kwlf wrote:
countries with a coastline (Britain, Holland, Russia, Ukraine, Iceland) differentiate between the terms port/left starboard/right,
Interesting research. I hated linguistics when I was supposed to be studying it, but this is really interesting.
On a related subject, almost all languages use one of only two words for tea. Standard Chinese 400 years ago was ‘cha’ and derivatives of this word were used in countries supplied by land (e.g. along the silk road), but the coastal dialect was ‘tê’ so maritime trading nations used words derived from this.
Thank you to LeSving to the port/starboard explanation. I do believe the etymology of a word is important for its proper understanding. ‘Port’ must be Latin (portus), but I think the Romans used ‘left side’ and ‘right side’ (sinister and dexter). Translating the concept isn’t the same as translating the word 
Interesting research. I hated linguistics when I was supposed to be studying it
My ex girlfriend was studying translating and used to use Chomsky as a swear word. But your tea fact has made my day.
“Port’ must be Latin (portus),)
Why? “Port” is also Celtic.. Other Celtic words are also similar to Latin roots.
Thread drift rant: a my generation wasted teenage time learning Latin.
The only use I’ve found is conversation with Germans who learned it, but not English. I wanted to learn German but would have had to drop science to do so.
I too wasted days of my life translating Virgil, and conjugating a table.
gallois wrote:
I too wasted days of my life translating Virgil, and conjugating a table.
Same here. Eight years…
That said, I think it did help with learning Latin languages (I speak three).
The only Virgil I know of is this one.
I did Russian, not Latin, and both are totally useless. The former is going to be even more totally useless from now on.
Latin shows that your parents could afford 5k-20k a year for private schooling
Chomsky as a swear word? Well, he was a communist which takes up back to red=left…
Peter wrote:
Chomsky as a swear word? Well, he was a communist
He still is.
You know the old saying: if you are 20 and not a communist, you haven’t got a heart. If you are 40 and are a communist, you haven’t got a brain. He’s 93
Latin shows that your parents could afford 5k-20k a year for private schooling.
Latin is mandatory in Croatia’s in gymnasium, medical and veterinarian secondary schools (public and private) as it used to be in ex-Yugoslavia. In classical gymnasium they have ancient Greek on top of that.
