andrel <byt### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> Totally irrelevant to this english discussion, but it did remind me of 
> the standard translation for 'alea iacta est' in Dutch. Which is: 'de 
> teerling is geworpen'. Where 'teerling' is the Dutch word for a die.
> Only it isn't, sort of. The Dutch word for die is 'dobbelsteen' I have 
> never heard anybody use the word 'teerling' except in this context. 
> There is no way you can understand 'teerling' from other words. It was 
> some time after I learned this Dutch expression that I finally gave up 
> trying to understand it myself and looked it up in a dictionary. I don't 
> think I was the only one. What is the point of using an unknown, archaic 
> word in an expression if there is a perfectly normal word for it?

  The translation to Finnish is "arpa on heitetty". The interesting
thing about this is that "arpa" does not refer specifically to a die,
but to any instrument or method of randomly making a selection. The
accurate translation of "arpa" to English is "lot" (with the meaning of
"one of a set of objects, as straws or pebbles, drawn or thrown from a
container to decide a question or choice by chance.") It has most of the
same derivatives too; for example, "arpapeli" (literally "lot game") means
"lottery" (with the meaning of any game where prices are awarded purely
at random, by drawing lots.)

  "Die" in modern Finnish is "noppa", although the derivative "arpakuutio"
(literally "lot cube"), while slightly more archaic, is still valid.

  An interesting question is what the original latin word "alea" means,
and whether "die" or "lot" would be more accurate of a translation.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message