Are there any nouns in your language that make zero sense when you translate the literal meaning of them? For instance, in Albania we call bats ”lakuriq nate”, which literally means ”the naked of the night”.
Posted by Substratas@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 37 comments
Sweet_Bridge_3001@reddit
The Turkish names for some sea animals really makes no sense.
Denizanası-Mother of the Sea-Jellyfish
Köpekbalığı-Dog Fish-Shark
LifeIsNotMyFavorite@reddit
Okay that's pretty badass
We call jellyfish 'medúza'.
Sweet_Bridge_3001@reddit
It really isnt badass lol, name comes from sailors who called the animal "Deniz Amı" meaning "Sea Cunt" because of its shape.
It was obviously unaccaptable for the general public, so it was changed to another word that sounded close from "Am" to "Ana" meaning mother.
This is not unique to Turkey tho, Venician and Italian sailors also called the animal Sea Cunt.
LifeIsNotMyFavorite@reddit
Oh... well
levenspiel_s@reddit
Dog fish is not unique to Turkish. In english, Dog fish is actually a species of sharks.
Dull_Cucumber_3908@reddit
My favorite turkish animal name is Tembel hayvan.
Hint to Greeks: you know what it means (you don't need to look it up) even though you haven't heard about that animal :p
Minskdhaka@reddit
I would guess that's a sloth, right?
Substratas@reddit (OP)
Mother of the sea sounds so cool! In Albanian, we call jellyfish ”kandil”, likely because some species glow at night.
We call sharks fishdog too (peshkaqen).
Scoobmaniac@reddit
I always liked to think it was worded as a question.
As if someone was asking whether it was a fish or a dog.
Substratas@reddit (OP)
Lmao yes, it really is 😂 Peshk a qen? Which one?
tipoftheiceberg1234@reddit
Slijepi miš - blind mouse
Alternatively šišmiš. Have no idea what šiš means or where it comes from
levenspiel_s@reddit
Şiş in Turkish would mean fat, fattened, blown up. No idea if it has any relationship.
tipoftheiceberg1234@reddit
So šiškebab is a fat kebab?
levenspiel_s@reddit
:) it's indeed fatty, but şiş is a different word, a homophone.
in kebab case, şiş is a skewer, a metal or a wooden pin, on which the meat is.. well.. skewered.
tipoftheiceberg1234@reddit
Oh ! How do you differentiate between the two in convo if they’re the same? Is it just by context or is there a phonetic difference between them?
levenspiel_s@reddit
They will have different endings (şişkin, şişman, şişecek, etc) and different places in a sentence, otherwise they sound the same. Context will also make it obvious, there are very few occasions you'd be using them in the same conversation.
Substratas@reddit (OP)
It kind of makes more sense though, since most of them navigate through ecolocation rather than sight.
LifeIsNotMyFavorite@reddit
An old word for bats in Hungarian is 'bőregér', which literally means 'skin mouse'.
That_North_994@reddit
In Romanian we call a bat "liliac" and we use the same noun for the plant lilac. 🤷
OsarmaBeanLatin@reddit
Devil's Horse - Dragonfly
Little Gypsy - Glossy Ibis
That_North_994@reddit
In my area the Dragonfly is also called Calul popii (Priest's horse).
Sea-Temporary-6995@reddit
Little cow of God (божа кравичка) - firebug
That_North_994@reddit
In Romanian we call it 'vaca Domnului' which has the same meaning.
Dull_Cucumber_3908@reddit
It's of no use any more but in the past in rural ares we would call a firefly as κωλοφωτια (kolofotia, literally translated to "assfire').
ayayayamaria@reddit
Και η "πυγολαμπιδα" το ιδιο πραγμα σημαινει.
dr1nni@reddit
it doesn't tho? Lakuriq is just a synonym, it means naked and bat
shortEverything_@reddit
Rainbow: Vino Zito meaning wine and wheat
Majestic-Ad7409@reddit
There’s an old superstition in Croatia about the way that rainbow predicts the future: if the red is dominant, it means that year is going to bring a lot of wine and if the green is dominant then it will bring a lot of wheat. (I might be mistaken about the wheat color though)
Nikotinko@reddit
Kačji pastir - snake sheppard - dragonfly
Mysterious-Put1459@reddit
Priest’s little spoon - tadpole
Substratas@reddit (OP)
No way 😂😂😂
Professional-Fee-488@reddit
Hippopotamus - the horse of the Nile🤷
Substratas@reddit (OP)
That’s definitely a literal translation from the original word.
In Ancient Greek, hippos meant horse & potamos meant river.
Nikoschalkis1@reddit
We have a funny name for a pigeon, Dekaochtoura (eighteener) because its song sounds like it's saying "Deka-ochto".
sheynzonna@reddit
The horse of Jesus' mom = praying mantis
ayayayamaria@reddit
The word for 'lucky dog' literally means wide-arsed.Jury's still out on why
Substratas@reddit (OP)
Lmao