Lavengro

... has no word for: saucer

A cup sits on a saucer. That is so obvious that the phrase cup and saucer trips naturally off the tongue without a second thought. So how can Spanish have no word for saucer?

The things exist of course but are called platillos, little plates. They have the dimple in the centre to hold a cup, and are used for serving coffee, but they are also used for serving tapas or for returning change in bars. They are usually white, though some coffee brands have their distinctive cups

This may be due to the habit of drinking coffee in very small cups unlike the British habit of dinking tea in larger cups, which lend themselves more easily to decoration.

A cup-supporting platillo is so unremarkable a thing that Spanish Wikipedia's entry for platillos is about cymbals.

In Spanish a flying saucer is sometimes a platillo volante (taken from English I am sure) but more usually an OVNI (objeto volante no identificado –unidentified flying object).

Images: Spanish cup La Tienda del Café; British cup, The Telegraph

These posts are published at 06.00 CET on Tuesdays. For an explanation of the title and content, click here

These posts are published at 06.00 CET on Tuesdays. For an explanation of the title and content, click here. - See more at: http://lavengro.typepad.com/peter_harvey_linguist/#sthash.UXe4xNXS.dpuf

These posts are published at 06.00 CET on Tuesdays. For an explanation of the title and content, click here. - See more at: http://lavengro.typepad.com/peter_harvey_linguist/#sthash.UXe4xNXS.dpuf

... has no word for: blossom

This is the first in a series of …has no word for… which will be posted at 06.00 Central European Time on Tuesdays. for an explanation of the title, click here

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- See more at: http://lavengro.typepad.com/peter_harvey_linguist/#sthash.6xrzFk8n.dpuf

This is the first in a series of …has no word for… which will be posted at 06.00 Central European Time on Tuesdays. for an explanation of the title, click here

* * * * *

- See more at: http://lavengro.typepad.com/peter_harvey_linguist/#sthash.6xrzFk8n.dpuf

These posts are published at 06.00 CET on Tuesdays. For an explanation of the title and content, click here.

This is the first in a series of …has no word for… which will be posted at 06.00 Central European Time on Tuesdays. for an explanation of the title, click here

* * * * *

- See more at: http://lavengro.typepad.com/peter_harvey_linguist/#sthash.6xrzFk8n.dpuf

Blossom is the special name for flowers on a tree, especially a fruit tree. Dr Johnson defined it in his dictionary as:

The flower that grows on any plant, previous to the seed or fruit. We generally call those flowers blossoms, which are not much regarded in themselves, but as a token of some following production.

There is no special word for this in Spanish. A cherry tree in blossom would be just un cerezo en flor. However, orange and lemon blossom have a special name, azahar.

For blossom as a verb the Gran Diccionario Oxford has:

1 (flower) «tree» florecer*, dar* flor
2 (flourish) «enterprise/arts» florecer*; «person/relationship» alcanzar* su plenitud; to blossom into something: our friendship blossomed into love nuestra amistad se transformó en amor; Helen has blossomed (out) into a delightful young woman Helen se ha convertido en una chica encantadora

Florecer is the equivalent of the English flourish but for the metaphorical examples we have alcanzar, transformarse and convertirse, which are respectively reach, be transformed and be converted although the last two verbs correspond to become, of which I will have more to say on a future occasion.

Image of Cherry blossoms at the Tokyo Imperial Palace: Wikipedia.

Explanation of my posts in the series …has no word for…

[Classical Latin] was the only language in which it was possible to hold an intellectual discussion, as the vernacular languages of the time lacked adequate vocabulary.
Alessandro Barbero, Charlemagne

Language teachers and translators know that there are words that present a real problem when an equivalent has to be found in another language. This is not (usually) because the concept does not exist but because what is perceived as one idea in one language is divided into many smaller concepts in another or is expressed by a circumlocution. The main exception of course is to be found in cultural or natural phenomena that exist in one language area but not in the other. In these cases the word is usually taken over directly: tundra, vodka, matador, canyon and veldt would be examples of this in English.

I know that Geoff Pullum says: Whenever you hear someone starting to say something that begins with "The X have no word for Y", or "The X have N different words for Y", never listen to them, and always check your wallet to make sure it's still there.

He is right to the extent that he is talking in terms of theoretical linguistics. In this series of posts I am looking at the practical difficulties faced by teachers and translators who are constantly having to find equivalent expressions in different languages in order to facilitate learning or understanding.

… has no word for: shallow

 

This is the first in a series of …has no word for… which will be posted at 06.00 Central European Time on Tuesdays. for an explanation of the title, click here

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Shallow is a strange word. It is the opposite of deep, having no meaning in itself and only being defined negatively. The OED defines it as:

Not deep, having little extension in a downward direction: said e.g. of water, of a dish or tray, of a depression or excavation in the ground.

Shallowness cannot be measured; it can only be understood as the opposite of depth. A swimming-pool has a shallow end and a deep end but both have depth: the shallow end may be 50cm deep.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Spanish, like other Romance languages, has no word for shallow (though German has seicht). The usual translation in Spanish would be poco profundo. Although poco means little, in fact in such constructions it is effectively a negation so the Spanish for shallow is not deep..

That is when it comes to measuring vertical depth, a swimming-pool, a river, a well, a grave etc. But a shallow dish could be a plato llano (flat plate), which could also be a dinner plate.

In English we take a deep breath of breathe deeply; shallow breathing is a sign of some problem. In Spanish this is respiración superficial and the same word could refer to a shallow person. That could also be superficial in English but a shallow conversation might be frívolo or banal.

A slope can be shallow. This is the opposite of steep. In Spanish it is poca or baja pendiente (little or low slope). Here poca is not a negative and does mean little.

 

 

Images: Wikimedia Commons. Shallow Stream in Rock Hill NY. Woman in shallow end of swimming-pool.