Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Wondrous Words: When You Need a Translator to Read in Your Native Tongue

 






Tarka the Otter. I've been reading this 1001 Children's Book You Must Read, and, wow, what a vocabulary. Tarka was first published in 1927, and the author is English.

When you are reading a book in your native language, but you still need a translation....


Sere reeds...

Salmon and peal from the sea...

Voles...

Alder and sallow grew on its banks...

Musical over many stretches of shillet...

Straying from the wood beyond the mill-leat...

His holt was in the weir-pool...

At dimmity it flew down the right bank of the river...

Seeds of charlock...

A ream passed under the stone bridge...

Where a gin was never tilled and a gun was never fired...

The nightjar returned...

He yikkered in his anger...

His mother, tissing through her teeth...

The pair of cole-tits that had a nest...

Like brown thong-weed...

Hound-taint from a high yelping throat...

A dozen hounds were giving tongue...

Chiffchaffs flitted through honeysuckle bines...

The shock-headed flowers of the yellow goat’s beard...

A grey wagtail skipped airily over the sky-gleams of the brook...

Paler than kingcups...

Her rudder dripping wet behind her...

Here burred the bumblebees...

The grunting vuz-peg...

At dimpsey she heard the blackbirds...

The breaking of rank florets and umbels...

They came to a bog tract where curlew and snipe lived...


Tell me, please, is it just me or are these unfamiliar words to you, too?






For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered, or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative! It was first created by Kathy over at Bermuda Onion and is now hosted at Elza Reads.


18 comments:

  1. Mmmm, English is not my first language, so... lol ! But there are several of them I can guess, like the bumble-bees burring or her mother tissing :) I read a French novel like that, once, but it was more slang than anything else. And there is also Clockwork orange, I simply gave up after two pages !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know that some of it is just nature-talk, yikkered and burred, and the names of creatures. Still, it's a tricky read.

      Delete
  2. I do like reading but if I cannot read it because of a different language I leave it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes it feels like it's in a different language even when it is in English.

      Delete
  3. I only recognize one of them - gin. But I guess that is a totally different meaning in this context?

    I love what you did today and now you have a whole list of future WWWW to entertain us with.

    Thanks for taking part and for visiting dear Debbie.

    Elza Reads

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gin (apparently) also means a trap. There are some ugly pictures of gins, if you Google it.

      Delete
  4. This book is on my list to read for the classic challenge "A classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title". I think I'll switch to another book. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. The bird names and floral references are familiar, the other words not so much. I enjoy running across unknown words in my reading. That's part of the adventure!

    ReplyDelete
  6. No it is not just you! Isn't it funny how much language can change even in such a relatively short amount of time? I always enjoy older books but the language can definitely be challenging!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I knew 22 of them but I have country relatives (dimmity and dimpsey - I use dimpsey still myself to keep it going) and the bird and flower names. I think a lot of them are onomatopoeia rather than actual words, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is beautiful writing, and I am glad that these words are still in use in your part of the world.

      Delete
  8. I'm familiar with voles, goat's beard, and curlew. The others are all foreign to me!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm familiar with a few - a very few. The full list reads a little like a Lewis Carroll poem.
    Twas bryllyg, and the slythy toves
    Did gyre and gymble in the wabe:
    All mimsy were the borogoves;
    And the mome raths outgrabe.

    Lynn :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. I’m only familiar with gin, voles, chiff chaffs, snipes, rudder, wagtail and burred! As for the others.......

    ReplyDelete

I hope you will leave a comment so I know you have visited. If you stop by my blog, I will always stop by yours.

Note: Disqus commenting is only available on the web version of the blog. Please switch to the web version if you are using a mobile device.