Polyglottery

Operated by a hobbyist polyglot with a penchant for punditry.

Most conversant, in order, in Afrikaans, English, German, French, Korean and Sesotho. I like picking up a little from every language I meet though.

laika-the-bitch:

laika-the-bitch:

in an interesting case of linguistic convergent evolution, the english words scale, scale, and scale are all false cognates of each other

scale as in „to climb“ comes from the latin scala, for ladder.

scale as in the measuring device comes from the old norse skal, for a drinking vessel sometimes used as a weighing device

scale as in the dermal plating on the skin of some fish and reptiles comes from the old french escale, for shell or husk.

linguisticperspective:

fun fact about old english! 

the reason the ‘&’ symbol & the number 7 are attached to the same key MIGHT JUST be because back in the 1300s, scribes would often use ‘7′ as a shorthand way of writing ‘and’. see here:

image

foreignfawn:

Please reblog if you are a language blog! It’s been a while since I did this and most of the language blogs I used to follow are now inactive. Need some fresh, new blogs to reblog from

languageoficeandfire:

The word clébard (mutt) in French is interesting because its root is from Algerian Arabic كلب (kelb, dog) and the suffix is from Frankish -(h)ard, cognate with English hard. In Contemporary French, this suffix is often used, among other things, to add a pejorative tone to the word

Regarding the root, I can’t tell if the word experienced metathesis between l and b after entering French, or if the root is actually the plural form كَلْب‎ (klab), which would be an odd choice

The first observed form of the word in written form dates back to 1863

jouster-ari:

How many languages could you recognize on sight? For instance, I can’t speak French, but I could recognize it if I saw it written down. Your native language counts!

1-3

4-6

7-10

11-13

14-17

18-20+

See Results

You can tag with your answers! I chose 11-13. Rebolg if you vote, I’m curious! :3

Definitely 20+; it’s been a hobby of mine since I was a kid. I also grew up around a lot of them.

petermorwood:

weaselle:

theheartspeaksloudest:

neue-muslim-lekture:

marthajefferson:

the origin of the letter 🇦

(from the documentary The Odyssey of the Writing, 2020)

Documentary is called “The Secret History of Writing” done by BBC

https://youtu.be/hbmyXjqXlEY

this has always fascinated me. I first learned it about 25 years ago, and ever since, every time I see a capital letter A  a tiny voice inside me goes “bull!” 

Fun to see an actual scholarly version of this, because I first read it as explained (-ish) by one of Kipling’s “Just So Stories” a very, very long time ago…

shetheycock:

german duolingo lady: Er trinkt

me: i didnt hear this better click the Slow Pronunciation Turtle of Shame

german duolingo lady, now with intense judgment and hate in her voice, articulating like im 5 years old: ER….. TRINKT……

demonwife69:

image

obsessed with the idea of an 8th century greek having access to a journal and being able to write down anything they wanted to. i want to know what else they would say. theres only so much you can fit on a vase :/

Kitzinger, Rachel. “Alphabetics and Writing.” Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. Ed. Michael Grant and Rachel Kitzinger. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1988. Print.

survivetoread:

Presenting, an apple.

Some Indian languages: What do the Persians call it? Yeah, I’m gonna go with that.

Other Indian languages: What do the English call it? Yeah, I’m gonna go with that.

Marathi: :)

All other Indian languages: 👀

Marathi: It’s clearly a ‘travelmoon’. :) It’s like a little moon I can carry when I travel.

Gujarati: *furiously takes notes*