News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by narrator on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @03:35AM (#35625399)
One interesting thing about middle ages technologies, like boats, is that the words in the different romance languages for things invented in this era are very different from each other. Words that refer to older things have more latin roots. For example, in Spanish boat words like port and starboard are totally different[1]. Other examples of middle ages words that are very different: windmill = molino, wheelbarrow = carretilla. Very newly created words also are similar because of all the english loan words. E.g computer= la computadora.

[1] https://www.spanish.academy/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-nauti...

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by denton-scratch on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @04:53AM (#35625928)
> windmill = molino

I don't know Spanish, but "molino" looks like French "moulin", which is a mill; a windmill is "moulin a vent".

So I reckon "very different" is an exaggeration.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by roveo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:02AM (#35625979)
I imagine this word should be of Indoeuropean origin, Eastern Slav words for a mill also contain m-l-n (e.g. melnitsa).

Modern English lost the "n" part, but it was present in Middle English, milne.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by ivanhoe on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:15AM (#35626050)
yes, it's "mlin" or "mlyn" in a number of Slavic languages, and I just looked up it's etymology in Serbian and the book says it comes from old slavic "mъlinъ" which they say comes from the Latin root "molinum"
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by ivanhoe on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:08AM (#35626013)
and Italian "il mulino"... it all comes from Latin "molinum" for the mill (and "mola" for the grind stone used in mills)
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by yobbo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @07:17AM (#35626803)
The name of Thor's hammer "mjolnir" (as english speakers would see it) did not come through latin though, so the the version of the word in germanic languages was inherited independently.

"Mjolnir" means something like "crusher" and the noun "mjol" (flour) means "having been ground up". For example, it can be combined as vetemjöl (wheat flour) or stenmjöl (ground stone or stone powder).

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by denton-scratch on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @08:01AM (#35627077)
> the noun "mjol" (flour) means "having been ground up"

Ah - "mjol" as flour must be cognate with "meal". I hadn't previously associated meal with mills, but it makes sense.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by hnbad on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @09:10AM (#35627701)
As another data point: meal/flour is "Mehl" in German. Mehl/meal is milled in a Mühle/mill.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by Ichthypresbyter on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @10:54PM (#35635822)
Flour was originally only the highest quality grade- the "flower"- of ground grain.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by vidarh on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @10:01AM (#35628244)
Meal appears to be a cognate of Old Norse "mál" ("mål", "måltid" - meal, meal time - in modern Norwegian) rather than mjol. Compare also Mehl (flour) vs Mahl (meal) in German.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by yobbo on Friday April 21, 2023 @11:44AM (#35655497)
Both meanings exist in English - "stonemeal" or "oatmeal" for example.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by pezezin on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:19AM (#35626412)
Yes, "molino" is just mill. Windmill would be "molino de viento" and watermill "molino de agua".
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by NeoTar on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:39AM (#35626532)
An in German - Mühle... in fact the English Mill is pretty close too!
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by stratosgear on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @08:30AM (#35627307)
And in Greek: μύλος. With latin characters: milos. So it seems the root of the word is the same...
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by pantulis on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @04:58AM (#35625960)
Just a point, "starboard" sounds pretty similar to "estribor".
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by pmontra on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:10AM (#35626021)
Molino is mulino in Italian. Ancient Greek and Latin had similar words starting with mol-. Given the importance of that technology I'm not surprised that the word didn't change much. English' mill is also close to the romance languages. [1]

Port and starboard used to be "babordo" and "tribordo" in Italian but they were replaced by "sinistra" (the very word used to say "left") and "dritta".

[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mill#Etymology_1

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by kwhitefoot on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:25AM (#35626123)
Babord is port in Norwegian. But starboard is styrbord which makes a lot of sense because the steering board, or oar, is on the steersman's right side.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by ekianjo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:50AM (#35626258)
Babord is also used in French
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by stefncb on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:59AM (#35626307)
We use "tribord" and "babord" in romanian.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by oesexe on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @07:02AM (#35626692)
Danish as well. I didn’t see it mentioned, so I will add: that back then, a ship could not moor along the key on starboard/styrbord side. So it had to be the other side: hence the English port side.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by anthk on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:35AM (#35626502)
Babor y estribor in Spanish. In Spanish we used to say "siniestra", now we say "izquierda", a loanword from Basque 'ezkerra'.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by russellbeattie on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:26AM (#35626128)
In Spain a computer is an ordenador. Spaniards hate anglicisms. Car is coche, not carro, email is correo electronico, zipper is cremallera. Lots of others.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by xxs on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:44AM (#35626229)
>ordenador

you mean unlike French?

