Timwi ([info]timwi) wrote in [info]linguaphiles,
2004-02-25 15:17:00
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Fun game: Construct words from language codes

This is a fun game, and at the same time a competition for you language geeks. :-)

You know how there are language codes, right? There is the ISO 639 standard which, in two parts, specifies two-letter and three-letter languages codes:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/tei/iso639.html

The challenge to you is to find as long a word as possible (in any language) which consists of a sequence of these language codes. You get an extra bonus point if the language the word is in is also one of the language codes you used. You get even more bonus points if the word is actually a word in several languages and you've used their language codes, too!

For example, from Belarusian + Arabic I can construct bear = bear. However, this is an English word (neither Belarusian nor Arabic), so I get only 2 points.

Another example would be how English + German forms ende = Ende, the German word for "end". Since this is German, and I've used de, I get 3 points!

What is the best score you can come up with?

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  • 45 comments

[info]madcaptenor

February 25 2004, 07:26:13 UTC 8 years ago

española:

es - Spanish
pa - Punjabi
no - Norwegian
la - Latin

and this is a Spanish word, so 5 points.

Of course, this requires we consider n and ñ to be the same letter, but that seems reasonable enough as none of the codes include any sort of accented letter.

[info]rydel23

February 25 2004, 07:46:52 UTC 8 years ago

Sounds like fun. I think this game can be easily won by writing up a simple program that makes all possible combinations and looks for them through a dictionary.

And here is my word: Belarusica

Be - Belarusian
La - Latin
Ru - Russian
Si - Singhalese
Ca - Catalan

[info]madcaptenor

February 25 2004, 07:49:05 UTC 8 years ago

That's perhaps true, but you'd need word lists in every language.

[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

February 25 2004, 07:59:57 UTC 8 years ago

There is no such word.

[info]rydel23

February 25 2004, 08:06:35 UTC 8 years ago

In which language?

[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

February 25 2004, 08:17:03 UTC 8 years ago

In any of the listed, exceprt possibly Catalon and singalese, but I have strong doubts about these, too.

[info]rydel23

February 25 2004, 08:21:23 UTC 8 years ago

I believe there is such a word in English. Just search Google:

Belarusica - 270 pages.

I would define Belarusica as a study and/or classification of books and other objects having to do with Belarus, its people and their history. (Cf. Americana)

[info]rydel23

February 25 2004, 08:25:01 UTC 8 years ago

> In any of the listed, exceprt possibly Catalon and singalese, but I have strong doubts about these, too.

Well, dear Co_lum_bus, apart from English it is also used in Belaursian - беларусіка. So I even get extra points.

[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

February 25 2004, 08:37:37 UTC 8 years ago

I don't buy it. In English, one can make up such a word, as you quote states, but it does not exist by itself. In Byelorussian, it is difficult for me to judge, although it seems you did not know this word yourself, being a Byelorussian, but in any event, conventional transliteration from Cyrillic would look like Belorussika, or even Byelorussika.

[info]rydel23

February 25 2004, 08:53:05 UTC 8 years ago

Why oh why do we always get this crap from the Russians? Almost ever from any other nationals. I don't know. Or, maybe, I do. ;)

> In English, one can make up such a word, as you quote states, but it does not exist by itself.

What do you mean it does not exist. There are 300 pages in English.

> In Byelorussian

This is an obsolete word, somehow used almost exclusively by the Russians. The correct word is Belarusan or Belarusian, pronounced with an s, not sh.

> conventional transliteration from Cyrillic would look like Belorussika, or even Byelorussika.

There is no such thing as "conventional transliteration".
And, besides, Belarusan language also exists in Latin alphabet, so called Lacinka. And in Lacinka the word looks like this: Biełarusika.

If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic. ;)))))))

[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

February 25 2004, 10:11:49 UTC 8 years ago

Hey, pal, are you crazy? Nobody was trying to insult you. What are you talking about? I am an American of Soviet background, not even an ethnic Slav, and what the hell does it have to do with English language??. Are you a racist or what?

I do not understand why are you so agitated about my spelling of the word Byelorussian. In English, both spellings are grammatically correct. Byelorussian is more common than Belarusan, but I am happy with either. You guys are lucky, for Dutch we do not even have a word that were remotely reminiscent of how they call themselves in their own language!

And now to what I mean under "does not exist". I mean your search brings up 14 hits, of which none is by a native English speaker. But it's OK, the word does not exist yet, but you are welcome to use it if you want, it is understandable. Accepted rules for transliteration of Cyrillic, Japanese and other scripts exist. They are used in newspapers, official publications and so on. Cyrillic к is never transliterated as English c. Your own example with the Lacinka proves the same. It is inetersting, by the way, about this alphabet. Is this an official variant of Belarusan (do you like this better?) alphabet? Supported by the government or some kind of national Language Academy? Or is it more like B. Shaw alphabet of English (http://members.aol.com/RSRICHMOND/shawintro.html)?

