Or maybe "little sticky toes"? 'Tis the season for articles about mistletoe, like this one: Rachel Ehrenberg, "Marvelous Misunderstood Mistletoe", Knowable Magazine 12/18/2020: Some plants are so entwined with tradition that it’s impossible to think of one without the other. Mistletoe is such a plant. But set aside the kissing custom and you’ll find a […]
This is something I wanted to write about back in mid-July, but it fell victim to my backlog of thousands of e-mails. Now, slowly, slowly, slowly, I'm catching up, and I find that it's still a worthy topic to post on. "‘China, master copycat’: uproar in Indonesia at Xinhua’s batik claim" Xinhua released a video […]
I've long been deeply intrigued by the word "macaque". It's an odd-looking term with a murky history, but somehow it just seems to fit the creature that it designates. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed.: French, from Portuguese macaco, of Bantu origin; akin to Kongo makako, monkeys : ma-, pl. n. pref. […]
"Altaic: Rise and Fall of a Linguistic Hypothesis", NativLang (9/28/19) — video is 12:29; extensive discussion after the page break
Mount Kailash, which forms part of the Transhimalaya in Nagari Prefecture of Tibet, is sacred to Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and the native religion of Bon. Aside from the mountain itself, the large lake Manasarovar, which lies at the base of its foothills to the southeast and is fed by its glacial runoff, is also considered […]
Anyone who has studied the history of writing in China is aware that the earliest manifestation of the Sinitic script dates to around the 13th century BC, under the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600- BC). It is referred to as jiǎgǔwén 甲骨文 ("oracle bone writing") and was used primarily (almost exclusively) for the purpose of divination. […]
I was just thinking how important cows (and their milk) are for Indian people and was surprised that's reflected in such a fundamental word for a family relationship as "daughter" — at least in the popular imagination. Even in a scholarly work such as that of D.N. Jha, The Myth of the Holy Cow (New […]
When is a Qaghan really a Qaghan? It matters, so let's familiarize ourselves with the meaning of the term right off the bat. In Chinese Studies, we call this "zhèngmíng 正名" ("rectification of names"). Confucius was asked what he would do if he was a governor. He said he would "rectify the names" to make […]
Article in The Guardian, "Crooked not courageous: Adani renames Australian group Bravus, mistaking it for 'brave'", by Naaman Zhou (11/5/20): Mining company Adani has changed its name to a Latin word that means “crooked”, “deformed”, “mercenary or assassin”, after mistakenly thinking that it meant “brave”. The controversial mining group, which is responsible for the Carmichael […]
This incredibly fine NHK documentary on "The Iron Road" will only be available online until November 8. Since I do not know whether and in what form it will be available after November 8, I'm including it here only as a link embedded in the title. If anyone discovers that, after November 8, it might […]
Sounds like fun, doesn't it? People actually did it in ancient India, and they still do it today. Here are some passages from the Wikipedia article about the Amarakosha, the most celebrated and most often memorized Indian thesaurus. Introduction The Amarakosha (Devanagari: अमरकोशः, IAST: Amarakośa) is the popular name for Namalinganushasanam (Devanagari: नामलिङ्गानुशासनम्, IAST: Nāmaliṅgānuśāsanam) […]
No, that's not a mistake. My son just called me about some Hindi books I wanted him to order for me. He asked, "Do they have to be in Romanization, or is it all right if they are in Devangari?" The way he said the word "Devangari" made me chuckle. Of course, with a name […]
With notes on 兑, 說 / 説, 悦, 銳, 脱. From Stephen Tschudi: A colleague was watching a tuōkǒu xiù 脱口秀 ("talk show") online today, and was shocked when a well-known actress did not pronounce "duìxiàn 兑现" (vb. "cash [a check]; fulfill / honor [a promise / commitment]") correctly. She was even more shocked when, in the […]