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Indoeuropean Expressions | ||
Tags: Indo-European Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Raistlin Majere Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Spain uciprotour-cycling.c Joined 7152 days ago 455 posts - 424 votes  7 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish*, Catalan*, FrenchA1, Italian, German Studies: Swedish | Message 1 of 35 11 June 2005 at 4:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Languages which are all part of a same linguistical family don't just share common vocabulary and grammatical structure. There are many common ways of saying the things. For example, in most Indoeuropean languages, from Sanskrit to Ancient Luvite, a foreigner was always nicknamed a wolf. With different words, yes, but they all meant wolf. The adjective "poor", in Indoeuropean tongues, means "deprived of possessions", but it can also describe a feeling of simpathy towards somebody. "Poor you!" doesn't mean you've got no money. Translate it into their language, whatever it is, and any Indoeuropean tongue speaker shall understand which of the two meanings you're trying to convey.
But try saying it to somebody who doesn't (Turks, Finns, Chinese...), and most of them will never get the meaning, they shall always translate it into the "moneyless" meaning. Is the cultural influence so big, does it run so deep, that two otherwise identical people have so different reactions to a same expression? Edited by Raistlin Majere on 11 June 2005 at 4:13pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| delectric Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7181 days ago 608 posts - 733 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: German | Message 2 of 35 12 June 2005 at 10:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Funny you should come up with the "poor" example as I've been thinking of how I would say this in Chinese for a while now.
I wonder how much these common structures of language go to making up a common Indo-European culture or a common Indo-European way of thinking? Is it even possible to measure a correlation between language stucture and other facets of society? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Raistlin Majere Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Spain uciprotour-cycling.c Joined 7152 days ago 455 posts - 424 votes 7 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish*, Catalan*, FrenchA1, Italian, German Studies: Swedish | Message 3 of 35 13 June 2005 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||
Quite an interesting subject. Is it really cultural (in all the senses of culture, not just language) or merely linguistical? I would rather say it's just linguistical because, what cultural aspects could bring this second meaning to this adjective? I can't think of any. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 1204grandine Triglot Groupie Italy Joined 7187 days ago 88 posts - 78 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, Catalan Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Greek | Message 4 of 35 11 July 2005 at 1:03am | IP Logged | ||
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Numbers are similar in almost all the Indoeuropean languages. Edited by 1204grandine on 11 July 2005 at 1:04am 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 5 of 35 05 February 2006 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | ||
Translating into Swedish, you get You are poor = have no money --> Du är fattig; Poor you! --> Stackars du/Stackars dig. Where's the problem? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Raistlin Majere Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Spain uciprotour-cycling.c Joined 7152 days ago 455 posts - 424 votes 7 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish*, Catalan*, FrenchA1, Italian, German Studies: Swedish | Message 6 of 35 05 February 2006 at 3:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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Which problem?
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| KingM Triglot Senior Member michaelwallaceauthor Joined 7191 days ago 275 posts - 300 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 35 05 February 2006 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've noticed this before too. It's probably a combination of millenia of cultural intercourse between nations and a common (albeit ancient) origin.
A question, do other Indoeuropean languages use the same to go + infinitive construction that French, Spanish, and English use to refer to the near future? To whit, "I'm going to eat," or, "voy a comer," or, "Je vais a manger." Just like poor = money and also wretch, these two meanings of go are not apparently related yet they have similar constructions across languages. 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 8 of 35 06 February 2006 at 5:12am | IP Logged | ||
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No go + infinitive in Swedish (or, AFAIK, Danish or Norwegian).
One Hindi future is made from another one by adding endings including a 'g', ultimately derived from Sanskrit gatah 'going'. According to Kellogg: Grammar of the Hindi language, this is a late development. The Persian auxiliary for future is xastan 'to want'. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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