False friends
monaco (Italian) monk
fish (Arabic) Easter, Passover
alone (Italian) halo
fall (Breton) bad
lav (Armenian) good
bog (Russian) god
God willing
The French have a term, bondieuserie, which means ostentatious piety. But for many the solace of prayer and faith is both necessary and private:
saruz-ram (Persian) the first light breaking upon one committed to a contemplative life
rasf (Persian) the joining together of the feet in prayer (also the joining of stones in pavements)
thondrol (Dzongkha, Bhutan) the removal of sins through the contemplation of a large religious picture
kuoha (Hawaiian) a prayer used to bring a wife to love her husband and a husband to love his wife
tekbir (Arabic) to proclaim the greatness of God, by repeating
allahu akkbar, ‘Allah is great’
pasrah (Indonesian) to leave a problem to God
On reflection
The short of it
Among single letter words to be found among the world’s languages are the following:
u (Samoan) an enlarged land snail
u (Xeta, Brazil) to eat animal meat
u (Burmese) a male over forty-five (literally, uncle)
i (Korean) a tooth
m (Yakut, Siberia) a bear; an ancestral spirit
All Creatures Great and Small
meglio è esser capo di lucertola che coda di dragone (Italian)
better be the head of a lizard than the tail of a dragon
Animal crackers
‘Every dog has his day’; ‘you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’; ‘a cat may look at a king’. Animals crop up left, right and centre in English sayings and phrases, and in those of other languages too:
leben wie die Made im Speck (German) to live like a maggot in bacon (life of Riley)
van een kale kip kan je geen veren plukken (Dutch) you can’t pluck feathers from a bald hen (get blood out of a stone)
olla ketunhäntä kainalossa (Finnish) to have a foxtail under your armpits (ulterior motives)
estar durmiendo con la mona (Spanish) to be sleeping with the monkey (be drunk)
eine Kröte schlucken (German) to swallow a toad (make a concession grudgingly)
bhains ke age bansuri bajana (Hindi) to play a flute in front of a buffalo (cast pearls before swine)
vot gde sobaka zaryta (Russian) that’s where the dog is buried (the crux of the matter)
avaler des couleuvres (French) to swallow grass snakes (endure humiliation)
karincalanmak (Turkish) to be crawling with ants (have pins and needles)
Dragon’s head
The Japanese are particularly fond of animal metaphors:
itachigokko weasels’ play (a vicious circle)
gyuho an ox’s walk (a snail’s pace)
neko no hitai a cat’s forehead (a very small area)
yabuhebi ni naru to poke at a bush and get a snake (to backfire)
ryuto dabi ni owaru to start with a dragon’s head and end with a snake’s tail (to peter out)
dasoku snake legs (excessive or superfluous)
tora ni naru to become a tiger (to get roaring drunk)
unagi no nedoko an eel’s bed (a long narrow place)
mushi no idokoro ga warui the location of the worm is bad (in a bad mood)
kirinji a giraffe child (prodigy)
kumo no ko o chirasu yo ni like scattering baby spiders (in all directions)
inu to saru a dog and a monkey (to be on bad terms)
Ships of the desert
As you might expect, the more important an animal is to a particular culture, the more words there are for it. The cattle-herding Masai of Kenya and Tanzania, for example, have seventeen distinct words for cattle; the jungle-based Baniwa tribe of Brazil has twenty-nine for ant (with a range that includes the edible); while in Somali there are no fewer than forty-three words relating to camels of every possible variety. Here are a few:
qoorqab an uncastrated male camel
awradhale a stud camel that always breeds male camels
gurgurshaa a docile pack-camel suitable for carrying delicate items
sidig one of two female camels suckling the same baby camel
guran a herd of camels no longer producing milk that is kept away from dwelling areas
baatir a mature female camel that has had no offspring
gulguuluc the low bellow of a camel when it is sick or thirsty
cayuun camel spit
u maqaarsaar to put the skin of a dead baby camel on top of a living one in order to induce its mother to give milk
uusmiiro to extract drinking water from the stomach of a camel to drink during a period of drought
guree to make room for a person to sit on a loaded camel
tulud one’s one and only camel
Persian also has its own detailed camel vocabulary that suggests an even more recalcitrant beast:
nakhur a camel that will not give milk until her nostrils are tickled
wakhd a camel that throws out its feet in the manner of an ostrich
munqamih a camel that raises its head and refuses to drink any more
zirad a rope tied round a camel’s neck to prevent it from vomiting on its rider
Horses for courses
Many languages have very specific words to describe not only types of horse but also its activities and attributes. In the Quechuan language of Peru, tharmiy is a horse that stands on its hind legs and kicks out with its forelegs. The Bulgar lungur is an unfit horse, while the Malay kuda padi is a short-legged horse for riding. Dasparan, from the Khowan language of Pakistan, describes the mating of horses and the Russian nochoe means the pasturing of horses for the night. Persian has an extravagance of equine vocabulary:
zaru a horse that travels nimbly with long steps
mirjam a horse that makes the dirt fly when running
raji a horse returning tired from a journey only to be immediately dispatched upon another
rakl to strike a horse with the heel to make it gallop
zau’ shaking the horse’s rein to quicken the pace
shiyar riding a horse backwards and forwards to show it off to a buyer
safin a horse standing on three legs and touching the ground with the tip of its fourth hoof
Man’s best friend
The Indians of Guatemala have a word, nagual, which describes an animal, chosen at birth, whose fate is believed to have a direct effect on the prosperity of its owner.
