Summary Details
| Query: |
Re: 9.1779 International Words
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| Author: | Karen Steffen Chung | |
| Submitter Email: | click here to access email | |
| Linguistic LingField(s): |
Historical Linguistics
Sociolinguistics |
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| Summary: |
This is a follow-up to the summary on 'international words' -i.e. words like _chocolate_ that appear in similar phonetic form in a large number of the world's languages - posted last December 14. Many thanks to all who responded: Balestrieri, Peter <Peter_Balestrieri@intuit.com> Charles Bigelow <bandh@maui.net> Damon Allen Davison <davison@uni-koeln.de> Jakob Dempsey <jakob@saturn.yzu.edu.tw> James L. Fidelholtz <jfidel@siu.buap.mx> Mark Irwin <padz@ilcs.hokudai.ac.jp> Kimberly Jones <jonesk@u.arizona.edu> Patricia Kilroe <kilroe@web-net.com> Agnes Lesznyak <fs5a215@uni-hamburg.de> Zouhair Maalej <zmaalej@gnet.tn> Duncan MacGregor <aa735@freenet.carleton.ca> John Mackin <jmackin@flm.se.fujitsu.co.jp> Heather Marsden <H.L.Marsden@3f.co.uk> Arto Mustajoki <Arto.Mustajoki@cc.helsinki.fi> Artan Pernaska <pernaska@paris7.jussieu.fr> Norvin Richards <norvin@kanda.kuis.ac.jp> K. P. Schneider <k.schneider@uni-bonn.de> Hartmut Traunm?ler <hartmut@ling.su.se> Colin Whiteley <cwhiteley@tyco.geis.com> David Wilmsen <dwilmsen@aucegypt.edu> Below follow (1) a list of words that have not yet been 'disqualified' as possible international words; (2) new suggestions for possible international words; (3) words disqualified as international words in the second round of inquiry; (4) comments on some of the stronger contenders for international word status: a. _chocolate_, b._coffee_, c. _tea_, d. _mama_ and _papa_, e. sauna; (5)information on a research project in international words; and (6) information on a CD-ROM that uses international words to teach Russian. (1) Survivors from the second round of inquiry - i.e. words that have not yet been 'disqualified' as possible international words: alleluia bikini chocolate cocoa coffee curry czar/tsar golf jazz mama papa shock yoga (2) New suggestions for possible international words: amen coca-cola humor (3) Words disqualified in the second round of inquiry: ninja OK sauna T-shirt (4) Further comments on proposed international words: a. _Chocolate_ i. On the etymology of chocolate: Spanish chocolate < Aztec s3okoatl 'beverage made of fermented maize', by mistake instead of the intended kakau9atl (made of cacao and maize). Hartmut Traunm?ler <hartmut@ling.su.se> ii. The history of the Meso-American "chocolate" word(s) is nicely discussed in "The True History of Chocolate" by Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe (Thames and Hudson. Here are the etymological points given by the Coes in their chapter 4. - "cacao", referring to the tree or the substance made from the seeds of the tree, is a Mixe-Zoquean loan word, reconstructed by modern linguists as *kakawa in proto-Mixe-Zoquean. From approximately 1,000 B.C. - *kakawa was borrowed into Mayan languages sometime between 400 B.C. and 100 A.D., as something like *kakaw - in early Mayan-Spanish dictionaries, the spelling become "cacao". - the etymology of "chocolate" referring to the drink is uncertain, or at least there are different explanations. - Nahuatl "chocolatl" is often proposed as the source of Spanish "chocolate" and its derived words in other European languages, but it is not attested in early sources on Nahuatl and Aztecan culture. The word for chocolate in the early sources is "cacahuatl" = "cacao water". - Nahuatl "xoco" (bitter) + "atl" (water) is one hypothesis, but the Coes reject it because there is no strong reason for the shift from Nahuatl "x-" [Eng. "sh-"] to Sp. "ch-", nor for the interpolation of the additional 'l'. - The etymology preferred by the Coes is: a) the Mayan word for chocolate drink was "chacau haa" (= "hot water); b) in Yucatec Mayan a related form would have been "chocol haa" (I don't know if it is actually attested); c) "chocol hau" was borrowed by the Spanish but the Mayan word for "water" "haa" was replaced by the Nahuatl word for water "atl", to give "chocol atl". The Coes cite, among other sources: Leon-Portilla, Miguel. 