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Category: Linguistics
Notes from Cyprus
Just spent a week with my relatives in Cyprus. I’m not going to make this a course on Cypriot, and I’m not going to explain the technical terminology thoroughly; at least not yet. I’m tired, and I just want to capture the things that struck me about Cypriot after a week of hearing it all […]
READ: Thavoris, Means of expressing the time of day in Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Greek
Θαβωρής, Α.Ι. 1959. Τα εκφραστικά μέσα προσδιορισμού του χρόνου του ημερονυκτίου στην αρχαία μεσαιωνική και νέα ελληνική. (Επιστημονική Επετηρίς Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής, Παράρτημα αρ. 2.) PhD Dissertation, University of Thessalonica. Thessalonica: University of Thessalonica. Antonis Thavoris was Linguistics Professor at the University of Ioannina. His 1959 PhD thesis is on expressions for the time of day […]
ATTENDED: Workshop on The Greek language after Antiquity
https://www.bsa.ac.uk/events/the-greek-language-after-antiquity-recent-research-and-future-directions-in-historical-linguistics-2/ Although I did my best to attend the entirety of this workshop, I was pretty exhausted—the humidity on Saturday did not help me stay alert till 5 AM. So rather than drill down into talks (including talks I wish I’d stayed awake for, like Io Manolessou’s), I’m going to limit myself to headlines. Kriaras […]
ATTENDED: Workshop on Modern Greek Koineisation
So, over the past weekend, I’ve attended two linguistic workshops in Greece. (I’ve already complained about the scheduling conflict on Nick Nicholas’s answer to Why in Australia do people of Greek & Italian origin just say they are Australian, but in the US Greek/Italian American? Being closer to Europe, do they still wish to keep […]
Updated post on “Which formerly Ottoman-occupied peoples understand “s–tir” today?”
I have had an updated version of my old Quora post Which formerly Ottoman-occupied peoples understand “s–tir” today? published in Greek on Nikos Sarantakos’ blog, as Η υστεροφημία του σιχτίρ, “The legacy of sixtir”.
Updated post on “Does the Greek word for watermelon, karpouzi, come from Ancient Greek?”
I have had an updated version of my old Quora post Does the Greek word for watermelon, karpouzi, come from Ancient Greek? published in Greek on Nikos Sarantakos’ blog, as Από πού βγαίνει το καρπούζι;, “Where does karpouzi come from?”.
Updated post on “Why do English-speaking people not prefer to say natrium, silisium, kalium, and use other Latin names of elements instead?”
I have had an updated version of my old Quora posts Why do English-speaking people not prefer to say natrium, silisium, kalium, and use other Latin names of elements instead? and Where do the distinctive Greek names for chemical elements come from? published in Greek on Nikos Sarantakos’ blog, as Τα ελληνόψυχα χημικά στοιχεία, “Greek-souled […]
Updated post on “How are Rumi’s poems in Greek?”
I have had an updated version of my old Quora post How are Rumi’s poems in Greek? published in Greek on Nikos Sarantakos’ blog, as Τα ελληνικά ποιήματα του Τζελαλεντίν Ρουμί, “The Greek poems of Jalal ad-Din Rumi”.
Fifty shades of paraphilia, followup
My original post on the clumsy coinages of terms for paraphilias was a bit of careless venting on Quora, and did not bother researching the creation of the words too deeply. It was, as commenters at Nikos Sarantakos’ blog correctly identified, some xavales, “goofing off”. (Sarantakos did say when I sent him the post, “I […]
Updated post on “What is it called when you get aroused by watching people die?”
I have had an updated version of my old Quora post What is it called when you get aroused by watching people die? published in Greek on Nikos Sarantakos’ blog, as Οι πενήντα αποχρώσεις της παραφιλίας, “Fifty shades of paraphilia”.