[info]rydel23

8 years ago

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[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

February 25 2004, 10:25:18 UTC 8 years ago

LJ opinion

Byelorussian or Belorusan?

Preview

Suggestions:
Byelorussian Belorussian, Byelorussia's
Belorusan Belorussian, Belarus, Blousing, Boleros

So LJ likes Belorussian...

[info]rydel23

8 years ago

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[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

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[info]rydel23

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[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

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[info]rydel23

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[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

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[info]rydel23

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[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

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[info]yers

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[info]rydel23

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[info]rydel23

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[info]yers

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[info]timwi

8 years ago

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[info]rydel23

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[info]timwi

8 years ago

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[info]rydel23

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[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

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[info]rydel23

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[info]squodge

February 25 2004, 16:00:29 UTC 8 years ago

Bells and Russians

Well, I've lived in England all my life and I use:

BELORUSSIAN

'Byelorussian' just doesn't look right. It's old. Just like using Peking instead of Beijing, or Kampuchia instead of Cambodia.

[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

8 years ago

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[info]timwi

February 28 2004, 06:44:56 UTC 8 years ago

Hi! It seems that Wikipedia doesn't have a good article on Lacinka yet. Do you want to write one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacinka

[info]rho

February 25 2004, 07:53:37 UTC 8 years ago

It would be cheating to create a conlang in which aaabafamar...yozhzu was the word for sesquipedalianism, wouldn't it? :)

[info]timwi

February 25 2004, 09:06:37 UTC 8 years ago

Heheheh. Yes. :-) Although, of course, I wouldn't strictly exclude conlangs such as Esperanto or Lojban from this.

[info]ex_co_lum_bu730

February 25 2004, 08:02:51 UTC 8 years ago

rubil'nik

A word in Russian, means power breaker. Ru-bi-ln-ik=5

[info]goulo

February 25 2004, 09:03:22 UTC 8 years ago

Ah, the fun of Esperanto's affixes and word construction... I'll construct:

fikameleonoetinas (for 9 points I guess... :)

fi-kameleono-et-in-as
loosely translatable as "is a villainous small female chameleon" :)

from the languages fi, kam, el, eo, no, et, in, as
(Finnish, Kamba, Greek, Esperanto, Norwegian, Estonian, Indonesian, Assamese)

[info]timwi

February 25 2004, 09:08:39 UTC 8 years ago

And Esperanto wins again! :-) ... 9 points. Best so far. Congratulations!

[info]fukurou

February 25 2004, 14:56:03 UTC 8 years ago

Hmm...5 pts.

Ja - Japanese
Ku - Kurdish
Sh - Serbo-Croation
In - Indonesian

Jakushin (弱震): a slight earthquake.

[info]fainic_thu_fein

February 25 2004, 15:25:37 UTC 8 years ago

galtomhais = "steam-gauges" in Irish

ga = irish
lt = latvian
om = (afan) oromo
ha = hausa
is = icelandic

so, 6 points.

[info]the_nerwen

February 25 2004, 15:50:41 UTC 8 years ago

In Armenian

hyerunaabadkamaaxhoss = an Armenian spokesperson (heavily compounded)

hye-run-aa-bad-kam-aa-xh-oss (I'm assuming I can use the 'aa' twice?)

hye--Armenian (in Armenian! yay, extra points!)
run--Rundi (the 'u' would be pronounced like a schwa..not a [u])
aa--Afar
bad--Banda
kam--Kamba
aa--Afar
xh--Xhosa (the 'xh' pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative)
oss--Ossic

9 points :)

[info]timwi

February 26 2004, 04:25:38 UTC 8 years ago

Re: In Armenian

*blink-blink* Is that really a word? :-D

How is the 'xh' pronounced in Armenian?

[info]n_true

February 26 2004, 03:03:07 UTC 8 years ago

What about "Rumschokoladensoßenfabriken"? :)

ru - Russian
ms - Malay
cho - Choctaw
ko - Korean
la - Latin
de - German
nso - Northern Sotho
ss - Siswati
en - English
fa - Farsi
br - Breton
ik - Inupiak
en - English

That's the German word for "rum chocolate sauce facilities" and brings me 14 Points

[info]timwi

February 26 2004, 04:19:47 UTC 8 years ago

Whoo! Impressive! Congratulations :-)
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