1981. "Otro testimonio de aculturacion hispano-indigena". Revista Espanola de Antropologia Americana 11: 220-43. Davila Garibi, Ignacio. 1939. Nuevo y mas amplio estudio etimologico del vocablo chocolate y de otros que con el se relacionan. Emilio Pardo y Hijos. Charles Bigelow <bandh@maui.net> b. _Coffee_ i. *"bunn" in Tunisian Arabic refers to coffee powder, and "qahwa" is a polyseme that could be used to refer to coffee beans (qahwa k3abb, literally), liquid coffee (qahwa, in the indefinite), and coffee shop (l-qahwa, in the definite). Zouhair Maalej <zmaalej@gnet.tn> ii. In Arabic -- i dont know about amharic -- the word /bunn/ refers to coffee beans, green, roasted, or ground. NB, the company that makes commercial coffeemakers and some for the home, Bunn, takes its name from this. The word /qahwa/ used to refer to wine in old arabic poetry. I had never thought of this before, but perhaps arabic aquired the amharic and used it for the raw material, while it then applied its old term for wine to the drink after the orignal referent was proscribed. David Wilmsen DWILMSEN@aucegypt.edu c. _Tea _ i. Another language with a non-borrowed word for "coffee" is Tibetan, which calls it "tsig-ja"--literally, "burnt tea".... I may not have transliterated that correctly, by the way--it starts with an aspirated affricate. Maybe the standard way of transliterating it would be "tshig-ja". ... Norvin Richards <norvin@kanda.kuis.ac.jp> ii. Although tea is associated with southern China, most, but not all Tibeto-Burman languages use the same etymon. Some instead use "la" or "lap", the latter probably being the same word as 'leaf' (Chinese jep also cognate). Of course "la" may well be cognate with "cha" ( < *g-la ?). Jakob Dempsey <jakob@saturn.yzu.edu.tw> d. _Mama_, _papa_ A number of people pointed out Japanese _chichi_ and _haha_ are used differently from _mama_ and _papa_. Here is one representative message: ...mama and papa may not be disproved by the Japanese case, as they are commonly used in Japan these days and have been since at least 20 years ago, when I first went there. ... Haha and chichi are humble words for one's own parents, used when referring to them while talking to someone outside one's family. The equivalent native Japanese words for addressing them, referring them to someone in your own family, or even referring to them to someone to whom you don't want to be overly polite, are okaasan and otoosan. But mama and papa are used instead of okaasan and otoosan in many families. Kimberly Jones <jonesk@U.Arizona.EDU> e. Sauna Just read your summary regarding international words. I was surprised to see "sauna" on your list of candidates. At least the Russians have a different word for it; the Russian word is "banja". Also it may be interesting to check what the Turkish expression is. Klaus P. Schneider <k.schneider@uni-bonn.de> (5) International word research project: Hartmut Traunm?ler [I'm not sure of the letter between 'm' and 'l' since this character doesn't come through on my system] in Sweden <hartmut@ling.su.se> is currently doing research on international words. His homepage: http://www.ling.su.se/staff/hartmut/intervok.htm Hartmut's criterion for considering a word 'international' is adoption in 40% of the languages he is studying. (6) CD-ROM using international words to teach Russian: Arto Mustajoki in Helsinki has compiled a CD-ROM introduction to the Russian language based totally on 'international words', which he defines as words which can be easily recognized by native speakers of other European languages. Examples: banan, muzej, turist, prezident, park. He says that this CD-ROM has been extremely popular in Finland, and that there is also an English version of it. If interested contact: "Arto Mustajoki" <Arto.Mustajoki@cc.helsinki.fi> Karen Steffen Chung National Taiwan University karchung@ccms.ntu.edu.tw |
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| LL Issue: | 10.703 | |
| Date Posted: | 08-May-1999 | |
| Original Query: | Read original query | |
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