10.703, Sum: International Words

Sun May 9 02:49:20 UTC 1999

LINGUIST List:  Vol-10-703. Sat May 8 1999. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 10.703, Sum: International Words

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1)
Date:  Fri, 07 May 1999 18:03:24 +0800
From:  Karen Steffen Chung <karchung at ccms.ntu.edu.tw>
Subject:  Re: 9.1779 International Words

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Fri, 07 May 1999 18:03:24 +0800
From:  Karen Steffen Chung <karchung at ccms.ntu.edu.tw>
Subject:  Re: 9.1779 International Words

This is a follow-up to the summary on 'international
words' -i.e. words like _chocolate_ that appear in similar
phonetic form in a large number of the world's languages -
posted last December 14. Many thanks to all who responded:

Balestrieri, Peter		<Peter_Balestrieri at intuit.com>
Charles Bigelow			<bandh at maui.net>
Damon Allen Davison		<davison at uni-koeln.de>
Jakob Dempsey			<jakob at saturn.yzu.edu.tw>
James L. Fidelholtz		<jfidel at siu.buap.mx>
Mark Irwin			<padz at ilcs.hokudai.ac.jp>
Kimberly Jones			<jonesk at u.arizona.edu>
Patricia Kilroe			<kilroe at web-net.com>
Agnes Lesznyak			<fs5a215 at uni-hamburg.de>
Zouhair Maalej			<zmaalej at gnet.tn>
Duncan MacGregor		<aa735 at freenet.carleton.ca>
John Mackin			<jmackin at flm.se.fujitsu.co.jp>
Heather Marsden			<H.L.Marsden at 3f.co.uk>
Arto Mustajoki			<Arto.Mustajoki at cc.helsinki.fi>
Artan Pernaska			<pernaska at paris7.jussieu.fr>
Norvin Richards			<norvin at kanda.kuis.ac.jp>
K. P. Schneider			<k.schneider at uni-bonn.de>
Hartmut Traunm?ler		<hartmut at ling.su.se>
Colin Whiteley			<cwhiteley at tyco.geis.com>
David Wilmsen			<dwilmsen at aucegypt.edu>

	Below follow (1) a list of words that have not yet been
'disqualified' as possible international words; (2) new
suggestions for possible international words; (3) words
disqualified as international words in the second round of
inquiry; (4) comments on some of the stronger contenders for
international word status: a. _chocolate_, b._coffee_, c. _tea_,
d. _mama_ and _papa_, e. sauna; (5)information on a research
project in international words; and (6) information on a CD-ROM
that uses international words to teach Russian.

(1)	Survivors from the second round of inquiry - i.e. words that
have not yet been 'disqualified' as possible international words:

	alleluia
	bikini
	chocolate
	cocoa
        coffee
	curry
        czar/tsar
        golf
	jazz
	mama
	papa
        shock
	yoga

(2) New suggestions for possible international words:

	amen
	coca-cola
        humor

(3) Words disqualified in the second round of inquiry:

	ninja
	OK
	sauna
	T-shirt

(4) Further comments on proposed international words:

a. _Chocolate_

i.	On the etymology of chocolate: Spanish chocolate < Aztec
s3okoatl 'beverage made of fermented maize', by mistake instead
of the intended kakau9atl (made of cacao and maize).

Hartmut Traunm?ler 			<hartmut at ling.su.se>

ii.	The history of the Meso-American "chocolate" word(s) is
nicely discussed in "The True History of Chocolate" by Sophie D.
Coe and Michael D. Coe (Thames and Hudson.
     Here are the etymological points given by the Coes in their
chapter 4.
     - "cacao", referring to the tree or the substance made from
the seeds of the tree, is a Mixe-Zoquean loan word, reconstructed
by modern linguists as *kakawa in proto-Mixe-Zoquean. From
approximately 1,000 B.C. - *kakawa was borrowed into Mayan
languages sometime between 400 B.C. and 100 A.D., as something
like *kakaw
     - in early Mayan-Spanish dictionaries, the spelling become
"cacao".
     - the etymology of "chocolate" referring to the drink is
uncertain, or at least there are different explanations.
     - Nahuatl "chocolatl" is often proposed as the source of
Spanish "chocolate" and its derived words in other European
languages, but it is not attested in early sources on Nahuatl and
Aztecan culture. The word for chocolate in the early sources is
"cacahuatl" = "cacao water".
     - Nahuatl "xoco" (bitter) + "atl" (water) is one hypothesis,
but the Coes reject it because there is no strong reason for the
shift from Nahuatl "x-" [Eng. "sh-"] to Sp. "ch-", nor for the
interpolation of the additional 'l'.
     - The etymology preferred by the Coes is:  a) the Mayan word
for chocolate drink was "chacau haa" (= "hot water); b) in
Yucatec Mayan a related form would have been "chocol haa" (I
don't know if it is actually attested);
     c) "chocol hau" was borrowed by the Spanish but the Mayan
word for "water" "haa" was replaced by the Nahuatl word for water
"atl", to give "chocol atl".
     The Coes cite, among other sources:

