tipula

tipula = onion in Basque

The word “tipula” comes from the Latin “cepa” / v. “caepa”, or rather from its diminutive “cepulla” / v. “caepulla”, which are of unknown origin but are related with the Ancient Greek “καπια” {kapia} (onions) and the Albanian “qepë” (onion). In many European languages, not only Indo-European, just like the Basque, the word “onion” descends from Latin.

The least surprising group is Romance languages: ceapă (Romanian), cipolla (Italian), cebolla (Spanish), cebola (Portuguese).
Only in French it is “oignon” which comes from the Latin too but from a different word – “unio” (large pearl; type of onion).

Majority of Slavic languages: цыбуля {cybula} (Belarusian), cibule (Czech), cebula (Polish), cibuľa (Slovak), čebula (Slovene), cybula (Lower Sorbian), cybla (Upper Sorbian), цибуля {cybulia} (Ukrainian).
The rest borrowed from Germanic languages and Greek.

Some Baltic languages: sīpols (Latvian) and cybuļs (Latgalian).

Minority of Germanic laguages: Zwiebel (German) and sipel (West Frisian).
In other Germanic languages, they are either of Germanic origin or from the Latin “unio”. In all Celtic languages they are cognates of “onion”.

Finaly non-Indo-European languages: tipula (Basque), sipuli (Finnish), sibul (Estonian).

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dom

dom = house, home in Polish

Polish language has one words for “a house as a building” and for “a home as a place where you live usually with your family”. Many languages distinguish those two ideas.

house / home in English
dům / domov in Czech
hus / hjem in Danish
talo / koti in Finnish
teach / baile in Irish
hiša / dom, domov in Slovene

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puu

puu = tree, wood in Estonian

What I love about learning languages is the magic. When you learn one language you discover that you understand another or sometimes a whole family of languages.

I study Finnish and when I recently saw an Estonian sentence with a word “puu” I knew straight away that the sentence is about a tree. And that’s not the end.

puu in Finnish, Estonian, Ingrian, Karelian, Livvi, Ludian, Võro, Votic
pū in Livian
pu in Veps
All meaning “tree”.

They all come from the Proto-Finnic “puu” meaning “tree”.

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cwmwl

cwmwl = cloud in Welsh

In all three Brittonic languages of the Insular Celtic family, Welsh, Breton and Cornish, the word “cloud” comes from the Latin “cumulus” (heap, pile) but only Welsh language surprises, confuses, astonishes and fascinates.

cwmwl in Welsh
koumoul in Breton
kommol in Cornish

The mystery is solved when you learn that the Welsh “w” is a vowel and it is pronounced “u:”.

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zieleń

zieleń [n] = green (colour); greenery, verdure in Polish

In Polish the words “zieleń” [n] / “zielony” [adj] (green) and “żółć” [n] / “żółty” [adj] (yellow) evolved from the same Proto-Indo-European root *ghelh- which meant green and yellow.

Various languages took different approach to that root. Germanic languages borrowed yellowness:
yellow in English
geel in Dutch
gelb in German
gul in Danish, Swedish & Norwegian
gulur in Icelandic & Faroese

Baltic languages took greenness only:
žalias in Lithuanian
zaļš in Latvian

Slavic languages made use of both meanings:
zielony / żółty in Polish
зялёны {zjaljony} / жоўты {žoŭty} in Belarusian
зелен {zelen} / жълт {žǎlt} in Bulgarian
zelený / žlutý in Czech
зелен {zelen} / жолт {žolt} in Macedonian
зелёный {zeljonyj} / жёлтый {žoltyj} in Russian
zelen / žut in Croatian
зелен {zelen} / жут {žut} in Serbian
zelený / žltý in Slovak
zelen / rumen (also žolt) in Slovene
zeleny / žołty in Lower & Upper Sorbian
зелений {zelenyj} / жовтий {žovtyj} in Ukrainian

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ラウンドアバウト

ラウンドアバウト {raundoabauto} = roundabout, traffic circle, rotary in Japanese

Japanese people, just like Koreans, love borrowing English words and they do it gracefully. For that purpose they use a Japanese syllabary called katakana.

ラ {ra}
ウ {u}
ン {n}
ド {do}
ア {a}
バ {ba}
ウ {u}
ト {to}

āhuacatl

āhuacatl = Avocado in Classical Nahuatl

Classical Nahuatl (also known as Aztec) was spoken in Mexico at the time of Spanish conquest in the 16th-century. Today it is considered extinct but it lives modern Nahuan languages which evolved from the Classical Nahuatl. The word “avocado” originates in the Classical Nahuatl “āhuacatl”and it got to other languages through Spanish. It is “auakatl” in Central Huasteca (modern Nahuatl).

To me “avocado” is one of those words that looks good and sounds well but it tastes awefully. As it happens I hate avocado.

vrata

vrata [n pl] = door in Slovene

Majority of world languages have both the singular and plural forms of the word “door” but most of the Baltic and Slavic languages have only the plural form.

дзвeры {dzvjery} in Belarusian
vrata in Croatian
dveře in Czech
durvis in Latvian
durys in Lithuanian
drzwi in Polish
врата {vrata} in Serbian
dvere in Slovak
źurja in Lower Sorbian
durje in Upper Sorbian
двері {dveri} in Ukrainian
They all mean “door” and they all don’t have the singular form.

raithneach

raithneach = fern, bracken in Irish

This word is a collective noun and in Irish slang “raithneach” means also “cannabis”.

daddy long-legs

daddy long-legs (spider) = small long-legged spider of the Pholcidae family (English)

In every language I know or I think I know or I’d wish I knew, there are words which invariably bring smile to my face. The word “daddy long-legs” is one of them.