I’ve also noticed that baby talk for Mother and Father seems to be the fairly similar across languages. Ma-ma, Da-da, etc. I guess that’s the first sounds babies can make and it’s been translated into familiar terms for the parental units?
In Colleen McCullough’s [url=]Masters of Rome* novels, in ancient Rome the affectionate term for one’s father was tata. Don’t know whether that’s documented**, but it sounds very plausible.
- Ooh! The Wiki article says McCullough, who stated clearly at the end of The October Horse that that was the last one, period, has agreed to write one more, about Antony and Cleopatra!
**Most of the stuff in those novels is very well-researched; apparently McCullough has developed a reputation as a comprehensive expert on Roman history, to the point where academics in the field consult with her.
I have read the Masters of Rome series several times. They are excellent, and I’m so glad she’s doing Antony and Cleopatra.
I suspect that that gets to the whole concept between etymological origins - how today’s languages evolved from common roots. I believe there is a theory also that there is an Ur-language - something inherent in us - that manifests in different ways in today’s languages.
Off topic but interesting…
I asked my wife, who collects manga and is something of a Japanophile (is that a word?) about it. She says it translates to “boing, boing.”
In Tagalog:
Dogs go “Aw! Aw!”
Roosters cry “Tiktilaok!”
Goats go “Meee!” (e in bed)
Drumming noise is “baradag”
Guitar strumming is “trung - trung - trung” (sounds like rung)
Cars go “broom - broom!”
Slamming doors go “bla-dag!”
Bells go “kleng-kleng!”
I know ONE language that couldn’t possibly have ANY onmatopoetia…
ASL…(and other Signed languages)
I was teaching ESL in Germany and trying to get my German students to pronounce the word “rural” (no easy feat for native German speakers).
One of my students tried several times to pronounce “rural” and said, “It sounds like what my dog says when I accidentally step on its paw.”
Perhaps, but if you extend the concept to the Signs being visually like the action being peformed. For example, say a butterfly being signed with the hands linked at the thumbs and flapping like the wings of the critter. (I don’t recall the actual sign for butterfly but this is just a description of how the concept could be extended.)
In Latin America, a bus is a guagua, in imitation of a bus horn.
Baka can also mean “crazy” or “dumb.” Not sure how that’s either an onomatopoeia or a pun, though.
On the other hand, Japanese has a lot of genuine onomatopoeias.