|
| Thread: A complaint on linguistic dissonance |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 · «PREV |
|
DagothGares
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
No gods or kings
|
posted August 13, 2009 12:51 PM |
|
|
A cordial reception is a hearty welcome...
Your move 
____________
If you have any more questions, go to Dagoth Cares.
|
|
Rarensu
Known Hero
Formerly known as RTI
|
|
posted August 16, 2009 11:39 AM |
|
Edited by Rarensu at 11:42, 16 Aug 2009.
|
Quote:
Quote:
I list a dozen and a half examples, and two of them turn out to be bad.
Not really...
2 or 3 of them seem to be accurate (willing/understanding/and maybe die). ALL others are not correct..
It is important to remember that I'm not interested in whether or not the Germanic-English word is currently a synonym with it's German cognate. All that matters is that at some point in history the English word and its German cognate were synonyms. In the same way, I am not very worried about how close the Germanic-English and French-English words are to being perfect synonyms. As long as there is at least one sentence where the words are interchangeable, I am satisfied. The words, will, of course, have developed alternate meanings over the centuries. No two words are ever perfect synonyms, and the language works hard to make it stay that way.
First let's have a look at the German half of the Germanic-French pairs.
Build / bauen
Break / brechen
Speak / sprechen
Think / denken
Hungry / hungrig
Small / schmal (English lost the alternate definition, narrow)
Wall / val (later lost from German)
Swine / Schwein
Knife / kneifen (this word is also cognate with English Nip)
Die / oops, I missed  . No germanic cognate.
Bloom / blühen
Good / gut
Lucky / glücklich
Understand / verstehen
Willing / gewillt
Write / reißen (Both words originally meant "to scratch". English gave it a second meaning and then forgot the first one.)
Well, 15 out of 16 is not bad, but I'm still disappointed at how poorly I performed choosing my original list. The German cognates should have been more obvious.
Interestingly, your German non-cognate translations also have English cognates.
Storm / Zerstoren
Starve / Sterben
Scrape / Schreiber (Both from Latin Scribo, which also means "to scratch")
Mural / Mauer (Both from Latin Murus)
Now let's look at the French half of Germanic-French pairs.
Construct / Construire (Konstruieren!)
Destroy / Détruire
Discuss / Discuter (Diskutieren!)
Consider / Considérer
Famished / Faim
Minuscule / Miniscule
Fortification / Fortification
Pork / Porc
Dagger / Dague
Perish / Périr
Flourish / Fleurir
Beneficial / Bénéfique
Fortunate / Fortuné
Comprehend / Comprendre
Voluntary / Volontaire
Author / Auteur (Autor!)
16 for 16! Perfect! That's my reward for paying attention during French class.
____________
Sincerely,
A Proponent of Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, and Courtesy.
|
|
Rarensu
Known Hero
Formerly known as RTI
|
|
posted August 16, 2009 12:02 PM |
|
Edited by Rarensu at 12:11, 16 Aug 2009.
|
Quote:
A cordial reception is a hearty welcome...
Your move
Welcome is a very interesting word with a unique property, which I discovered when I took my first year of high school French.
(English = Français)
Well = Bien
Come = Venue
Well + Come = Bien + Venue
Welcome = Bienvenue
It's true! The components of Welcome and Bienvenue equate when they're summed, but they also equate individually! I can almost hear Xhibit saying, "Yo dawg, I herd yo liek skool, so I put some maths in yo french so yo can lern while yo lern."
____________
Sincerely,
A Proponent of Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, and Courtesy.
|
| |
|
|
