Comments on: E-Tamil-ogy

By: Ponniyin Selvan

Ponniyin Selvan — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 14:29:04 +0000

Isn't Farangi in Hindi/Urdu from the Persian Firangi?

Yes, I think it comes from Arabic / Persian.. It has an interesting etymology.. The word was coined during the period of crusades by the Arabs (Persians??) to denote the crusaders as foreigners (mostly Europeans of french (Frankish) origin..) It is used to denote foreigners in a derogatory sense.. Even in tamil 'parangi' means a foreigner.. and is used to denote the Brits.

And the name stuck to denote 'foreigners' in a lot of languages.. mainly due to the dominating religious / political / military / cultural influence of arabic/persian in the world of medieval times.. It is the same case with English today. A few centuries from now, you'll see English words used and absorbed in a lot of languages..

By: greenbread

greenbread — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 00:34:36 +0000

eh entschuldigung..but "taste - German" is not really what its meant to be here.."schlÃ¼ssel" is the word you're lookin for.."taste" is more used like a knob, switch or the keys on a keyboard (which incidentally is a tastatur)

By: Sunil

Sunil — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 20:53:55 +0000

Very nice discussion going on here.

Quizman......very nice little quiz. Its a shame I logged in so late, and so most of the answers were up. I did try to mentally answer the questions before I scrolled down though.

Since it's related, I'll stoop to a shameless plug for an old post I wrote on languages and loan words (connections between various Indo-European languages etc), here.

By: Topcat

Topcat — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:48:31 +0000

Vidur in sanskrit and Widower in english is more than a mere coincidence. Man, Manav, Manushya Three, tri (tridev, trinetra)

By: Thomas Kurma

Thomas Kurma — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 10:21:44 +0000

I've heard cypher for zero in villages in Tamil Nadu where no one speaks any English. Other examples plumbum for the lead of a pencil. Apothecary too! What about bulpum? Yaarukkavathu theriyuma?. Chennai slang has Hindi/Urdu words too. Nastha (breakfast) and bemani(bay-iman), for example.

Rejimon, this is for you - 'betel' and 'teak' come from the Malayalam vettila and thaekku. But it's kinda silly since who gives a shit about betel leaves (paan) outside South Asia.

FUNtastic post, Maitri and great quiz, Quizman.

By: builder

builder — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 05:49:38 +0000

so what’s the answer to 5?

By: shiva

shiva — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 04:01:08 +0000

Q9. Another sitter. The root of this word is from Sanskrit. A generic name for all grades of Chinese officials; there were nine ranks, each of which was distinguished by a particular kind of Â‘buttonÂ’. [Chinese kwan.] Formerly extended to other Asiatic officials. What word?

Mandarin derived from Mantrin. And while you are at it on zero, Quizman, you might as well give credit where it is due - The Hemachandra Sequence. The origins though go back even longer - sometime around 200 BCE.

By: Salil Maniktahla

Salil Maniktahla — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:24:34 +0000

True dat. Maitri, as always, good stuff. Though I kind of want to talk about Nagin, but I’ll do it there instead of here.

I still stand by my earlier statement: if you run for mayor of N’awlins, I will move there.

By: Quizman

Quizman — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:16:39 +0000

Maitri: Aw, sure. A brownie would be apt, eh?

Salil: Thanks. Maitri deserves much of the credit for kicking this off by her post. I was merely a comment hog.

By: Salil Maniktahla

Salil Maniktahla — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:59:23 +0000

This has been my favorite post to follow all day. Quizman, thanks for making the day go by that much faster. Brilliant, yaar!