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Re: describing names

From:Thomas Leigh <thomas@...>
Date:Sunday, August 4, 2002, 16:15
Hej igen, Majken!

> In preparation for a page about my languages I made a > subdirectory called "language". The system responded: > "Successfully created language". I thought that was my > job!
LOL! I wish it were than simple! :-)
> 1. Her name is Mary > 2. Her name is beautiful > The first sentence tells me her name, while the second > only describes it. But the only difference is the last > word. There is no way to be sure that she isn't called > Beautiful, except that is an unusual name. How do > other languages solve this problem?
In my experience, those which do distinguish usually do so by using completely different expressions for the idea "to be called" or "to have a name". Like Danish, for example! 1. Hun hedder (or is it heder?) Mary 2. Hendes navn er smuk. Or could you also say "Hendes navn er Mary"? I don't remember ever hearing such a thing, but I was in Denmark so many years ago that I can't remember. Another example, French: 1. Elle s'appelle Marie (literally, "She calls herself Mary") 2. Son nom est beau Well, "son nom est beau" is a literal translation of "her name is beautiful", but I don't know if French speakers would say that. "Elle a un beau nom" ("she has a beautiful name") sounds better to my rusty, non-native ears. I'll let Chistophe correct my crappy French! ;-) Scottish Gaelic: 1. 'S e Màiri an t-ainm a tha oirre (literally, "It is Mary the name which is on her" -- in Gaelic names are "on" a person) 2. Tha an t-ainm oirre (or: aice) brèagha (literally, "the name on her [or: "at her", the usual way to express possession] is beautiful") Notice the difference in the verb "to be" there: Gaelic has two -- "is" is used to equate two things (A = B) while "tha" is used to describe, locate, etc. However, my own language Choba does the same as English, and the only way to distinguish (in speech; in writing the capitalisation of the name shows the dfference) is by context: 1. Leshä enara Mary shiga ("her name Mary is") 2. Leshä enara kishala shiga ("her name beautiful is")
> hawaa eya aya (have a nice day)
Du også! Thomas

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