Re: SURVEY: Idiomatic Expressions In Your ConLang Or ConCulture

Tom Chappell wrote:


----- Original Message -----
From: "tomhchappell" <tomhchappell@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: November 19, 2005 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: SURVEY: Idiomatic Expressions In Your ConLang Or ConCulture

> Speaking of compounds --
>
> I should inject at this point in the discussion, Panini's
> classification of compounds into amredita, bahuvrihi, dvandva,
> karmadharaya, and tatpurusha.
>
> amredita -- iterative -- day-to-day, one-for-one, house-by-house
>
> bahuvrihi -- characteristic -- lacewing, pickpocket, flatfoot
>
> dvandva -- described by both elements -- fighter-bomber, blue-green,
> freeze-dry
>
> karmadharaya -- one element describes the other element, but the
> compound denotes something yet more specialized -- blackbird,
> blackboard, whitewash, gentleman
>
> tatpurusha -- one element modifies the other element determinatively,
> completely specifying the meaning of the compound -- footstool,
> doghouse, wallpaper, overripe, undermine, takeout, lawsuit, armchair,
> raincoat
Thanks!! Kash certaily has all of those. I was always a little confuzzed
about the names......

> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Roger Mills <rfmilly@M...> wrote:
>
> > Indonesian has lots of phrasal compounds that need special
> > definition (usually under both terms), e.g. _rumah sakit_
> > (house+sick) 'hospital' (Kash compounds house+health for this, a
> > nicer combination I think). Literally it could mean 'a sick house'
> > (or building)-- a concept so far limited to our "advanced" Western
> > world I hope.
>
> German's "Krankhaus" meaning "hospital" comes from "sick"+"house",
> doesn't it?
> I know German's Western, but I don't know how they say a "sick"
> building.
(Maybe German architects and builders are more careful...or don't use so
many toxic products? :-))) I always suspected that in the process of
rebuilding/rehabbing my own house (my builder friend was a great fan of
construction adhesive), we created a sick building-- I developed asthma when
I moved in. Or maybe we just disturbed century- old moulds etc. :-((( )

I think I've come across Engl. "sickhouse" too; we certainly have madhouse,
slaughterhouse and others.  I just checked my little Dutch dict.-- like
German, 'hospital' is ziekenhuis-- which could be the source of the
Indonesian phrase.