The Meaning of Tingo

by Adam Jacot De Boinod

  one must return to the past in order to move forward (Akan, Ghana)

  … to appearance or behaviour:

  Chiku (f)

  chatterer (Swahili)

  Masopakyindi (m)

  eyes like hard porridge (Nyakyusa, Tanzania)

  Masani (f)

  has a gap between the front teeth (Buganda, Uganda)

  … or to the parental reaction:

  U-Thokozile (f)

  we are happy to have a child (Ndebele, Southern Africa)

  Abeni (f)

  we asked for her and behold we got her (Yoruba, Nigeria)

  Guedado (m) Anele (f)

  wanted by nobody (Fulani, Mali) enough (given to a last born) (Xhosa, South Africa)

  Silent foreigners

  Czechs describe people from outside their country in intriguing caricature. Originally all foreigners were called Nĕmec (from the adjective němý meaning ‘mute’); now the suggestion that outsiders are deprived of speech applies specifically to Germans, whose country is known as Německo. Hungary in Czech used to be Uhersko, and a Hungarian Uher, literally, a pimple.

  The Italians, meanwhile, are called makaróni, for obvious reasons; while Australians are known as protinožcí, meaning ‘legs placed in an opposite direction’, as they would be on the other side of the globe. Other cheerfully frank generalizations include: opilý jako Dán, to be as drunk as a Dane; zmizet po anglicku, to disappear like an Englishman; and when the Czechs really don’t understand something, they say to pro mně španě lská vesnice, it’s all a Spanish village to me.

  False friends

  handel (Polish and Dutch) trade

  liszt (Hungarian) flour

  berlin (Wagiman, Australia) shoulder

  bengal (Malay) temporarily deaf or stubborn

  malta (Italian) mortar

  bach (Welsh) cottage

  pele (Samoan) pack of playing cards

  Skin and buttocks

  Just for the record, and to avoid confusion abroad, here are the meanings of a variety of English names when written in other languages:

  adam (Arabic) skin

  alan (Indonesian) comedian

  alf (Arabic) thousand, millennium

  anna (Arabic) moans and groans

  calista (Portuguese) chiropodist

  camilla (Spanish) stretcher

  cilla (Zarma, Nigeria) basket

  doris (Bajan, Barbados) police van

  eliza (Basque) church

  eve (Rapa Nui, Easter Island) buttocks

  fay (Zarma, Nigeria) divorce

  fred (Swedish, Danish and Norwegian) peace

  jim (Korean) baggage

  kim (Ainu, Japan) mountain

  kylie (Dharug, Australia) boomerang

  laura (Greek) group of monks’ huts

  luke (Chinese) traveller

  marianna (Italian) accomplice who tells a gambler the cards held by other players

  sara (Hausa, Nigeria) snakebite

  sid (Arabic) plaster

  susan (Thai ) cemetery

  vera (Italian) wedding ring

  First person singular

  Ben in Turkish, Ami in Bengali, Fi in Welsh, Jo in Catalan, Mimi in Swedish, Mama in Sinhala (Sri Lanka) and Man in Wolof (Senegal and Gambia) all mean I.

  Speaking in tongues

  British first names crop up as the names of languages, too:

  Alan (Georgia); Ali (Central Africa); Dan (Ivory Coast); Dido (Russia); Karen (Myanmar and Thailand); Kim (Chad); Laura (Indonesia); Mae (Vanuatu); Maria (Papua New Guinea and India); Pam (Cameroon); Ron (Nigeria); Sara (Chad); Sonia (Papua New Guinea); Uma (Indonesia); Zaza (Iran).

  And equally intriguing to English ears may be:

  Afar (Ethiopia); Alas (Indonesia); Anus (Indonesia); Bare (Venezuela); Bats (Georgia); Bench (Ethiopia); Bile (Nigeria); Bit (Laos); Bum (Cameroon); Darling (Australia); Day (Chad); Doe (Tanzania); Eton (Vanuatu/Cameroon); Even (Russia); Ewe (Niger-Congo); Fang (Western Africa); Fox (North American); Fur (Sudan); Ham (Nigeria); Hermit (Papua New Guinea: extinct); Logo (Congo); Mango (Chad); Miao (South-East Asia); Moore (Burkina Faso); Mum (Papua New Guinea); Noon (Senegal); Pear (Cambodia); Poke (Congo); Puma (Nepal); Quiche (Guatemala).

  Grand capital of the world

  The capital of Thailand is abbreviated by all Thais to Krung Thep, and referred to as Bangkok, meaning literally ‘grove of the wild plums’. But, bearing in mind that there are no spaces between words in written Thai, its full correct name is:

  Krungthephphramahanakhonbowonratanakosinmahinthara yuthayamahadilokphiphobnovpharadradchataniburiromudo msantisug

  meaning: City of Angels, Great City and Residence of the Emerald Buddha, Impregnable City of the God Indra, Grand Capital of the World, Endowed with Nine Precious Gems, Abounding in Enormous Royal Palaces which resemble the Heavenly Abode where reigns the Reincarnated God, a City given by Indra and built by Vishnukarm.

  It rather leaves the Welsh

  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwillantysilioogofgoch

  (meaning St Mary’s Church by the pool of the white hazel trees, near the rapid whirlpool, by the red cave of the Church of St Tysilio) in the shade.

  A to Y

  At the other end of the scale are three places called A (in Denmark, Norway and Sweden), and two more, in Alaska and France, called Y.

  Table of Contents

  Foreword

  Acknowledgements

  Meeting and Greeting

  From Top to Toe

  Movers and Shakers

  Getting Around

  It Takes All Sorts

  Falling in Love

  The Family Circle

  Clocking On

  Time Off

  Eating and Drinking

  Below Par

  From Cradle to Grave

  Otherworldly

  All Creatures Great and Small

  Whatever the Weather

  Hearing Things

  Seeing Things

  Number Crunching

  What’s in a Name?