error (English)
metallic ends in K sound, Ichi is “ch” sound (chocolate), not k+h
ordonnance with an /ãs/ sound at the end.
1 Like
I think Haze and bugcat play with the original rules
across languages, stuff gets weird. I try to stick to the following: First few sounds of the next word are the last few sounds of the last words. Sometimes I took the whole syllable (umbra-braser), but the core and the coda of the syllable work too for me (er-ror - or-donnance). To follow ordonnance, I would allow ensemble, for example. Also nonsense, but that’s really a stretch. I don’t know yet what to do with schwas. Some might say error is /ɛɹə/, but try to find a decent word starting with ə.
1 Like
How about about?
2 Likes
Shouldn’t I count this as Hebrew?
Can’t help but be pedantic about it, but it does not mean “to clump up” (which is intransitive / passive), it means “to grab” or “to mould” (which is transitive / active)
And this one is followed pretty loosely as well
This would be neither the same sound in Dutch as in “mustard”, nor would it be the same ending letters, but I’m delighted to see someone try a Dutch word! 
2 Likes
To continue the game: encyclopédie (French), means what you think it does.
And updated scoreboard:
| Player | Score | Languages |
|---|---|---|
| bugcat | 46 | Latin (21), English (5), French (5), Old / Middle English (3), Ancient Greek (2), Esperanto (1), Yiddish (1), Japanese (1), Portuguese (1), German (1), Hebrew (1), Westrobothnian (1), Sanskrit (1), Cebuano (1), Dutch (1) |
| Haze_with_a_Z | 43 | English (23), Spanish (10), Japanese (6), Latin (2), French (1), Italian (1) |
| Sanonius | 14 | English (4), Italian (2.5), Rumantsch (1.5), Ancient Greek (2), Latin (2), Sanskrit (1), German (1) |
| Vsotvep | 12 | English (3), Dutch (2), German (2), Korean (1), Japanese (1), Hindi (1), Arabic (1), French (1) |
| KAOSkonfused | 6 | German (3), French (1), Latin (1), Polish (1) |
| stone_defender | 4 | Russian (2), Japanese (1), English (1) |
| spaceraven | 4 | Korean (2), English (1), Japanese (1) |
| RubyMineshaft | 3 | Esperanto (2), Mandarin Chinese (1) |
| You_Know_Me | 3 | German (1), English (1), Japanese (1) |
| jiayinh | 1 | Mandarin Chinese (1) |
Currently we have:
porto (Latin) → Tomate (German) → tela (Latin) → lane (English) → nemo (Latin) → Mono (Spanish) → nobile (Latin) → le (French) → lenticula (Latin) → làbǐ (Chinese) → bifida (Latin) → dangera (Esperanto) → lamella (Latin) → lakto (Esperanto) → toro (Spanish) → rotundo (Latin) → dos (Spanish) → osmium (English) → umbra (Latin) → braser (Rumantsch) → Sardine (German) → netra (Sanskrit) → tralies (Dutch) → lissomai (Ancient Greek) → ai (Japanese) → idol (English) → olovo (Russian) → volare (Italian) → repas (French) → baduk (Korean) → ductus (Latin) → oester (Dutch) → terza (Rumantsch / Italian) → zamock (Russian) → Oxymoron (English) → ongaku (Japanese) → Kugel (German) → elpend (Old English) → pendulum (English) → lumen (French) → entrance (English) → centris (Latin) → triste (Spanish) → termite (English) → tengo (Spanish) → gote (Japanese) → tekton (Ancient Greek) → once (Spanish) → cessavi (Latin) → vial (English) → alose (French) → Septiembre (Spanish) → revelatur (Latin) → turnout (English) → outher (Ancient Greek) → herself (English) → elfo (Esperanto) → fodder (English) → derme (Yiddish) → melodramatic (English) → tikka (Hindi) → kanji (Japanese) → jihad (Arabic) → addition (English) → Schönheit (German) → itch (English) → chat (French) → attitude (English) → demonstra (Latin) → rambunctious (English) → ussier (French) → jezioro (Polish) → rodomontade (English) → density (English) → tyrannicidae (Latin) → daimonion (Ancient Greek) → onto (English) → tonari (Japanese) → rinse (English) → separavimus (Latin) → Muskatnuss (German) → usso (Portuguese) → somewhere (English) → regimen (Latin) → mensa (Latin) → saturation (English) → ongle (French) → letto (Italian) → tomb (English) → ombra (Italian) → bracchium (Latin) → ume (Japanese) → metallic (English) → ichi (Japanese) → chimbelle (Middle English) → lèguān (Chinese) → angel (English) → gellen (German) → endemic (English) → mica (Latin) → cama (Spanish) → manhwa (Korean) → watashi (Japanese) → shibboleth (Hebrew) → lethargy (English) → gyrus (Latin) → Ustedes (Spanish) → destiny (English) → nigiri (Japanese) → ride (English) → descindo (Latin) → doe (English) → o’er (English) → eres (Spanish) → rest (Westrobothnian) → stallion (English) → yoni (Sanskrit) → onigiri (Japanese) → rideam (Latin) → amplitude (English) → depnesse (Middle English) → Sechs (German) → exscindite (Latin) → tenth (English) → theremin (English) → mino (Cebuano) → nougaku (Japanese) → culmus (Latin) → mustard (English) → aarde (Dutch) → demonstrated (English) → taedo (Korean) → dominus (Latin) → Nussbaum (German) → umami (Japanese) → minanter (Latin) → error (English) → ordonnance (English) → encyclopédie (French)
2 Likes
Dienstag - Tuesday.
