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• Classic-Fiction

Nnamdi (m) my father is alive (when thought to be a reincarnation of his grandfather) (Ibo, Nigeria)

Sankofa (f) 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) wanted by nobody (Fulani, Mali)

Anele (f) 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 Nmec (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 španělská 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