Bio 7 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 1 minute ago, daveb said: There are plenty of words in languages that don't have exact cognates in other languages. Sometimes a language will borrow the other word and incorporate it for that very reason. English has done that a lot. Just to take a well known example, German has the word, schadenfreude. English has no equivalent (so English is adopting the German word). It means "pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune." What one word in English would you use to mean the same thing? Just seems odd to me that we don’t have equivalents, maybe we need to get some. Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 10 minutes ago, Bio 7 said: Just seems odd to me that we don’t have equivalents, maybe we need to get some. We are getting some. That's what English does maybe better than many other languages. Link to post Share on other sites
Cobie Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 5 hours ago, daveb said: Practically every word can be translated into a sentence - that's what most dictionaries do. ... Ha, ha, good one. Link to post Share on other sites
Cobie Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 4 hours ago, daveb said: We are getting some ... Ha, ha, I do think most of us here on Aven are not very keen on “getting some”. 🤣 Link to post Share on other sites
Cobie Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 9 hours ago, daveb said: There are plenty of words in languages that don't have exact cognates in other languages. Sometimes a language will borrow the other word and incorporate it for that very reason. English has done that a lot. ... Yes, Dutch does that a lot too (sometimes changing the word a little bit as well), e.g. gitaar (guitar) from Spanish, eenzaam (lonely) German, decor French. Mostly from English these days, e-mail and cake 🍰 Link to post Share on other sites
ColeHW34 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Katze German for cat Link to post Share on other sites
Purple Pumpkin Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 schmeckt, German for tastes Link to post Share on other sites
XYZ96 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 I like Kakerlake (=cockroach) and Schlaraffenland (approximately equivalent to Cockaigne), I also like adieu I also like the word Zwetschge, but technically Zwetschge is called Zwetschge in English, but in some places people call plums in general Zwetschgen, so maybe that counts... (all words except "adieu" are German, and all of them I like because of the way they sound/feel to say) Link to post Share on other sites
Fray Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 A few of my faves: Lebensmüde - "life-weary" Fernweh - "far-sickness"/wanderlust Leuchtturm - lighthouse Link to post Share on other sites
Kia Hiraeth Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 My newest favorite non English word is Hiraeth, its a Welsh word that ruffly translates as: Yearning or home sickness for a home that is lost, to which you cannot return or a home that never was. Link to post Share on other sites
Joe the Stoic Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Hmm, probably Bewegungskrieg. Link to post Share on other sites
Anny O. Mous Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 Shi (Death in Japanese) Link to post Share on other sites
Markéta Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 I quite like the word "nesmírně". It means "immensely" and I think.. well, I think that Czech languegue forgets how wide and interesting and full of words it is. It's a pity we don't talk like poets more often, it would make the world certainly a more interesting place :'D Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted October 16, 2018 Share Posted October 16, 2018 10 hours ago, Kia9Mera said: Yearning for a home that never was. I have felt that. Link to post Share on other sites
ArchangelAlbatross Posted October 17, 2018 Share Posted October 17, 2018 On 10/15/2018 at 9:43 PM, Kia Hiraeth said: My newest favorite non English word is Hiraeth, its a Welsh word that ruffly translates as: Yearning or home sickness for a home that is lost, to which you cannot return or a home that never was. I've always loved that word, and my mother was Welsh. But it's one of those rare words I've been able to say may almost translate my own sense of homesickness. It's just hard to describe a strange haunting feeling in that sense. Link to post Share on other sites
DazzlingGirl16 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 I'm not Catholic (I'm actually Christian); but my favorite word/phrase is "Mea culpa" which means "Through my fault" in Latin. Link to post Share on other sites
pH.bacon Posted October 30, 2018 Share Posted October 30, 2018 my favorite Japanese and Chinese is… 肉 牛肉 ラーメン 辣油 ハンバーガー their means is meat, beef, noodle, oil made by red pepper and other , hamburger Link to post Share on other sites
Algebrator Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 Some of my favorite latin words: castra - camp incolo - cherish, cultivate, or inhabit occido - kill or die Link to post Share on other sites
Koning Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 I love Dutch nouns ending with "ke" or "eke". The function of "ke/eke" is to change the regular noun into a diminutive. Whereas diminutives ending with "je", "tje" and "pje" are much more common, "ke/eke" sounds much sweeter. I especially like words ending in "ske", for example "hoekske" (=corner) or "meiske" (=girl). Link to post Share on other sites
ColeHW34 Posted November 1, 2018 Share Posted November 1, 2018 De omnibus dubitium (everything must be doubted) is a very good one and wise. Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 Schadenfreude is always useful Rogntudju, which is of no language at all, but was created by the artist Franquin for the Gaston Lagaffe comic in the French language hebdo Spirou is a handy insult Nekulturny from Russian is a sophisticated way of describing someone as crass Link to post Share on other sites
Lemonsky Posted November 2, 2018 Share Posted November 2, 2018 For some reason I've been finding the word "suokotilo" really pleasant lately; just the word "kotilo" is pretty fun too. But especially suokotilo. Link to post Share on other sites
Ms. Carolynne Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Milchgesicht. It's a German insult which translates to "baby face", it translates literally to "milk face". Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 kawaii :3 Link to post Share on other sites
Loud Shy Posted November 4, 2018 Share Posted November 4, 2018 Waltersobchakeit (Valt-er-sob-share-kite) it is German and it means You are not wrong, just as asshole. I love it because I can say it all the time and no one knows what it means Link to post Share on other sites
Rhaenys Posted November 6, 2018 Share Posted November 6, 2018 Escargot - I find this so pretty to be the name of a snail. Kuruizaki (means out of season flower) Hobeok (yes it means pumpkin) Sicaria (💀) Link to post Share on other sites
Emrys Livane Posted November 14, 2018 Share Posted November 14, 2018 Not so much one word. but my favorite non english phrase is, Tuatha Dé Danann, which is Gaelic for: The People of the Goddess Danu. I'm obsessed with mythology and came across this phrase when taking a mythology course in college and the phrase just jumped out at me. I found the words so beautiful that I would say it all the time just to feel the the sound of each word roll off my tongue, no idea why really, but it's always stuck with me. Link to post Share on other sites
.diva plavalaguna. Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 なるほど (naruhodo)- Introduced to me by one of my sensei on study abroad trip. The way she taught it was really funny, and it somehow became a running joke in our group. I'll link for the meaning because I suck at explaining things. click me for learn нет (net/nyet)- "No." I just like to say no. я/не знаю (ya/ne znayu)- "I don't know." I frequently say it to my mom when she asks me a question. She's always like, "whuat??" rofl Link to post Share on other sites
kiaroskuro Posted November 17, 2018 Share Posted November 17, 2018 On 11/4/2018 at 10:17 AM, Ms. Carolynne said: Milchgesicht. It's a German insult which translates to "baby face", it translates literally to "milk face". Yes, that's quite a wonderful word On 11/4/2018 at 7:35 PM, Loud Shy said: Waltersobchakeit (Valt-er-sob-share-kite) it is German and it means You are not wrong, just as asshole. I love it because I can say it all the time and no one knows what it means I'm a native German speaker ... and I'm trying to figure out which word you might mean. Where did you hear it? Edit: OK, the riddle is solved - thanks to Google. Apparently, Waltersobchakeit is based on a character in The Big Lebowski, Walter Sobchak. No idea how this name turned into a fake German word, though. Link to post Share on other sites
J. van Deijck Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 alsjeblieft or its more formal version, alstublieft. both simply mean "please". so if you say "please" in Dutch, you will win my heart. Link to post Share on other sites
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