By the way, there’s a book my Michael Ende (the one from Jim Knopf or the Neverending Story) called Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch (’ The satanarcheolygenialcohellish Wishing-Punch’) consisting of satan-anarcho-archäolog-lüge ‘lie’ -genial-alkohol-höllisch ‘hellisch’. So by now we’ve got a Portomatelanemonobilelenticulabifidangeramellaktorotundosmiumbraserdinetraliessomaidolovolarepaduktusterzamoksymorongakugelpendulumentrancentristermitengotektoncessavialoseptiembrevelaturnoutherselfoddermelodramatikkanjihaddischönheitchattitudemonstrambunctioussiezorodomontadensityraanicidaemoniontonarinseperavimuskatnussomewheregimensaturationglettombracchiumetallichimbelleguangellendemicamanhwatashibbollethargyrustedestinygiridescindoerestallyonigirideamplitudepnessechscinditenthereminougakulmustaardemonstrataedominussbaumaminanterrordonnancyclopédienstag.
2 Likes
Can’t help but be pedantic about it
I was using clump up in its active sense, eg. I clump up the rice.
depnesse is Middle English, not Old English.
1 Like
Aggravated - English
edicta (edicts) – Latin
1 Like
Taboo - Polynesian
I’m not gonna share any taboo words with you guys so don’t get excited 
1 Like
taboo and tattoo are a couple of rare Polynesian loanwords.
Taboo, or tapu, was associated with mana (the spiritual energy of a person) and reinforced the class system.
Come to think of it, mana became a loanword as well.
1 Like
I was having trouble deciding what language taboo was so I just said English. I changed it for everyone now.
Oh, with the spelling taboo it’s fine to call it English.
Today I learnt they are quite different.
2 Likes
Wait should I put it back now?
Old English, originally, was indeed very different. The vocabulary had very few loanwords, making it sound much more Germanic. The grammar was also much more inflective, for instance having gendered nouns. The first big change was that Vikings occupied North-East England, forming their own region called the Danelaw – one linguistic theory suggests that these invaders couldn’t be bothered / weren’t able to learn the English inflections, causing them to be greatly simplified.
In the 1066, “as every good schoolboy knows”, the Duke of Normandy crossed the channel and defeated King Harold for the crown of England. The Norman aristocrats introduced Norman French as the new prestige language of the country in the bureaucratic and legal systems. This resulted in huge, huge amounts of French loanwords entering English. From 1066 to about 1500, we refer to Middle English. Towards the end of the period a long process called the Great Vowel Shift occured, which caused the pronunciation of many vowels to change (especially “ee” into “eye”: eg. wine, pine, line, fine.) This shift continued until around 1700.
By the 1500s, we’ve moved into Early Modern English. It’s not that hard to understand on paper, although there are quite a few words that are now archaic and obsolete. The accents of the time would have, of course, been a bit difficult for us to make sense of.
Provided for your comparison:
A poem by Bede, 7th century:
Fore ðæm nedfere nænig wiorðe
ðonc snottora ðon him ðearf siæ
to ymbhycgenne ær his hinionge
hwæt his gastæ godes oððe yfles
æfter deað dæge doemed wiorðe
From the Canterbury Tales, 14th century:
Wepyng and waylyng, care and oother sorwe
I knowe ynogh, on even and a-morwe,’
Quod the Marchant, 'and so doon oother mo
That wedded been.
From Richard II, play by Shakespeare from late 16th century:
Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;
3 Likes
Nah, it’s perfectly fine.