Re: Request for information: Semantics of body parts

Peter Clark wrote:
>         Toe             Finger
>         Arch            Knuckle
>         Heel            Palm
>         Ankle   Wrist
>         Shin            Forearm
>         Leg             Elbow
>         Knee    Arm
>         Thigh
>         Calf
If you're counting "forearm", I think you should count "upper arm" for
an analogue to thigh.

Also, I would consider "palm" and "arch" to be analogues, and "knuckle"
applies just as well to toes as to fingers.

At any rate, that's an interesting point I'd never considered.

> English also has a word for a portion of the legs when in a
> seated position: "lap." Now that's interesting.
Hmm ... I suppose the equivalent for arms might be the enclosure created
when ones hands meet, as when hugging ("She stood in his arm-enclosure"
could be a neat idiom for "He hugged her")

>         One could re-divide the body; for instance, the upper arms and shoulders
> could share the same term, or "neck and head" could be mapped to the same
> term as "limb," "Ankle" and "wrist" could be the same term, as well as
> "finger" and "toe"
Ankle and wrist in Japanese are ashikubi and tekubi respectively, ashi =
foot/leg, te = hand (sometimes arm), kubi = neck, thus "the foot/leg's
neck" and "the hand's neck" :-)

> (which is what Russian does; "paljets" is either "finger'
> or "toe," although if you want to be clear, you could say "paljets nogi"
> (finger of the leg).)
Early Classical Uatakassi used a single word for "finger" and "foot",
_uavaz_, however, single-syllable roots (ua- is a gender prefix) were
gradually phased out in Theocracy-era Classical Uatakassi (the specific
period I focus most on).  _Uavaz_ was replaced by _Uavazklu_ and
_Uavaztlunii_ with the meanings "toe" and "finger".  (Ua)Klu = foot,
(Su)Tlunii = hand.  Uaklu itself, being a one-syllable root, was also
dropped as an independant word, being replaced by _Uabaska_ (leg).

The word _Uabaska_ can only be used for two-legged creatures.  So, a
bird or kangaroo would have _uafbassi_ (slightly irregular plural of
uabaska).  I'm not sure if apes would be counted as having _uafbassi_.
I don't know the word for "leg" for four- or six-legged creatures.

--
"There's no such thing as 'cool'.  Everyone's just a big dork or nerd,
you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." -
overheard
ICQ: 18656696
AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42