Chinky-pins, was Re: SC - bugs (OOP)

[deborah minyard]

>
>I believe the problem is not so much the borrowing of vocabulary as the
>inherent hypocrisy of borrowing to suit needs and then "defending the
>purity" of a given language.


These things occupy my mind quite a lot, since as a food writer I often have
to decide which term to use for a certain ingredient, cooking method, etc.
And I think you may be missing the point that in a heavily inflected
language like Icelandic, some loanwords will fit in quite nicely, others
will stick out like sore thumbs. So we try to avoid those words and make up
new terms whenever possible, while other, easily adaptable terms will
quickly become part of the language.

Take for example the American/Italian term zucchini and the British/French
term courgette. Neither word fits comfortably into Icelandic (for starters,
neither z nor c is part of the modern Icelandic alphabet). To Icelandicize
the spelling into súkkíní and kúrsétt doesn't help much, these words look
alien no matter what you do with them. So someone suggested kúrbítur (an
Icelandication of the botanical term Cucurbita), which looks and feels very
Icelandic.

Mayonnaise fits quite well into Icelandic when it is spelled majónes so
attempts by purists to introduce "Icelandic" terms have not been (and will
not be) successful. Vinaigrette, on the other hand, looks alien no matter
how you spell it but the old Icelandic term ediksósa (literally "vinegar
sauce") doesn't appeal to people so vinaigrette is often used - however, I'm
fairly sure that if someone came up with a fancy new Icelandic term it would
quickly win over.

Hypocripsy? Maybe, but not every language absorbs foreign words as readily
as English - and some words are more readily absorbed than others. When I
wrote my book, I had absolutely no problems with using the term "að grilla"
(to grill) even though I know people who would prefer to say "að
glóðarsteikja". But there was no way I was going to write "að störfræja" (to
stir-fry) - it looks totally ridiculous in Icelandic - so I had to invent a
new term, "að veltisteikja". Not to defend the purity of Icelandic, but
because a new term was really needed here.

I'm not going to say Icelandic hasn't changed for the last 800 years. Of
course it has, although less than most other languages. But we tend to be
rather protective of it. We have no old palaces, cathedrals or monuments, in
fact no buildings more than 250 years old - few old works of art, no
national treasures to speak of. Except our litterature. That, and our
language, is what sets us apart. Which is why I, while not a language purist
myself, can readily understand people who are.

Nanna