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Meaning of numbers | ||
Tags: Number System | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 13 23 June 2006 at 6:34am | IP Logged | ||
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In the Swedish thread we recently discussed how some numbers, like "sjutton" (seventeen) or "attan" (older form for "arton" - eighteen) are used as mild swear words in Swedish.
In Spanish you often hear "cuatro" (four), used to stress the fact that there are only a few of something: "somos cuatro gatos" (lit. "we are four cats") = there are only a few of us, or "tengo cuatro perras" = I have very little money. I'm sure there will be many more examples of numbers taking on idiomatic meaning in different languages. Let's hear about them. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6768 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 2 of 13 23 June 2006 at 7:03am | IP Logged | ||
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Interesting topic. At first, I didn't think English had any such thing, but then
remembered the expression: "dress to the nines", i.e. dress elaborately. It has something to do with the nine Muses of Greek mythology. Japanese: 4 = "shi" = homonym for death, so regarded as bad luck 9 = "ku" = homonym for pain, also bad luck 100 = "hyaku-" (prefix) = all kinds of 1000-1000 = "chiji-ni" = in pieces Also, most Japanese numerals have 3-4 pronunciations, so businesses always manipulate their phone numbers into easy-to-remember sayings or slogans. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 13 23 June 2006 at 7:15am | IP Logged | ||
There is also "the whole nine yards". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lugubert Heptaglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6867 days ago 186 posts - 235 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Danish, Norwegian, EnglishC2, German, Dutch, French Studies: Mandarin, Hindi | Message 4 of 13 29 June 2006 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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For curious expressions with numbers, there's "At sixes and sevens" to describe a state of confusion.
The chinese are very found of expressions containing numbers, but most seem to keep the original meaing: The Gang of Four, Deng Xiaoping's "Four Basic Principles" etc. Somewhere I have jotted down several examples from Hindi, but here's a Swedish one. You Swedes, have you heard it, and if yes, in which part of our country? Slå en sjua lit. "Strike a seven", meaning to pee (of a man). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Alfonso Octoglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 6861 days ago 511 posts - 536 votes Speaks: Biblical Hebrew, Spanish*, French, English, Tzotzil, Italian, Portuguese, Ancient Greek Studies: Nahuatl, Tzeltal, German | Message 5 of 13 29 June 2006 at 5:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know if this expression works for other Spanish speaking countries. We usually say here in my country:
Poner un cuatro a alguien lit: "to put a four to someone" It means something like "to test" someone to find out whether he/she is honest or smart enough to do something. or this one: Quedarse de a seis lit: "to get of a six"(!) It means to get surprised, astonished, amazed... In the north of Mexico there's this curious expression: Ser de los curenta y uno lit: "to be one of the forty one" It means to be gay (specially "in the closet") Edited by Alfonso on 06 July 2006 at 10:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kubelek Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland chomikuj.pl/Kuba_wal Joined 6852 days ago 415 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 6 of 13 29 June 2006 at 9:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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according to the book "why do we say it - the stories behing the words,
expressions and cliches we use" "dressed to the nines" comes from the Old English dialect form "dressed to the eyne" - meaning "to the eyes". A person "dressed to the eyes" is "up to his ears in clotes" (more contemporary expression). I found this book in library yesterday, interesting, although I haven't yet encountered the majority of these expressions elsewhere. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Alfonso Octoglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 6861 days ago 511 posts - 536 votes Speaks: Biblical Hebrew, Spanish*, French, English, Tzotzil, Italian, Portuguese, Ancient Greek Studies: Nahuatl, Tzeltal, German | Message 7 of 13 08 August 2006 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Maya-Tsotsil the number nine is bolom (and in Maya-Tseltal is balam) which means "jaguar" (the biggest feline in this region).
This is because the ancient glyph in the Mayan system of writing was actually a jaguar, the most sacred animal in the Mayan culture. That's why the number nine has a positive meaning that connotates strength and power. Edited by Alfonso on 08 August 2006 at 5:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Skandinav Hexaglot Senior Member Denmark Joined 6887 days ago 139 posts - 145 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, German, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian | Message 8 of 13 10 August 2006 at 5:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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The word for 7 in Russian 'sem' derives, so I heard, from the fact that there used to be seven members of a family or 'semya.' I was also told that the word for 40 (sorok) also has some meaning, but I don't remember exactly.
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