[gothic-l] Re: Name origin and meaning

[Oleg S.]

>jdm314 at aol.com wrote:
>> In a message dated 6/9/00 4:53:52 PM, you wrote:
>> <<The French also seem to abhor borrowings. Of all the languages that I am
>> somewhat familiar with, it is the only one whose word for 'computer' is not
>> 'computer'.
>>
>> Not that it's relevant, but I can think of another. In Modern Hebrew, the
>> word is m at khashev (@ = schwa), a "deverbative" noun from the root *k-sh-b
>> meaning "to think"
>
>Couldn't resist :)
>
>German: Rechner
>Swedish: dator
>
>and I guess there are some more (Icelandic). But it is true that the
>French Academy always tries furiously to make the public accept a
>"native" word.
>
>Joris Van Looveren
>

Estonian: arvuti (from "arvutama" = "to compute")
Russian is a bit more complicated case. Before the 90s a computer was "EVM"
- abbreviated from "Electronnaya Vychislitelnaya Mashina" (Electronic
Computing Machine). There also was "PEVM" - same as above but with
"Personal" in the beginning. The word "computer" co-existed, as a rather
vulgar variant with an air of slang. Currently EVM and PEVM are practically
out of use, and it is just a "kompjuter"...

I wonder whether Ukrainians have invented some interesting word for it.
Russian and Ukrainian have very much of same words meaning the same, while
in case of any opportunity Ukrainians tend to use a different (or at least a
less frequent in this meaning) word. Shame upon my head, I don't know how
Ukrainians call computers now.

Oleg Svirgstin

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