Linguists identify 15,000-year-old ‘ultraconserved words’ Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to William Croft as William Cross.
You, hear me! Give this fire to that old man. Pull the black worm off the bark and give it to the mother. And no spitting in the ashes! It’s an odd little speech. That’s because all of the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in the four sentences are words that have descended largely unchanged from a language that died out as the glaciers retreated at the end of the last Ice Age. The traditional view is that words can’t survive for more than 8,000 to 9,000 years. A new study, however, suggests that’s not always true. A team of researchers has come up with a list of two dozen “ultraconserved words” that have survived 150 centuries. The existence of the long-lived words suggests there was a “proto-Eurasiatic” language that was the common ancestor to about 700 contemporary languages that are the native tongues of more than half the world’s people.
They make up a diverse group. Faculty of Language. Why blin? So, why is this blog called «blin»?
Blin is a type of a pancake common in Russia and exUSSR countries like Kazakhstan (I am from Kazakhstan, by the way; Borat jokes are on the same level as bear-vodka-communism ones for Russia). You can see this yummy thingy on the logo in the top left corner. But «blin» is also a commonly used interjection, a word used to describe frustration. It is very VERY common in any Russian dialect and the closest analogy from English I can think of is «shit!»
Or «crap!» Я забыл презервативы!.. Блин, сколько можно ждать?! It is also used to describe some sort of disappointment or regret. Typical mistakes Russians make in English. My name is Simon, and my real Russian name is Vsevolod.
I will appreciate any additions to this list of common mistakes. Just email me. The main page is located at This page was last modified on April 16, 2001 Contents of this page: (x) shows the number of enries The story of this page (and where to find more examples). Send me YOUR examples!!! Words that are same in Russian but different in English Word order Non-trivial translation (idioms) Prepositions No preposition in English. Russian as a foreign language. GAYRUSSIA - Равные права без компромиссов. Preface to Irish Local Names Explained. Irish Local Names Explained THIS little volume is a key that will help to open many locks.
It contains a vocabulary of the root words from which Irish place names are most generally formed. It also contains a considerable selection of those names that are best known through the country, and which best exemplify the use of the root words. By the aid of the roots and examples it will be easy to discover the proper forms and meanings of hundreds of place names not mentioned in the following pages. Now that an active interest is being taken in the native and correct forms of our place names, this little book cannot fail to be of practical use.
Should more exhaustive information on the subject be desired, it will be found in The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places by the same author. « Contents | Process of Anglicising » FEATURED eBOOKS Truelove's Journal: A Bookshop Novella "Beautiful, different and touching. Truelove's Journal (amazon.com) ► Truelove's Journal (amazon.co.uk) ► A Spoonful of Russian. Russian Language Blog: Language and Culture of the Russian-Speaking World. A sad story was reported by the media this weekend — film director Eldar Ryazanov (Эльда́р Ряза́нов) has died at 88.
Let us look at how this story was covered in various publications. Ryazanov’s Death Slon reports, “Росси́йский режиссе́р Эльдар Рязанов сконча́лся в Москве́.” Сконча́ться is a respectful, official way of saying “die, pass away.” According to the site, “Причи́ной сме́рти ста́ла о́страя серде́чная недоста́точность.” The article adds, “Его госпитализи́ровали 21 ноября́, на этом настоя́л ле́чащий врач режиссе́ра.” Film Legacy We learn that “Рязанов снял о́коло 30 киноле́нт.” The BBC has a story on the late director and his films. Разойти́сь на цита́ты loosely means “to be taken apart for quotes,” meaning that his films are often cited.
We learn that “Музыка́льная коме́дия “Карнава́льная ночь”, вы́шедшая в широ́кий прока́т в 1956 году́, счита́ется пе́рвым худо́жественным фи́льмом Эльда́ра Ряза́нова.” In His Own Words The article concludes with a quote from the director himself: CELT: Rudolf Thurneysen. Hanzismatter.blogspot.com. My father has forwarded me this news story about hilarious mistranslated signs used by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.
It appears Royal Caribbean Cruise Line did not verify the Chinese translation's accuracy and blindly trusted Google Translate. Luckily paper signs can be reprinted, unlike tattoos. Corned Beef Hash => "salted beef jumbled signal" Ham and Bamboo Shoot Salad => "clumsy actor and bamboo's salad" Garden Greens => "[botanical] garden became green color" Chicken and Mushroom tart => "timid and rapidly grown prostitute(s)"