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by ekianjo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:51AM (#35626267)
Is carro used more in Mexico then ?
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by qtzfz on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:35AM (#35626503)
Carro is not used in Spain at all.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by anthk on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:38AM (#35626529)
It's used, but for the old ones with horses.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by qtzfz on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:40AM (#35626539)
Exactly, but don't ask Manolo Escobar about it, since it's somewhat of a sensitive issue for him.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by el-salvador on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @12:00PM (#35629828)
> It's used, but for the old ones with horses.

This was new for me.

The Spanish words carro, carreta, coche, carretilla, carrito all mean "something that has wheels on it", but the meaning keeps changing between car, horse drawn carriage, baby stroller, shopping cart, horse drawn cart or toy car between countries.

Fortunately it's easy to figure out from context and doesn't have possible misunderstandings as the Spanish word for straw.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by jjav on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @01:09PM (#35630656)
> Fortunately it's easy to figure out from context and doesn't have possible misunderstandings as the Spanish word for straw.

What/where are the misunderstandings for sorbeto?

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by el-salvador on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:05PM (#35633332)
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by SilasX on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @10:28AM (#35628614)
Similar for computadora (rather than ordenador) in Latin America:

https://www.woodwardspanish.com/how-to-say-computer-spanish-...

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by loloquwowndueo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:53AM (#35626277)
Lots more Galicisms in Spain for sure :) probably easier to share words when you also share a land border.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by TRiG_Ireland on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:11AM (#35626369)
Do Spanish-speaking and French-speaking areas actually share a border? I thought there was a buffer zone of Catalan and Basque. I'll need to check a map.

On checking, it looks like there is a short (but very mountainous) border: https://maps-spain.com/maps-spain-geography/spain-language-m...

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by qtzfz on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:36AM (#35626511)
Don't be mislead by that map, everybody in those regions that say "Basque" or "Catalan" know Spanish perfectly well.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by TRiG_Ireland on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:06AM (#35626346)
English car comes from Latin, actually, but Latin picked it up from Celtic (cf. Breton karr).

https://www.etymonline.com/word/car

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by anthk on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:36AM (#35626507)
We use email too in Spain. It's shorter. And parking instead of "estacionamiento".
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by loloquwowndueo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:51AM (#35626265)
However in peninsular Spanish, computer = ordenador, the loan word is the French “ordinateur”.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by ekianjo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:53AM (#35626273)
Mexican spanish should not be the reference for what is said in spanish
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by aae42 on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:41AM (#35626548)
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by bee_rider on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @08:48AM (#35627474)
Mexico & USA, language taking over buddies. We just need to grow Quebec, so we can get the full set over here. Long way to go, though…
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by ekianjo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @11:14AM (#35629178)
because numbers don't matter. Just like Quebecois would not be the reference for the French language, even if it somehow outgrew the French speaking population in France
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by loloquwowndueo on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @05:55AM (#35626283)
Cheese is an interesting one - I would expect Spanish to share the word with French and Italian but it’s actually closer to English and Dutch.

French fromage Italian formagio

Spanish queso English cheese Dutch kaas

Languages are so weird :)

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by marvin on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:32AM (#35626494)
In the case of cheese, I've had a long-running discussion with French extended family regarding exactly what the words refer to. Norwegian 'cheese' = 'ost', and we refer to the brown cheese produced by boiling and solidifying the left-over whey fluid from cheese production as 'brunost'; 'brown cheese'. This product is important in cultures where food security and calories are held at a premium.

My French relatives however, insist that this is not real cheese, as it is not fermented. But the Norwegian language has no such distinction -- the 'brunost' is an instance of 'mysost'; 'cheese produced from whey'. This is no less real cheese than the one you ferment from caseine.

This naturally led me down a rabbit hole of etymological investigation.

The best conclusion I've reached so far, is that the Germanic words stemming from 'kase', referring to caseine, naturally refer to cheeses that would mostly be fermented, as this is what happens with the solid caseine when you leave it around for a bit. Whereas Norwegian 'ost', stemming from 'yste', the verb for separating the caseine from the whey, makes no such distinction.

And ironically, the Latin-stemming words 'fromage', 'formagio', stem from Latin 'formicum'; something that is cast in a form. Having nothing at all to do with fermentation or even milk!

There are two conclusions here, one being that the dictionary translation of words does not capture somewhat-subtle but sometimes important distinctions between words.

The second conclusion is that my French relatives are wrong and brown cheese is in fact fromage. But not cheese, I will concede as much.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by thaumasiotes on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:48AM (#35626600)
> the Germanic words stemming from 'kase', referring to caseine

Casein was not discovered before cheese was. 'kase' doesn't refer to casein. Casein, the family of proteins, is named after cheese, the milk product consisting in large part of those proteins.

