« July 2008 | Main | September 2008 »

August 2008 Archives

August 4, 2008

Quisqueya

From my "A Word a Day" subscription:

quisquilian (kwis-KWIL-ee-uhn) adjective

  Worthless, trifling.

From the Spanish:

quisquilloso, sa.
1. adj. Que se para en quisquillas (‖ pequeñeces). U. t. c. s.
2. adj. Demasiado delicado en el trato común. U. t. c. s.
3. adj. Fácil de agraviarse u ofenderse con pequeña causa o pretexto. U. t. c. s.

 

From the Dominican Republic:

Quisqueyano, -na:  natalicio de Quisqueya (a person from Quisqueya).

Quisqueya: tierra madre.  (mother earth)

 

One source marks the word as Hebrew in origin.  From URL http://www.suncaribbean.net/rd_a_glosario.htm :

 

QUISQUEYA
( ? ) El cronista Pedro Martín de Anglería en su obra “Las Décadas” bautiza la isla con esto nombre. Quisqueya es una palabra que se deriva de Keskeya, palabra hebrea que quiere decir tierra grande o tierra madre. No tiene relación con la lengua Arawaka de los Taínos. Compare sólo en el Himno Nacional.

Searching Google for web definitions in different languages, one finds a German (wikipedia) definition describing what seems to be the Dominican Republic as named by its native indigenous people, the name of a beer in the Dominican Republic, and a type of orchid.  One also finds a Portuguese (wikipedia) definition defining it as a type of orchid.

August 6, 2008

Frenemy

Frenemy: noun 1. someone who pretends to be your friend but are really your enemy; who take advantage of you.

2. Someone who calls to cancel and you are relieved.

August 7, 2008

Get Off My Beard

Eh g'hobdeh em bood - you are in my beard (or bath)

About August 2008

This page contains all entries posted to Lingua in August 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.

July 2008 is the previous archive.

September 2008 is the next archive.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.