I Never Knew There Was a Word for It - Adam Jacot De Boinod [23]
What is yours is mine
It’s a short step to outright crime:
mencomot (Indonesian) stealing things of small value such as food or drinks, partly for fun
baderotte (Danish) a beach thief
Agobilles (German) burglar’s tools
ajane (Tulu, India) the noise of a thief
pukau (Malay) a charm used by burglars to make people fall asleep
azote de barrio (Spanish, Central America) a criminal who concentrates on a particular neighbourhood
accordéon (French) an extensive criminal record
A life of crime
Italian offers a rich vocabulary for different types of crime and criminal. Smonta, for example, is a theft carried out on a bus or train from which the perpetrator gets off as soon as possible, while scavalco (literally, climbing over) is a robbery carried out via a window or balcony. A night-time burglary is a serenata (literally, a serenade) which may well involve an orchestra, or gang of thieves, possibly accompanied by a palo, an accomplice who acts as lookout.
Extreme measures
If all else fails one of the following may be necessary:
nakkeskud (Danish) a shot in the back of the head
gusa (Japanese) to decapitate with a sword
rejam (Malay) to execute by pressing into mud
Hiding the evidence
Persian offers a refinement to the crude concept of ‘murder’. The expression war nam nihadan means to kill and then bury someone, growing flowers over the grave in order to conceal it.
Chokey
As most career criminals would agree, the worst downside to a life of crime is getting caught:
kaush (Albanian) a prison cell or paper bag
squadretta (Italian) a group of prison guards who specialize in beating up inmates (literally, small squad)
fangfeng (Chinese) to let prisoners out for exercise or to relieve themselves
Kassiber (German) a letter smuggled out of jail; a secret coded message
jieyu (Chinese) to break into jail to rescue a prisoner
alba (Italian) the day one leaves prison after serving time
On reflection
Executive essentials
Conclusions cannot always be drawn about historical connections. Some words are similar in numerous languages. Much linguistic research has led to the theory of an Ur-language (Indo–European) spoken some fifty thousand years ago, from which most other languages have descended. Papa, for example, is used for ‘father’ in seventy per cent of languages across the world.
Meanwhile, essential latterday vocabulary has crossed languages as easily as the jet-setting executive who uses it:
taxi is recognized in French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, Portuguese, Hungarian and Romanian
sauna is recognized in Finnish, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Lithuanian, Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian, Romanian and Norwegian
bank is recognized in Afrikaans, Amharic (Ethiopia), Bengali, Creole, Danish, Dutch, Frisian (Germany and Holland), German, Gujarati (India), Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Sinhala (Sri Lanka), Swedish and Wolof (Senegal and Gambia)
hotel is recognized in Afrikaans, Amharic, Asturian (Spain), Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Frisian (Germany and Holland), Galician (Spain), German, Icelandic, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Tswana (Botswana), Ukrainian and Yiddish
Time Off
il giocare non è male, ma è male il perdere (Italian)
there is no harm in playing but great harm in losing
Fun and games
Since the start of time the desire to fill it has resulted in a wide range of recreations. Simplest are the games played by children the world over:
toto (Cook Islands Maori) a shout given in a game of hide-and-seek to show readiness for the search to begin
pokku (Tulu, India) the throwing of pebbles up in the air and catching them as they fall
kabaddi (Pakistan) a game where players take it in turn to hold their breath
bakpi