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The weirdness of traditional note names

The start of today's 9 Chickweed Lane:

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The giraffe, a supposedly composite creature with a complicated nomenclature

The giraffe is such an outlandish animal that many otherwise sensible people have thought that it must be a combination of several species. From the concept of a giraffe being an amalgam of several animals jointly; compare Persian شترگاوپلنگ‎ (šotorgâvpalang, “giraffe”, literally “camel-ox-leopard”) and Ancient Greek καμηλοπάρδαλῐς (kamēlopárdalis, “giraffe”). Noun زَرَافَة • (zarāfa) f (plural زَرَافَات‎ […]

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Sino-Semitica: of cinnamon, cassia, and katsura and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 2

If you stroll through the grounds of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, you may come upon this phenomenal tree:

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Tocharian words for oil

We've had two consecutive posts on oil-related words (see "Selected readings" below).  julie lee made this comment on the first of the two: Old Chinese/Old Sinitic *lew is similar in sound and meaning to Welsh OLEW "oil". [From Middle Welsh olew, form Old Welsh oleu, from Proto-Brythonic *olew, from Vulgar Latin *olevum, from Latin oleum […]

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Cat got your tongue? Or do you have its?

[This is a guest post by Nathan Hopson] If you’re Japanese, chances are it’s the latter. Nekojita (猫舌 lit. “cat’s tongue”) is a phrase in Japanese most commonly used to describe people who can’t or don’t like to eat or drink hot things. The word means both the actual tongue itself and, by extension, a […]

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Tuoba and Xianbei: Turkic and Mongolic elements of the medieval and contemporary Sinitic states

James Millward sent in a very interesting and important communication (copied in full below) touching upon the ethnic composition of what has now become the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) a thousand and more years ago, especially its Turkic and Proto-Turkic components, together with its proto-Mongolic and para-Mongolic congeners. Since it is of crucial significance […]

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Heavy Velar vs Meager Bilabial Articulations in Xiongnu Language

[This is a guest post by Penglin Wang]             The great difficulties we have with trying to study Xiongnu language persist from trying to glean Xiongnu words, especially the glossed ones, in early Chinese sources for comparison in order to know what linguistic affiliation it seems to have in the central Eurasian region. Since these […]

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Etymologizing and fantasizing: economy and relish

Figuring out the etymologies of words has always been one of my favorite things in life, almost as much as eating flavorful food.  All the way back in second grade of primary school, my Mom gave me a Merriam-Webster dictionary, and I treasured it above all my other belongings because of its etymological notes.  Much […]

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Betelgeuse in Greek, Latin, Arabic, English, and Chinese

AntC led me down a deep, dark rabbit hole by asking:  "Hi Professor Mair, is the Contributing Writer confused, or is it the interwebs?" He was prompted to ask that question by having read the following statement in this article, "Orion’s love affair, Shen Xiu’s long-distance friendship on Taiwan’s winter sky", Taiwan News, by P.K. […]

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The foreign origins of the lion dance and words for "lion" in Sinitic

Here at Language Log, we have shown how the most common word for "lion" in Sinitic, shī 獅, has Iranian and / or Tocharian connections (see "Selected readings").  The etymological and phonological details will be sketched out below.  For a magisterial survey, see Wolfgang Behr, "Hinc [sic] sunt leones — two ancient Eurasian, migratory terms […]

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Best invented folk etymology of 2021?

Wondermark for 11/25/2021 — deriving "rappers", from "wrappers" and their "candy shanties" on the Hersey Chocolate assembly line: Mouseover title: "People will claim lots of things to impress some random moron."

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Om, sumo, and the universality of sound

From Zihan Guo: A Japanese expression I came upon in a reading from Takami sensei's class reminded me of the "om" you mentioned weeks ago in our class. 阿吽の呼吸(aun'nokokyū あうんのこきゅう)   It refers to the synchronization of breathing of sumo opponents before a match. I read about this in an article about an interview with a […]

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Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto

Given this: "Measure words for robots" (9/4/21) and this: "Arigatō" (9/3/21), I could not help but think of this:

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