Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2011 September 11

= September 11 =

Yup'ik nasals
Does Yup'ik "n" not assimilate to the following stop? I've seen that certain things are spelled "nq" and others are spelled "ngq", so that implies the former is /nq/ and the latter is /ŋq/ (or /ɴq/)... but I still wanted to ask to make sure. Cevlakohn (talk) 03:05, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

"personifactory"?
A few instances in Google Books. Overwhelming examples are "personificatory". Neither has instance in OED. The former could be a printing error, in those few instances?--Thirdmaneye (talk) 17:08, 11 September 2011 (UTC)
 * These are clearly not typos. It looks like they're using it to mean "in a way involving personification". r ʨ anaɢ (talk) 17:14, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Norwegian translation
What is Den Stundesløse? Kittybrewster  &#9742;  21:54, 11 September 2011 (UTC)


 * A comedy of the XVIII century. Quest09 (talk) 22:40, 11 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes. The sort of answer I had hoped for is "the man short of time". Kittybrewster  &#9742;  22:48, 11 September 2011 (UTC)


 * That would be true too, in the sense of a man who thinks he is busy, but is not producing anything. Quest09 (talk) 23:18, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

The title of the play Den Stundesløse has been translated into English as "The Fidget" and into Swedish as Den jäktade ("The hurried [one]"). Gabbe (talk) 07:19, 12 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes again. But these do not cover what the play is actually about. Maybe there is no equivalent English word or concept? Kittybrewster  &#9742;  13:19, 12 September 2011 (UTC)
 * The term Den Stundesløse means "the stundesløs [one]". Someone who considers themselves stundesløs don't think they have an adequate amount of spare time to do what they want. The first part of the word stundesløs is etymologically related to the archaic English word "stound". Unfortunately, the word "stoundless" doesn't mean anything. "Restless" is fairly close, but "the restless" sounds as if it is referring to more than one person. Gabbe (talk) 14:35, 12 September 2011 (UTC)
 * As others have said, "stund" in contemporary Norwegian means "moment", "period of time", "occasion". "-løs" means "-less". "Stundesløs" is not used in contemporary Norwegian. --NorwegianBluetalk 20:10, 12 September 2011 (UTC)