Re: Re : Re: Different words for one thing

Mathias wrote:

>>  Tokana makes a distinction that's a *bit* like this:  _lom_ means
>>  "bottom" in the sense of the underside of something, while _luma_
>>  means bottom of an interior space, such as the floor of a room
>>  or cave, the inside bottom of a box, the bed of a stream, or the
>>  bottom of the ocean.
>
>japanese does too :
>
>ura = "other face behind"
>soko = bottom (of sea, botle, bag)
>
>and i don't feel there is any link between the two of them...
>except when i speak english.
>so what makes english and Tokana unique to me is their common derivation
>between 2 very different items. ;-)
It's not entirely clear that _lom_ and _luma_ are related.  If they are
related, it's not by any regular derivational rule.  And if you look at other
similar pairs, the words are clearly unrelated:

   pama = "the top (dorsal surface) of an object"
   lonkasu = "the top of an enclosed space"

The former word would be used for the surface of a table, the top of one's
head, etc..  The latter word would be used for the ceiling of a room, the
roof of one's mouth, the canopy of a forest (as seen from below), etc..

Matt.