Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 April 17

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April 17

A language with a word that means both sweet tasting and soft to the touch?

Note: I'm reposting this as a separate question; it was a poor idea to ask the question within the previous section

• Is anyone aware of a language where the same word means sweet tasting and soft to the touch, like French doux? Basemetal 10:46, 17 April 2018 (UTC)
  • The Spanish cognate dulce is pretty close, as it can mean both sweet and gentle. As with the English cognate, "talking in dulcet tones". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:01, 17 April 2018 (UTC)
    • Pretty close but yet so far. All Romance languages have that association between sweet taste and gentle disposition, etc. (just like English) but none, not even the most closely related to French (Occitan and Arpitan) have the association with softness to the touch (both in contrast to "hard" and in contrast to "rough"). Only French has taken that further step and I don't seem to be able to find another language that has. Latin dictionaries give among the meanings of Latin "dulcis" English "soft" but I'm not entirely sure yet. I'd like to see an example to be convinced it means "soft" as in a soft pillow. Even in French I wonder how old that meaning is. From the evidence from the rest of Romance the evolution may have been: sweet to the taste → gentle → soft to the touch with the first step being taken by all Romance languages (or being inherited from Latin). Alternatively, if the Latin meaning "soft" turns out to be real I suppose the French meaning (not the word) may be a Latinism (in French only). That would be interesting because that would mean the meaning "soft" was there in Classical Latin but not in Vulgar Latin. Basemetal 21:10, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

"Soft" is a musical term - see piano pedals. The Encyclopedia of Organ Stops gives the meaning of dulcis as "delightful, sweet, pleasant or agreeable". 92.19.169.232 (talk) 15:31, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

The soft pedal does indeed "soften" the sound, but one can still play loudly while the soft pedal is depressed. Absent any other context, "soft/ly" normally refers to playing at lower volume - the opposite of loud/ly - and this has to do with how much pressure is applied to the keys by the fingers/arms/shoulders rather than anything the feet are doing. 'Pianoforte' literally means "soft loud", a term invented to account for the control over the volume the new instrument gave the player, because its predecessor, the harpsichord, had no such control. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:12, 21 April 2018 (UTC)

What language is this?

I have stumbled upon this weird piece (WARNING - prolonged exposure may lead to brain damage). What language is it? Better yet - what is the translation? 17:19, 17 April 2018 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by אילן שמעוני (talk • contribs)

Apparently Kazakh, and it even has its own wikiarticle: kk:Зың зың. The refrain translates as "The girls of Shymkent are zyn zyn". --194.213.3.4 (talk) 18:01, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

The next Gangnam Style? Let's pray... not! (Though the guy looks a bit like Psy) Basemetal 18:09, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

Thanks! Any idea what "shonkya" means? אילן שמעוני (talk) 19:45, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

Kasakh for "shagya"? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:57, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

That's how the natives of Shymkent pronounce their city's name. --77.138.191.65 (talk) 21:41, 17 April 2018 (UTC)

Excellent. Thanks! אילן שמעוני (talk) 05:34, 18 April 2018 (UTC)