And 'kase' is not a Germanic root. Fromage descends from the Latin word for "shape". 'kase' descends from the Latin word for "cheese".

> There are two conclusions here, one being that the dictionary translation of words does not capture somewhat-subtle but sometimes important distinctions between words.

This isn't right either. Tin soldiers must be cast, but they are obviously not cheese, and therefore they are also not fromage. The etymology of the word tells you nothing about its meaning.

(The conclusion is fine, but drawing it from this evidence is not -- if you translate French fromage as "cheese", you're not missing any subtle distinctions. It means cheese.)

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by marvin on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @07:03AM (#35626701)
Do you have references for the last of your claims? I thought I did a reasonably exhaustive search for a layperson, but the sources I found could certainly be wrong. My hobby searches in this area have led me to conclude that etymology isn't a hard science, and ultimately one will arrive at someone's qualified opinion about something.

The relation between 'kase' and casein is very fair; cheese production obviously predates protein chemistry. I guess what I was trying to say was that the words are related, but if 'kase' derives from Latin for 'cheese', the rabbit hole continues. Why does the French word derive from shape, if the Romans already had a word for cheese? And what did their definition of cheese include?

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by thaumasiotes on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @08:04AM (#35627097)
> Why does the French word derive from shape, if the Romans already had a word for cheese?

This is not a question that it's possible to answer. Languages change.

Why is the modern English term dog, a word of no known origin, instead of the native (still extant, but not really alive) term hound?

> Do you have references for the last of your claims? I thought I did a reasonably exhaustive search for a layperson, but the sources I found could certainly be wrong.

Assuming you're referring to the claim that the English word "cheese" (and the similar terms in other Germanic languages) is derived from an ancient borrowing of the Latin word caseus, meaning "cheese", I was not able to find any source that didn't confirm it. Wiktionary will tell you this. etymonline will tell you this. The OED will also tell you this:

> Forms: 1 cese, cyse, 2 cease, cæse, 5 schese, 6 chease, cheise, chiese, ches, 2–6 chese, 4, 6– cheese. [OE. (Anglian) cése, (WSax.) *cíese, cýse (with i- umlaut from céasi, cǽsi) = OHG. châsi (MHG. kæse, Ger. käse), OLG. kâsi, kêsi (MDu. kâse, Du. kaas):—WGer. *kâsi, ad. L. cāse-us cheese (bef. 5th c.).]

Where were you checking that didn't say this?

If you want a reference to the fact that the Latin word caseus means "cheese", try here: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext...

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by soylentcola on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @10:05AM (#35628298)
Is this why cheese (I believe via Roman Latin) is also 'cacio'?

I'm only familiar due to 'cacio a pepe'.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by thaumasiotes on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @07:30PM (#35634607)
Yes.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by ethbr0 on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @07:31AM (#35626880)
> the dictionary translation of words does not capture somewhat-subtle but sometimes important distinctions between words

Good point. I have yet to see a dictionary that also provides delineation with similar-but-different words and describes the differences.

That'd be very useful for language learners, as colloquial use often eschews definition in favor of socially common convention. I.e. "That word does mean that, but you would never use it in that way"

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by bcbrown on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @08:02PM (#35634818)
I'm not certain that this is exactly what you're talking about, but one of my dictionaries (Webster's New International, 1916) includes this under the entry for Authentic, which brings me great joy:

Authentic, Genuine. The prevailing sense of authentic is authoritative, trustworthy, with the implication of accordance with fact; as "confirmed both by legend and authentic record" (Froude); "assurances more or less authentic" (Wordsworth); an authentic portrait. The prevailing sense of Genuine is native, real, true (see Real), often with the implication of descent from, or correspondence to, an original source or stock; as, a genuine merino, genuine piety; "true simplicity and genuine pathos" (Wordsworth); cf (colloq.) "the genuine article" with "the real thing." Both terms are used - genuine more frequently than authentic - as opposed to spurious, counterfeit, apocryphal; as "Let them contrast their own fantastical personages ... with the authentic rustics of Burns" (Jeffrey); "What is genuine knowledge and what is its counterfeit" (J.H. Newman). The 18th century distinction between the two terms, as applied to documents - "A genuine book is that which was written by the person whose name it bears as the author of it; an authentic book is that which relates matters of fact as they really happened" (Bp. Watson) - while still often observed, is becoming obliterated in present usage; as "The criticism which thus so freely diminishes the numer of his [Giorgione's] authentic works" (W. Pater); "Some collectors frankly take the ground that they buy what pleases them, and that age and authenticity are minor considerations" (The Nation). See Real, Correct.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by ethbr0 on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @09:50PM (#35635440)
Wow! I'd be fascinated how many person-hours went into that entry.

