Not Sure...

9/8/2011

The Word of the day is

durnius

A Lithuanian one, fain I`d say, but for our Language Functionaries declaring it is not. There`s many a word they deem "too much too Russian (or Slavonic, or something)", even though the words might well have been used and understood by Lithuanians long before the Functionaries were born.
Matter is, we have synonyms for "durnius", only none of the synonyms could fully replace the word. It has a sense of its own. The Russian "дурак" or "дурень" seem to have shades of their own, as well (a tad on that to be found here: http://www.translatorscafe.com/tcTerms/en-us/thQuestion.aspx?id=87645 ).
Anyway, I do not think words should be put under a ban for "patriotic" reasons. Especially words that have no full-fledged equivalents.

Ne viskas rusiška, ką rusai vartoja!
Šitaip dar ir "karvę", "varną" beigi "vartus" neteiktinais apšaukt galima...
Šiaip ar taip, "durnius" ir "kvailys" nėr vienas ir tas pat.

15 Comments

Liliana

10/20/2011 07:20:17 pm

Hi Dodo:

Long time no see. I do not think words should be put under ban for any patriotic reasons. Nothing should be done for purely patriotic reasons. Words could be banned sometimes from some sites if they are very vulgar or offensive towards a particular person. This is also the kind of a question what: was first the chicken or the egg. Maybe some words were taken from the language borrowed by some Slavic speaking people, let's say, and then returned to the mother tongue. Maybe miskas was before a bear. The Russian bear.

Liliana

10/20/2011 07:28:11 pm

Ps. It is very hard to enter your site. I had to use a special door to get into the site through a different post. It does not appear when you enter the address. Only the main site is trying to lure you into signing up for a site of your own.

Dodo

10/20/2011 07:46:50 pm

Hi Liliana, and thanks for the info!
I have just used another computer to access my site (without logging in), and I got right to the Home page, no problems. The address to use:
http://readaholicme.weebly.com/
Would you please try to visit the site again and tell me whether the problem still persists? That might account for almost no feedback here. I`m thinking of removing my site altogether, because no feedback seems to mean nobody needs it.

Dodo

10/22/2011 10:56:54 pm

Hi again, Liliana!
I asked several persons living in different countries to visit the site and tell me if there were any problems. All of those who have replied say they have encountered no problems. Two of them do note, with reserve, things like that (meaning the "mother site" trying to target new users) might happen, but that`s not the case with the links provided by me. So it would seem you just happened to be an unlucky one...

Back to the topic, though. I do believe words should never be banned for either patriotic or politically correct or any similar reasons. It`s a shame they are.

Liliana

10/24/2011 03:50:39 pm

Hi, Dodo:

I know what I did. I wrote your address with an @ @weebly.com. By the way, Dodo, do you think, there was a Baltic-Slavic community in the past and are there Baltic-Slavic languages, because I do not think so and IU have an argument with somebody. It is also related to literature, I think.

All the best.
Liliana

Dodo

10/24/2011 10:19:46 pm

That`s OK then. Thanks, Liliana!

About the languages, well, the Balts and the Slavs have been neighbours for centuries, so it`s only natural that there should be many things in common, and not only in the languages. Still, there are differences, as well. One of the things I find curious is Russian has more in common with Lithuanian than Polish, although this might not seem so at the first sight, and is certainly strange geographically.

Liliana

10/25/2011 08:00:45 pm

Hi Dodo,

Maybe it is because the lands close to Lithuania were inhabited by Russian speaking tribes, or let's say Old Russian.
Even the language of the Great Duchy was Old Russian, similar apparently to Belorussian until 1699, if am am not wrong.

All the best

Liliana

Dodo

10/26/2011 04:34:21 am

That`s not quite so. Well, it seems to depend on which sources you choose to believe. I suspect none of the lot is 100% reliable. So I prefer relying upon toponymy and ancient songs, and things like that.
Anyway, both Old Russian and Old Polish seem to be considerably younger than Lithuanian... what`s left of it, that is to say. This, of course, does not apply to written LT.

Liliana

10/26/2011 05:58:48 pm

Hi Dodo:

I personally think that Lithuanian is only similar to Old Prussian and Yotvingian, these languages are older than Russian and Polish I think. I do not see that much similar in Lithuanian with Polish or Russian. Only some words are similar. A Polish person who never had any contact with Lithuanian would never understand it whereas they would understand a lot of Russian. Best Liliana

Dodo

10/27/2011 02:06:24 am

It is not just about words, it is also about usage and forms and, partly, phonetics. Like, say, phonetically, Russian is closer to Lithuanian than to Polish. Of course the languages are different, but there are differences and there are differences...

As to your other question, I have answered that via email, so I have deleted your other comment as no longer relevant. Good luck with the book!

Nyssa Ellis link

6/23/2012 12:58:40 am

Interesting information on this blog, thanks

Dodo

6/23/2012 02:08:39 am

Thank you, Nyssa!
Happy Midsummer to you!

Roman link

9/24/2012 11:48:48 am

nice post

Dodo

9/24/2012 08:58:54 pm

Thanks, Roman!

Lil

6/6/2013 06:03:55 pm

Hi, Dodo:

Yes, I absolutely agree that banning most words of other origin that have been a part of the language for many years is totally absurd. English has thousands of words that are not of Anglo-Saxon origin. They may as well just ban their last names, as well, because a vast majority of present Lithuanian last names are Slavic names with Lithuanian endings. Lithuanian culture is complex, I think, because it was influenced by the Slavic culture, and it cannot be denied. Although I love the Baltic culture dearly, I don't like the extreme nationalistic approach of some more narrow-minded people.

Best. Lil. I hope you have a great day.

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