• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 909 0

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