On the whole, Wikipedia et al. are improvements in comprehensiveness and timeliness, but god damn do the gems of prior methods still shine brightly.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by bcbrown on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @11:07PM (#35635906)
Webster's first dictionary was a one-man project and took 26 years. He learned 28 languages in order to research the etymologies. This New International is my favorite of the handful I own. I learned about it from https://jsomers.net/blog/dictionary, which I learned about here, on HN. I just re-submitted it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35635876

Here's one more entry, on synonyms of Intention:

Intention, Intent, Purpose, Design, Aim, Object, End are here compared in their general senses; for technical definitions, see defs. Intention, which often suggests little more than what one means or proposes to do, implies less settled determination than Purpose, less definite plan or prearrangment than Design, which frequently adds the implication of crafty or artful scheming; as "She had not had an intention or a thought of going home, until she had announced it to him as a settled design" (Dickens); his intentions are good; cf. to declare one's intentions; "My purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars, until I die" (Tennyson); "I go amongst the buildings of a city and I see a man hurrying along - to what? The creature has a purpose and his eyese are bright with it" (Keats); "envious commands, invented design to keep them low" (Milton); "Should he find me here, [he] would discover my name, and perhaps my designs, to the rest of the family" (Goldsmith); cf. "designing lovers" (id.). Intent is chiefly legal or poetical; as, intent to deceive, kill; "the power of a sublime intent" (Shelley). Aim emphasizes directness of purpose, Object that on which activities are focused, End that towards which they tend as their consequence or final cause; as, "to [his trust] keeps faithful with a singleness of aim" (Wordsworth); "her steadiness and courage in the pursuit of her aims" (J.R. Green); "Yet in the task of luxury of freedom I began to wish for the daily task, the active pursuit, which gave a value to every book, and an object to every inquiry" (Gibbon); the object of education, a man without an object in life; "I see in part that all, as in some piece of art, is toil cooperant to an end" (Tennyson); "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever" (Westminster Catechism). See Cause, Effect, Plan, Voluntary.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by yencabulator on Thursday April 27, 2023 @07:20PM (#35735758)
Yes, and figuring out the differences is sometimes a challenge for English-as-second-language people. Finnish uses one word for both foot and leg, and if you want to say foot you say "leg table" (the horizontal part of the leg). Similar with hand/arm. In the other direction, Finnish has separate words for the front and back of your neck (and I don't mean just throat).

If I kick my foot on a rock, I may say something out loud about hurting my leg. That doesn't sound right to native speaker.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by yencabulator on Thursday April 27, 2023 @07:15PM (#35735713)
Wiktionary says fromage comes from Latin for "mould", cheese might come from Proto-Indo European "to ferment, become sour" but this is contested, and ost comes from Proto-Indo European "sap"/"juice"/"broth", seen also in Latin ius="gravy"/"broth"/"soup"/"sauce".

See e.g. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/cheese

Interestingly, the pronounciation guide for origin of ost is /ˈjus.tɑz/ which seems a lot like the Finnish word for cheese, "juusto".

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by dendriti on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:06AM (#35626347)
This tracks, actually - Spain (or Spanish monarchs) ruled the Netherlands for over 170 years.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by thaumasiotes on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @06:43AM (#35626566)
That doesn't appear to be related. The word is not Germanic; Spanish is using the word it inherited from Latin, while English and Dutch are using the same word, borrowed from Latin.

In other words, the reason that Spanish is similar to English/Dutch here is that they borrowed the Spanish word, becoming more like Spanish. The reason Italian and French aren't similar to Spanish is that they changed while Spanish didn't.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by copperx on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @07:27AM (#35626866)
Really? in French, starboard is tribord, and in Spanish, it's estribor. Port is bâbord, and in Spanish, it's babor.

How are they different?

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by mejutoco on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @08:04AM (#35627096)
In Spain the computer is el ordenador. Port and starboard are babor y estribor (similar to French).

I think it is more about who introduced these words. Etymology is fascinating.

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by mattigames on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @08:15AM (#35627189)
In the 90s in Colombia (perhaps all LATAM) we used "ordenador" but quickly fell out of use in favor of "computador", now only few old people occasionally call it "ordenador" in this country.
Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by jjav on Wednesday April 19, 2023 @01:17PM (#35630738)
> in Spanish boat words like port and starboard are totally different

Indeed. Spanish is my native language but I learned sailing in the US so my nautical vocabulary is all in English. I feel completely illiterate on a Spanish speaking boat.