LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.12.05 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 05.DEC.2003 (08) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Tom Maguire <jmaguire at pie.xtec.es>
Subject: LL-L "Language varieties" 2003.12.05 (05) [E]

Hello Margaret,

"Caca" is also the Spanish word for faeces or anything dirty when
talking to children.

I have a hunch that many "basic" words would overlap in the area of the
5 senses: see, hear, smell, touch, taste.

Regards,

Tom

> A few years ago, in the very polyglot newsgroup for fans of the
> work of Terry Pratchett OBE, we seem to have discovered at least
> one word that's shared across language-group boundaries:  caca,
> (IE: kakka-) meaning foeces, bad, nasty, unpleasant, undesirable,
> etc.   Intuitively it would seem to be a very primitive word and
> unlikely to be an import from some other language group.  If I
> recall correctly, we found it in IE, Finno-Ugric, Semitic, and
> two or three others I can't now remember.
>
> It's not lowlands-specific, but, since I'm sure list members here
> are even more polyglot than the Pratchettians, it might be an
> interesting exercise to see in just how many language groups that
> word *does* appear.
>
> Margaret

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