book 爾雅音注 listed 反切 technique for pronunciation.
Although, we do know about Japanese 五十音, has roots in 反切, since some of the earliest books about it from Japan in the 11th century - 反音作法 (wrote in Chinese) talked about 反切 and how to adapt it to pronounce Japanese.
The author of this book is a Japanese monk, and books at that time also talked about 悉曇学, the studying of Siddham, which ancient Buddhism texts were written and translated from. The influence is heavily implied. And the relevant texts mostly came from China during the Tang dynasty, which is probably where the latter scholar in Song Dynasty got their impression from. But since 反切 technique seems to existed before Tang Dynasty, it begs the question of whether it was actually influenced by or already existed before the 2nd and 3rd century AD before Buddhism spread to China. (the early history of Buddhism in China during the Han dynasty is still pretty vague). We do know that some early Buddhism texts were not translated for their meaning, but just for the pronunciation of the original texts.
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Today I learnt that a scholar of the Basque language is called a vasconist.
It derives from Latin Vasconés, an ancient Hispanian tribe likely ancestors to the modern Basques.
Vasconés, in turn, apparently comes from Basque Euskera or Euskara, their own word for the language.