Hopping mad
The Kunwinjku of Australia use a range of words to describe the way in which kangaroos hop; in part this is because, from a distance, the easiest way to identify a particular type of kangaroo is by the way it moves. Thus kanjedjme is the hopping of a wallaroo, kamawudme is the hopping of a male Antilopine wallaroo, and kadjalwahme is the hopping of the female. Kamurlbardme is the hopping of a black wallaroo and kalurlhlurlme is the hopping of an agile wallaby.
False friends
ape (Italian) bee
anz (Arabic) wasp
bum (Arabic) owl
medusa (Spanish) jellyfish
slurp (Afrikaans) elephant’s trunk
ukelele (Tongan) jumping flea
Shoo!
The Latin American sape, the German husch and the Pashto (of Afghanistan and Pakistan) tsheghe tsheghe are among the many similar-sounding words that mean ‘shoo’. Other animal commands refer to particular creatures: Pashto pishte pishte is said when chasing cats away; gja gja is the Bulgar driving call to horses; kur is the Indonesian call to chickens to come to be fed; and belekisi ontu (Aukan, Suriname) is an insult hurled at a dog. The Malays are even more specific, with song, the command to an elephant to lift one leg, and soh, the cry to a buffalo to turn left.
Peacocks’ tails
Many languages identify specific parts or attributes of ani
mals for which there is no direct English equivalent. Kauhaga moa is the word used by Easter Islanders to designate the first and shortest claw of a chicken, while candraka in Tulu (India) is the eye pattern that appears on the feathers of a peacock’s tail and kannu is the star in the feather. In several languages there are particular words for different types of animal excrement: monkey urine in the Guajá language (Brazil) is kalukaluk-kaí; the liquid part of chicken excrement in Ulwa (Nicaragua) is daraba; while in Persian the little bit of sweat and dung attached to a sheep’s groin and tail is called wazahat.
Kissing and hissing
Other words describe the closely observed actions of animals, many of which we can instantly recognize:
mengais (Indonesian) to scratch on the ground with claws in search of food (generally used of a chicken)
apisik (Turkish) any animal holding its tail between its legs
maj u maj (Persian) kissing and licking (as a cat does to her kittens)
greann (Scottish Gaelic) the hair bristling as on an enraged dog
fahha (Arabic) the hissing of a snake
tau’ani (Cook Islands Maori) to squeal at one another while fighting (used of cats)
kikamu (Hawaiian) the gathering of fish about a hook that they hesitate to bite
alevandring (Danish) the migration of the eel
paarnguliaq (Inuit) a seal that has strayed and now can’t find its breathing hole
Two Persian tricks
Tuti’i pas ayina is a person sitting behind a mirror who teaches a parrot to talk by making it believe that it is its own likeness seen in the mirror which is pronouncing the words. While kalb is the practice of imitating barking to induce dogs to respond and thus show whether a particular dwelling is inhabited or not.
Animal magnetism
Some animal words attract other meanings as well. Hausa of Nigeria uses mesa to mean both python and water hose, and jak both donkey and wheelbarrow. Wukur in Arabic signifies a bird of prey’s nest and an aircraft hangar and, intriguingly, zamma means both to put a bridle on a camel and to be supercilious. For the Wagiman of Australia wanganyjarri describes a green ants’ nest and an armpit, while for the French papillon is both a butterfly and a parking ticket.
The flying squad
In Hopi, an Amerindian language, masa’ytaka is used to denote insects, aeroplanes, pilots; in fact, everything that flies except birds.
