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Re: Different words for one thing

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Sunday, October 17, 1999, 3:31
FFlores wrote:
> u [u] 'drinkable or flowing water' > huti ['PutSi] 'undrinkable water, unmoving dirty water'
Groovy, I like that distinction. Is the phonology based on Japanese?
> The issue is: different names for the same thing when > it's not quite the same. Do any of your conlangs or natlangs > do this?
Certainly. Consider some examples from English: Ice: "solid H2O" Water: "liquid H2O" Steam: "gaseous H2O" Rain: liquid H2O which condensed in the sky and fell to the ground Snow, hail, sleet, are other examples. Pebble: small stone Stone: large pebble Boulder: large stone
> As for Spanish, we have _pez_ and _pescado_ for > the types of 'fish' above, but there's a common root there; > _pescado_, being a noun, is the same as the passive participle > of _pescar_ 'to fish'.
Which in turn is a derivative of _pez_ -- "Cats are rather delicate creatures and they are subject to a good many ailments, but I never heard of one who suffered from insomnia." -- Joseph Wood Krutch http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files/ http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/Books.html ICQ #: 18656696 AIM screen-name: NikTailor