[lit-ideas] Re: Russian?
- From: Julie Krueger <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2014 19:27:19 -0600
One more attempt at clarity. Perhaps the cold has frozen my brain. The
way I'm accustomed to daily use of English, one can drink out of a glass
(made of) cup (shape) or a glass (made of) glass (shape), a plastic cup, or
a plastic glass, but the noun indicates the shape while the adjective can
specify the material it's made of.
It isn't in and of itself a big deal, but since it's given as "the" example
in the article of the premise of the article, it gave me pause.
Julie Campbell
Julie's Music & Language Studio
1215 W. Worley
Columbia, MO 65203
573-881-6889
https://juliesmusicandlanguagestudio.musicteachershelper.com/
http://www.facebook.com/JuliesMusicLanguageStudio
On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 7:21 PM, Julie Krueger <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> May I revise my statement about English? I should have said that in the
> part of the country I live in, American English does pretty much use "cup"
> and "glass" to indicate the shape of a container, rather than what it is
> made of. Which, oddly to me, is what the quote indicates about the Russian
> distinction (and "juxtaposes" it with the English distinction). So either
> she meant to say that Russian distinguishes between cup and glass based on
> what they are made of, or Russian doesn't differ from English in this
> particular case, or my understanding of the English useage is either faulty
> or narrow. I'm trying to figure out which...
>
> Julie Campbell
> Julie's Music & Language Studio
> 1215 W. Worley
> Columbia, MO 65203
> 573-881-6889
> https://juliesmusicandlanguagestudio.musicteachershelper.com/
> http://www.facebook.com/JuliesMusicLanguageStudio
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 7:12 PM, <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Ia message dated 1/2/2014 7:58:57 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>> juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx writes:
>> cups and glasses, but in Russian, the difference between chashka (cup)
>> and
>> stakan (glass) is based on shape, not material.>>I wonder if she meant to
>> say the opposite? To me, in English, the difference between "cup" and
>> "glass" usually is the shape. Is that different in Russian?
>>
>> Mmmm
>>
>> I wonder.
>>
>> But then I would think that:
>>
>> That glass is made of glass.
>>
>> is what philosophers (or Witters at any rate) would call a tautology, i.e.
>> an item that does not "speak" about the world.
>>
>> Revising the etymologies may help, though -- or then, confuse one further!
>> :) -- below.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Speranza
>>
>> ---
>>
>> cup:
>>
>> from online source: Etymology Online:
>>
>> Old English cuppe, from Late Latin cuppa "cup" (source of Italian coppa,
>> Spanish copa, Old French coupe "cup"), from Latin cupa "tub, cask, tun,
>> barrel," from PIE *keup- "a hollow" (cf. Sanskrit kupah "hollow, pit,
>> cave,"
>> Greek kype "a kind of ship," Old Church Slavonic kupu, Lithuanian
>> kaupas).
>> The Late Latin word was borrowed throughout Germanic; cf. Old Frisian kopp
>> "cup, head," Middle Low German kopp "cup," Middle Dutch coppe, Dutch kopje
>> "cup, head." German cognate Kopf now means exclusively "head" (cf. French
>> tête, from Latin testa "potsherd"). Meaning "part of a bra that holds a
>> breast" is from 1938. [One's] cup of tea "what interests one" (1932),
>> earlier
>> used of persons (1908), the sense being "what is invigorating."
>>
>> glass:
>> Old English glæs "glass, a glass vessel," from West Germanic *glasam (cf.
>> Old Saxon glas, Middle Dutch and Dutch glas, German Glas, Old Norse gler
>> "glass, looking glass," Danish glar), from PIE *ghel- "to shine,
>> glitter" (cf.
>> Latin glaber "smooth, bald," Old Church Slavonic gladuku, Lithuanian
>> glodus "smooth"), with derivatives referring to colors and bright
>> materials, a
>> word that is the root of widespread words for gray, blue, green, and
>> yellow
>> (cf. Old English glær "amber," Latin glaesum "amber," Old Irish glass
>> "green, blue, gray," Welsh glas "blue;" see Chloe). Sense of "drinking
>> glass" is
>> early 13c.
>> The glass slipper in "Cinderella" is perhaps an error by Charles
>> Perrault, translating in 1697, mistaking Old French voir "ermine, fur"
>> for verre
>> "glass." In other versions of the tale it is a fur slipper. The proverb
>> about
>> people in glass houses throwing stones is attested by 1779, but earlier
>> forms go back to 17c.:
>> Who hath glass-windows of his own must take heed how he throws stones at
>> his house. ... He that hath a body made of glass must not throw stones at
>> another. [John Ray, "Handbook of Proverbs," 1670]
>>
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