Tamed
Humans have rarely been content to let animals run wild and free; using them in one way or another has defined the relationship between two and four legs:
ch’illpiy (Quechuan, Peru) to mark livestock by cutting their ears
bolas (Spanish) two or three heavy balls joined by a cord used to entangle the legs of animals
oorxax (Khakas, Siberia) a wooden ring in the nose of a calf (to prevent it from suckling from its mother)
hundeskole (Danish) a dog-training school
Animal sounds
In Albanian, Danish, English, Hebrew and Polish, to name just a few languages, bees make a buzzing sound, and cats miaow. However, no language but English seems to think that owls go ‘tu-whit, tu-woo’ or a cockerel goes ‘cock-a-doodle-doo’. And not everyone agrees about the birds and the bees either:
Birds
Arabic (Algeria): twit twit
Bengali: cooho’koohoo
Finnish: tsirp tsirp
Hungarian: csipcsirip
Korean: ji-ji-bae-bae
Norwegian: kvirrevitt or pip-pip
Bees
Afrikaans: zoem-zoem
Bengali: bhonbhon
Estonian: summ-summ
Japanese: bunbun
Korean: boong-boong or wing-wing
Cats
Indonesian: ngeong
Malay: ngiau
Nahuatl (Mexico): tlatzomia
Chicks
Albanian: ciu ciu
Greek: ko-ko-ko
Hungarian: csip-csip
Indonesian: cip cip
Quechuan (Peru): tojtoqeyay
Slovene: čiv-čiv
Thai: jiap jiap
Turkish: cik cik
Cockerels
Chinese: gou gou
French: cocorico
Italian: chicchirichí
Portuguese: cocorococo
Thai: ake-e-ake-ake
Cows
Bengali: hamba
Dutch: boeh
Hungarian: bú
Korean: um-muuuu
Nahuatl (Mexico): choka
Crows
French: croa-croa
Indonesian: gagak
Korean: kka-ak-kka-ak
Spanish: cruaaac, cruaaac
Swedish: krax
Thai: gaa gaa
Turkish: gaaak, gaak
Cuckoos
Japanese: kakkou kakkou
Korean: ppu-kkook-ppu-kkook
Turkish: guguk, guguk
Elephants
Finnish: trööt or prööt
Spanish (Chile): prraaahhh, prrraaaahhh
Thai: pran pran
Frogs
Afrikaans: kwaak-kwaak
Estonian: krooks-krooks
Munduruku (Brazil): korekorekore
Spanish (Argentina): berp
Goats
Nahuatl (Mexico): choka
Norwegian: mae
Quechuan (Peru): jap’apeyay
Russian: mee
Ukrainian: me-me
Hens
Turkish: gut-gut-gudak
Arabic (Algeria): cout cout cout
Rapa Nui (Easter Island): kókokóko
Owls
Korean: buung-buung
Norwegian: uhu
Russian: ukh
Swedish: hoho
Thai: hook hook
Pigs
Albanian: hunk hunk
Hungarian: röf-röf-röf
Japanese: buubuu, boo boo boo
Dutch: knor-knor
Sheep
Mandarin Chinese: mieh mieh
Portuguese: meee meee
Slovene: bee-bee
Vietnamese: be-hehehe
French: bêê (h)
On reflection
Spellcheck nightmare
If only Scrabble allowed foreign words how much greater our wordscores could be:
3 consecutive vowels: aaa (Hawaiian) a lava tube
4 consecutive vowels: jaaaarne (Estonian) the edge of the ice; kuuuurija (Estonian) a moon explorer
6 consecutive vowels: zaaiuien (Dutch) onions for seeding; ouaouaron (Quebecois French) a bullfrog
7 consecutive vowels: hääyöaie (Finnish) – counting ‘y’ as a vowel – a plan for the wedding night
8 consecutive vowels: hooiaioia (Hawaiian) certified; oueaiaaare (Estonian) the edge of a fence surrounding a yard
5 consecutive consonants (and no vowels): cmrlj (Slovenian) a bumblebee
7 consecutive consonants: razzvrkljati (Slovenian) preparing the egg for baking, or making omelettes; opskrbljivač (Croatian) a supplier; ctvrtkruh (Czech) a quadrant
8 consecutive consonants: angstschreeuw (Dutch) a cry of fear; varldsschlager (Swedish) a worldwide music hit; gvbrdgvnit (Georgian) you tear us into pieces
11 consecutive consonants: odctvrtvrstvit (Czech) to remove a quarter of a layer
Whatever the Weather
chuntian hai’er lian, yi tian bian san bian (Chinese)
spring weather is like a child’s face, changing three times a day
And the forecast is …
Despite our obsession with the weather, the English language doesn’t cover all the bases when it comes to precise observations of the natural world …
serein (French) fine rain falling from a cloudless sky
imbat (Turkish) a daytime summer sea breeze ‘inapoiri (Cook Islands Maori) a moonless night
wamadat (Persian) the intense heat of a still, sultry night
gumusservi (Turkish) moonlight shining on water
tojji (Tulu, India) the scum of water c
ollected into bubbles
efterarsfarver (Danish) autumn colours
… though, inevitably, there are some local phenomena that we have to struggle harder to imagine:
wilikoi (Hawaiian) substances that are gathered up in the centre of a whirlwind
isblink (Swedish) the luminous appearance of the horizon caused by reflection from ice
Meteorological metaphors
Our descriptions of the weather often use metaphors, such as raining cats and dogs, but some languages use the weather itself as the metaphor:
Schnee von gestern (German) yesterday’s snow (water under the bridge)
huutaa tuuleen (Finnish) to shout to the wind (to do something that has no use)
aven solen har fläckar (Swedish) even the sun has got spots (no one is perfect)
snést někomu modré z nebe (Czech) to bring the blue down from the sky for someone (do anything to please them)
chap phar kah chap jil pa chu kha ray (Dzongkha, Bhutan) the rain falls yonder, but the drops strike here (indirect remarks hit the target)
xihuitl barq (Arabic) lightning without a downpour (a disappointment, a disillusionment or an unkept promise)
I Never Knew There Was a Word For It Page 9