[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
Does Volapyk = Volapuk or Volapük?
[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, of course. I forgot to replace the y in the translation.
[QUOTE=JpnDude]
Here’s a breakdown:
“Greek” used by speakers of: middle Latin, English, Portguese, Norwegian
[/QUOTE]
Add Swedish to that list.
[QUOTE=JpnDude]
“Hebrew” by French, Dutch, Finnish
“Spanish” by Dutch, Czech
[/QUOTE]
I’ve never ever heard someone say ‘that’s hebrew to me’ in Dutch. And Spanish is also definitely not in usage for this purpose. In fact, this is not very common idiom anyway, but I’d say it’d fly with Chinese, possibly also Russian, Arabic, Greek.
yay! 200th post!
[QUOTE=mr. jp]
Oh yeah, of course. I forgot to replace the y in the translation.
[/QUOTE]
Actually, I meant which one… the language, or cyrillic-roman transliteration?
[QUOTE=Panurge]
Yes. In Danish the letter “y” has replaced the German “ü”, but it represents the same sound.
In regard to the OP, we could also say “det er kaudervælsk” = “it is kaudervælsk (to me)”. According to my etymological dictionary “kaudervælsk” breaks down to:
“Chur” - the name of a Swiss town + “Welsh” - i.e. Celtic.
Strange.
[/QUOTE]
We have the word ‘Koeterwaals’ which is indeed some kind of incomprehensible monkey language, or gibberish. Related to German ‘kauderwelsch’ according to wikipedia, which supports your etymology, accept that Welsch is not Celtic, but (apparently) a Rheto-roman language.
[QUOTE=Švejk]
We have the word ‘Koeterwaals’ which is indeed some kind of incomprehensible monkey language, or gibberish. Related to German ‘kauderwelsch’ according to wikipedia, which supports your etymology, accept that Welsch is not Celtic, but (apparently) a Rheto-roman language.
[/QUOTE]
We are both right, I think: According to my old Danish lexicon (Salmonsen’s if anyone cares) “kaudervælsk” or “kauderwelsch” refers to the language of wandering merchants from Switzerland or Italy. Regarding the “-vælsk/-welsch” part, it originally refers to the Celtic tribes in mainland Europe and later incorporated the Ibero-Roman and Rheto-Roman peoples.
Would’t the real Julius Caesar understand greek?
[QUOTE=JpnDude]
In Japanese, ちんぶんかんぶんだ！(loosely meaning: It’s a curious Chinese story.)
[/QUOTE]
Slightnitpick. ちんぷんかんぷん - chinpunkanpun. (btw, JpnDude did you see my thread on my August trip to Tokyo?)
I have a t-shirt that says in Greek, “It’s all Greek to me”…
I had an aunt who always said “It’s all Dutch to me.”
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
Actually, I meant which one… the language, or cyrillic-roman transliteration?
[/QUOTE]
The language, if I’m informed correctly.
While it’s probably not true, I do like the anecdote of the Greek diplomat saying (in English):“I really shouldn’t be saying this, but this attempt at a translation into my native language is all Greek to me.”