     Leon-Portilla, Miguel. 1981. "Otro testimonio de
aculturacion hispano-indigena". Revista Espanola de Antropologia
Americana 11: 220-43.

     Davila Garibi, Ignacio. 1939. Nuevo y mas amplio estudio
etimologico del vocablo chocolate y de otros que con el se
relacionan. Emilio Pardo y Hijos.

Charles Bigelow 			<bandh at maui.net>

b. _Coffee_

i.     *"bunn" in Tunisian Arabic refers to coffee powder, and
"qahwa" is a polyseme that could be used to refer to coffee beans
(qahwa k3abb, literally), liquid coffee (qahwa, in the
indefinite), and coffee shop (l-qahwa, in the definite).

Zouhair Maalej <zmaalej at gnet.tn>

ii.     In Arabic -- i dont know about amharic -- the word /bunn/
refers to coffee beans, green, roasted, or ground.  NB, the
company that makes commercial coffeemakers and some for the home,
Bunn, takes its name from this.
     The word /qahwa/ used to refer to wine in old arabic poetry.
I had never thought of this before, but perhaps arabic aquired
the amharic and used it for the raw material, while it then
applied its old term for wine to the drink after the orignal
referent was proscribed.

David Wilmsen DWILMSEN at aucegypt.edu

c. _Tea _

i.    Another language with a non-borrowed word for "coffee" is
Tibetan, which calls it "tsig-ja"--literally, "burnt tea".... I
may not have transliterated that correctly, by the way--it starts
with an aspirated affricate.  Maybe the standard way of
transliterating it would be "tshig-ja". ...

Norvin Richards <norvin at kanda.kuis.ac.jp>

ii.    Although tea is associated with southern China, most, but
not all Tibeto-Burman languages use the same etymon. Some instead
use "la" or "lap", the latter probably being the same word as
'leaf' (Chinese jep also cognate). Of course "la" may well be
cognate with "cha" ( < *g-la ?).

Jakob Dempsey <jakob at saturn.yzu.edu.tw>

d. _Mama_, _papa_

     A number of people pointed out Japanese _chichi_ and _haha_
are used differently from _mama_ and _papa_. Here is one
representative message:

     ...mama and papa may not be disproved by the Japanese case,
as they are commonly used in Japan these days and have been since
at least 20 years ago, when I first went there. ... Haha and
chichi are humble words for one's own parents, used when
referring to them while talking to someone outside one's family.
The equivalent native Japanese words for addressing them,
referring them to someone in your own family, or even referring
to them to someone to whom you don't want to be overly polite,
are okaasan and otoosan. But mama and papa are used instead of
okaasan and otoosan in many families.

Kimberly Jones  <jonesk at U.Arizona.EDU>

e. Sauna

     Just read your summary regarding international words. I was
surprised to see "sauna" on your list of candidates. At least the
Russians have a different word for it; the Russian word is
"banja". Also it may be interesting to check what the Turkish
expression is.

Klaus P. Schneider  <k.schneider at uni-bonn.de>

(5) International word research project:

     Hartmut Traunm?ler [I'm not sure of the letter between 'm'
and 'l' since this character doesn't come through on my system]
in Sweden <hartmut at ling.su.se> is currently doing research on
international words.
     His homepage:
     http://www.ling.su.se/staff/hartmut/intervok.htm
     Hartmut's criterion for considering a word 'international'
is adoption in 40% of the languages he is studying.

(6) CD-ROM using international words to teach Russian:

Arto Mustajoki in Helsinki has compiled a CD-ROM introduction to
the Russian language based totally on 'international words',
which he defines as words which can be easily recognized by
native speakers of other European languages. Examples: banan,
muzej,
turist, prezident, park. He says that this CD-ROM has been
extremely
popular in Finland, and that there is also an English version of
it. If interested contact: "Arto Mustajoki"
<Arto.Mustajoki at cc.helsinki.fi>

					Karen Steffen Chung
					National Taiwan University
					karchung at ccms.ntu.edu.tw

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