Re: New Brithenig words, part Deux.

At 11:50 am +0200 27/5/01, BP Jonsson wrote:
[snip]
>
>Dixit Meyer-Lüebke:
>
>**límáceus, -a**: "Schnecke" ("snail"):
>Old Italian: lumaccia
>Veronese: limatso
>French: limase, limaçon
>West French: limá, lümá
>Provençal: limatz, limasa
>Asturian: limaz
>Spanish: limaza
>
>**límax, -áce**: "Schnecke" ("snail"):
>South French dialects: limaze
>Asturian: limaz, llimiagu, lumiaco
>Italian: lumaca
>Gascon: limak
>Catalan: llimach
>Sp. dialect: lumaka
>Galician: lamáchega
>Venician (sp?): limega
>...
But:

(a) Do all these words mean 'snail' in the modern languages?
Certainly in French _limace_ means a "slug", as does the Italian _lumaca_.
My Spanish dictionary says that Spanish _limaza_ also means 'slug', tho
Spanish also has _babosa_ to denote the animal.

(b) Are the words still used?  E.g. _limaçon_ ("sluglet") is given in older
books as French for 'snail', but _escargot_ seems to be the general word
now (borrowed from Provençal dialect as _escargole_ in the 14th cent.).

I note that the Latin _limax_ could be used for either mollusc, but
_coclea_ are always snails.  I note also German doesn't have a distinct
word for "slug" but calls the mollusc a _Wegschecke_ (way-snail).  Is this
general of Germanic languages, other than English?

According to my information, the word for "snail" in the modern western
Romance langs are:
French: escargot
Spanish: caracol
Portuguese: caracol
Italian: chiocciola

But *here* I note that Welsh _malwod_ (sing. _malwoden_ or _malwen_) is
used of both slugs and snails.

So does Brithenig *there* lump all these land gasteropods together also? If
it does then, presumably, we'll have a word derived from Latin _li:ma:x_
(gen. li:ma:cis).  Or does it, like English & the modern Romance speakers,
distinguish between slugs and snails?

To some, I guess, all land molluscs are a pest that destry garden plants.
But, as well as having well-developed coilded shells, snails also have the
distinction of being eaten  :)
AFAIK neither the ancient Romans nor any moderns eat slugs.

Ray.







=========================================
A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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