the lighter side of being an aardvark

 

 

 

 

 

( latin name : orycteropus from the greek : orycter = digging tool 

                                                                            pous    = foot

                                                                            )

  

How at Bakkum,at the Dutch coast, a Nahuatl-word resounded...

3  girls, about age 12, with a dip- net near a pool in the dunes, catching amphibian lifeforms.
One of them shouts at her father:
"Hey Dad! Look here a... whatyoucallitagain..  axolotl or something.!!"
She points at the baby watersalamander in the bucket.

The axolotl is a kind of salamander that lives in Mexico and the US.
Being mature, it still looks like a baby-salamander....(so it doesn't undergo the normal salamander-metamorphosis, but then again : apparently normal isn't so normal)

from:  atl (-water)   and   xolotl (-servant),  servant of the water..

Today a nice rainy sunday, a nice day to read in a lexicon, initiated by reading this :

                                                                                                      lexicon-time!

So,  I will share with you, sitting at my desk, with a view at the freshgreen robiniatrees in my street,listening to a compilation of worldmusic ('chinnchinn"!), some old Romanian words I stumbled upon... :

BUBURUZ   -tiny ball, pimple, ladybird

CAPRAREATA   -place where the sheep rest

CÎRLIGATURA  -the place where the road turns

CNEZ  -free farmer (may there have been many of them!)

DRUM   -way,road

FARAON   -tzigane (hungarian gypsy,this words root:egypt,anyway: roma,sinti)

FÎNTÎNA   -fountain

GANGUR   -golden oriole

GRAMATIC  -scribe (from greek: gramma,lettersign)

HITLEAN   -perfidious

IEZERCAN   -body of water smaller and less deep than a pool

IZLAZ   -pasture

JDER   -skin of a martyr

MITITEL    -very small

MOHORÎT   - sombre,sad
PAZNIC   -guardian
PETEC   -rag,piece
PIERSIC   -peach-tree (latin: persicum,greek: persikos)
POSTELNICEASA   -wife of a postelnic
PROROC   -prophet
SPERLA   -warm ashes
SPINZURATOARE   -gallows
TAINITA   -secret place
TIPSIE   -tray to carry plates
TRANDAFIR   -rose (greek : triandafylla = 30 leaves)
VÎRF   -  top (of a mountain)
VULTUREL   -small vulture
ZADAR  - in vain
ZBUCIUMAT   -tormented,troubled
ZUGRAV   - decoration painter, painter of icons (greek: zografos =painter)

ZMEURET   -place covered with raspberries

onomatopoeia of the day     :

FUUT  [ füüt]  This also being the Dutch name for one the most beautifull birds of the universe.Most of the time this bird utters a quite hoarse call ('kreq'' comes to mind) but during mating time (see pictures below), also whistling tones. The great crested grebe ( the english thesaurii don't reveal where this namecomes from, maybe from the hoarse call? )is called in different regions of the Netherlands:

pronkvogel -strutbird, 

grote aalduiker - great eeldiver (they are great divers,leaving a trace of small bubbles,that, raising to the waterlevel burst and share their greatcrestedgrebelungscontent with the athmosphere), 

loem-connected with 'loon',

zandreiger-sandheron, 

keizer-emperor, 

satijnduiker -satindiver,

 kroonduiker -crowndiver,

 garnaalvreter-shrimpglutton,

hjerringslynder (frisian) -herringswallower.

  Words that survive  - iii

P.S.  For the dutch readers ( for the flemish ones not really necessary : bankvijs ) i will give a

         translation...well...i guess you  have understood bankvijs already.)

( So, this tool is named after the twining of vine-stems. Life is good!)

       Words that Survive  -ii

 Words that Survive :