Wikipedia:Reference desk archive/Language/2006 July 30

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[edit] Need some help with a Kiaowa name written phoen. in English.

Good afternoon, I need to find out what the name Youngka, Yunka, Yungka, Jungka.: All of the above being the same name is spelled, pronounced, and what, if anything it means! Please help with at least the spelling! Thanks a lot,

                         Adelia

[edit] latin phrase to english translation

"terribile dictu", i think it means "terrible saying this" but i am not sure.

--67.188.43.162 01:01, 30 July 2006 (UTC)steve

Well, I don't speak Latin, but if "mirabile dictu" means "wonderful to say" then this one must mean "terrible to say." --Chris S. 02:25, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
Yes, it basically means "terrible to say". It's hard to translate because we don't have that grammatical structure in English. It is an ablative supine, more literally it means "it is terrible in saying", like the act of saying something (whatever it is) is itself terrible. Adam Bishop 03:29, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] meaning of "santana"

I want to clear up the misconception that "santana" means Santa Anna which is not true. "Santana" is first mentioned in history is in Tuscany, Italy but I can not verify if it was in Rome times. Way before Christianity started with saints. Even today, Santana is a family last name in Italy. In a very old dictionary I found in 1960s stated that "santana" meant ladder but have never found it again. My feeling it is very possible since "fontana" means fountain and "ventana" means window in Spanish. I don't know Latin or Italian to know if it is the same. Thank you. Gregory Santana 70.7.156.86 06:13, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

"Santa" does not necessarily have to mean "saint" - it could have meant "holy" or "good" or whatever, cf the Latin forename "Sanctius". It probably means something else though, possibly "ladder" as you suggested because there's usually reasons why these names stick. - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 07:54, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
Ladder in Latin is "scala". It also means "staircase", which is what "scala" means in Italian. Adam Bishop 14:59, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
I think the answer to this may be that Santana DOES mean Santa Ana but only in Portuguese not Spanish. For example there are a lot of towns in Brazil which are named after saints (eg, over 20 Santa Marias), but curiously there are no two-word Santa Anas. There are however lots of one-word Santanas. It seems unlikely that she didnt get a single place named after her in a country as big as Brazil so I reckon the Santanas must be a contraction of her name in Portuguese. Jameswilson 23:38, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
Like Sant'Ana or something, and Spanish of course has no apostrophes so can't have that - that's not a bad theory actually... - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 06:50, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
Spanish doesn't use apostrophes, but it does tend to blend words together. Santiago = Saint James, for example. "contigo" = "with you". User:Zoe|(talk) 03:05, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
So, yeah, well, it could be Spanish then. I'd also like to point out that a lot of baby name dictionaries say it is a contraction of Santa Anna or Santa Ana eg.[1] - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 07:02, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Japanese for 'Never Forget'

I have seen signs with Japanese writing on them that say (at least, that is what my Japanese friend said it said) 'Never Forget' on them. However, I know no Japanese and cannot remember what the symbols look like. Could someone show me how that is written in Japanese?--69.138.61.168 20:21, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

決して 忘れなさい — Is that it? Iolakana|T 13:23, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

It was very short, only two or three symbols. Thanks, though! --69.138.61.168 17:40, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Could have been something written in kanji. That's usually more compact. 惑乱 分からん 16:14, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
決して 忘れなさい is incorrect — you probably mean 決して 忘れるな ? But, with only 4 characters: 忘れるな. Or the sign could be old Japanese: 忘るるべからず ? You should give the context: what kind of sign? where?, etc. – ishwar  (speak) 03:47, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
In Japanese, Forget-me-not (ワスレナグサ wasurenaguza?) is written 勿忘草 in Kanji. 勿忘 means "never forget." --Kjoonlee 03:12, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What is the plural of the English word "LINT"?

--72.57.219.186 22:09, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

It would be "lints" if you had multiple types of lint, like say cotton lint and wool lint: "I've collected lints from around the world; I really need to get out more, don't I ?". But for one type of lint, you wouldn't normally use a plural. You would say something like "I found three balls of lint under the bed", instead, so the plural is on the word "ball" instead of on the word "lint". StuRat 22:45, 30 July 2006 (UTC)
It's a mass noun, like sand and water.--Shantavira 07:29, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
Lint-like tools. EdC 17:55, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
Lint is just refered to as 'lint' whether as a whole or seperated since it is a mass noun; you need some sort of quantity modifier in order to make it 'plural' in the descriptive and observational sense.

Some examples would be 'pieces of lint', 'shreds of lint', 'strands of lint', and so on. --69.138.61.168 03:30, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, back to the old lint mines. - ALF

[edit] Verbosity

Do you know the word which describes the use of words incorrectly in a sentence? This term would refer to someone who uses big words incorrectly in expressing their thoughts.

Malapropism MeltBanana 22:21, 30 July 2006 (UTC)