SC - Re: Aphrodisi-snacks

[Olwen the Odd]

Nanna I found your missive very interesting.  Having little knowledge of any 
other languages anymore (my first language was Polish with a lot of Russian 
thrown in but all is long forgotten) I find it facinating to be reminded of 
translations and "looking" like it fits, which makes sense to me.  I have 
done some basic study of American Sign Language and know that literal spoken 
translation of sign would be utterly confusing and ridiculous sounding, same 
as literal spoken language said in sign is.  I did have to giggle though 
when I tried to imagine some of the new music in America translated into 
your language.
Olwen
> >
> >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
>
>
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