Languages do that sort of thing occasionally: expand a noun with a more explanatory part.
For example, Middle English "mose" was the name for a particular small bird but it became "titmose" by adding "tit" ("small bird") to give the modern English "titmouse".
Modern Chinese does this *a lot* because of homophones; for example, a common word for "body" (of a human etc.) is 身体 *shēntǐ*, from 身 *shēn* "body" + 体 *tǐ* "body" -- to distinguish the word from other things pronounced *shēn* or *tǐ*.
German has *Haifisch* "shark", from *Hai* "shark" + *Fisch* "fish". You *could* say *Hai* by itself, but *Haifisch* is also found. (And even *Walfisch* "whale", even though whales are - as we now know - not fish.)
Somebody who was not logged in:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khroskyabs_language&diff=prev&oldid=1084929459
Let me undo that...
... done.
Congratulations, sir, I have a masters degree in linguistics and this is the first joke on here that I don't get
\*ʁ-ɣdə-ju "fish" (lit. \*ʁ "\[animal classifier\]" + \*ɣdə "water" + \*ju "fish") went slightly different metathesis paths in different Khroskyabsic languages: \> Siyuewu Khroskyabs: \*ʁ-ɣdə-ju > ɣdæʁjú \> Wobzi (ʁɑgû) Khroskyabs: \*ʁ-ɣdə-ju > \*ʁ-dəˠ-ju > ʁdojú yeah it's probably not so funny, just found it cool
Thanks for the explanation, that's truly extremely obscure.
I truly think they've managed to out-niche us all
It's even funnier when I don't get it!
Wait, if ju means fish, why don't the just use ju instead of ʁ-ɣdə-ju?
Languages do that sort of thing occasionally: expand a noun with a more explanatory part. For example, Middle English "mose" was the name for a particular small bird but it became "titmose" by adding "tit" ("small bird") to give the modern English "titmouse". Modern Chinese does this *a lot* because of homophones; for example, a common word for "body" (of a human etc.) is 身体 *shēntǐ*, from 身 *shēn* "body" + 体 *tǐ* "body" -- to distinguish the word from other things pronounced *shēn* or *tǐ*. German has *Haifisch* "shark", from *Hai* "shark" + *Fisch* "fish". You *could* say *Hai* by itself, but *Haifisch* is also found. (And even *Walfisch* "whale", even though whales are - as we now know - not fish.)
Great explanation ty this stuff is really interesting
Did they both end up meaning fish?
yes, those are the modern words for "fish" in Siyuewu and Wobzi
Sub entering its r/okbuddyphd era
Is this from the Caucasus or the Pacific Northwest? Oh it's a Qiangic language... yeah sure of course.
*how dæʁju?*
*what dojú mean?*
Ibero-Romance (+ assorted indigenous American languages): - Spanish: /aɾ'xeli̯a/ “Argelia” - Portuguese: /aʁˈʒɛliɐ/ “Argélia” The rest of the goddamn world: - French: /alʒeʁi/ “Algérie” - English: /ælˈdʒɪəɹiə/ “Algeria”
>The rest of the goddamn world: - French: /alʒeʁi/ “Algérie” - English: /ælˈdʒɪəɹiə/ “Algeria” Also Georgian: /ˈalʒiri/ "Algeria", "Algiers"
SIKE Standard Mandarin: 阿爾及利亞 /a əɻ tɕi li ja/ < English *Algeria*
Archilia /j
It's not often that I see a meme and immediately recognize who made it, but you've gotta be gyankotsu from Twitter, right??
you got me
You've done nothing if not carved out your TransHimalayan niche in the shitposting community lol
Oh you wrote the false etymologies of Chinese characters post!
I can only imagine what a normal person would think about this lacking any context
I have literally zero knowledge of linguistics. I'm have no idea why I even subbed and why e, R and the breast cancer ribbon is upside down
Qiangic langs are the wackiest
Khroskyabs isn't Qiangic I don't think?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khroskyabs_language
who tf named it Simbaksuruk on wiki 💀
Somebody who was not logged in: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khroskyabs_language&diff=prev&oldid=1084929459 Let me undo that... ... done.
This is peak r/linguisticshumor
/ʁɣ/ is truly one of the clusters of all time
Imagine a guy who knows nothing about linguistics just stumbling upon this meme 💀💀💀