Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 January 1

= January 1 =

Does Aromanian possess grammatic cases?
--66.190.69.246 (talk) 02:56, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * That's Aromanian language. --  Jack of Oz  [Talk]  03:24, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Tomić, O. M., "Balkan Sprachbund Features" in Kortmann & van der Auwera (eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of Europe (2011, de Gruyter), p. 309. :
 * "The synthetic case markers of the nominal case systems of the core Balkan languages are to a great extent replaced by analytic ones, though differently in different languages. [...] Romanian and Aromanian have distinct dative forms for all nouns." -- Atethnekos (Discussion, Contributions) 06:42, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I noticed on the "Aromanian language" article that the -lor ending occurred in Aromanian, and this ending is dative/genitive plural in Romanian, but wasn't sure whether this meant that Aromanian has case contrasts... AnonMoos (talk) 06:56, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

What is the word for a baby unicorn?
Maybe you could use fawn or fowl, but I was wondering if there was a word specifically used for a baby unicorn. Like a word from the Middle Ages? Kingturtle = (talk) 18:49, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I've just googled this, to my shame. There's some very, very unsettling websites out there if you use the right search-terms, I'm telling you. I can offer "fily" or "colt" from one website, but everything else seems to be fetish sites of a zooilogical nature. doktorb wordsdeeds 19:16, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Baby corn? μηδείς (talk) 19:17, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I googled it too, before coming here. And there's really nothing out there worth our while. That's why I came here. :/ Kingturtle = (talk) 19:21, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * The mistake might be applying modern biological expectations to a mediaeval mythological construction. Neither Athena nor Adam and Eve had child forms, and baby dragons and ogres are not really attested.  Suppletive ('monofilly') and derived ('unicornlet') terms usually reflect old formations.  In this case a synthetic term like baby unicorn would be expected. μηδείς (talk) 19:38, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the reply. I never thought about Adam and Eve not having child forms. That helps when thinking about this.Kingturtle = (talk) 20:19, 1 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I could imagine foal but not really fowl. Angr (talk) 19:43, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Ack, I meant foal. Kingturtle = (talk) 20:19, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * What possible definition for fowl were you thinking of? Dismas |(talk) 20:31, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Sorry, meant foal. Kingturtle = (talk) 20:34, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * No harm, no foul. StuRat (talk) 04:18, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Maybe you were thinking of Pegasus. He's a fowl-foal.  :)  --  Jack of Oz  [Talk]  23:26, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * My Little Pony :) — Cheers, Jack Lee  –talk– 23:41, 1 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm pretty sure that there is no such thing as a baby unicorn, and also that all unicorns are male anyway. They are basically just an allegory for Christ, so I don't think they are supposed to have real biological characteristics. Adam Bishop (talk) 01:00, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I saw baby unicorns in Fantasia... [[Image:SFriendly.gif|20px]] -- AnonMoos (talk) 03:48, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I just feel sorry for unicorn mares, as giving birth to a baby unicorn sounds as painful as a man dying intestate. :-) StuRat (talk) 04:18, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * No Stu. Unicorns are born without horns (not even one, I mean). For safety reasons.
 * As for what to call a baby unicorn, it depends on the exact virtual species we are concerned with. According to reliable sources, the East Asian unicorn or Ki-Lin is said to live for 1,000 years (GM Eberhart, Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, 2002, p. 275). Given the implicit numericity in the word unicorn itself, and assuming that the typical individual reaches full maturity (full-length horn, and all that goes with it) at, say, 100 years (the approximately correct proportion of the lifespan, judging from comparable animals with the exception, of course, of humans which are notorious for their neoteny), the unicorn comes into the zenith of aptlynamedness at age 100. I submit therefore that the newborn Ki-Lin unicorn, at least, is properly called a centesimicorn ("one-hundredth-horn") until its first birthday, when it graduates to duecentesimicorn, later to trecentesimicorn, and so on till the age of one hundred – neatly matching the development of the horn itself. By courtesy, it should then retain the honour of being hailed as unicorn (as in "Hey younicorn!") for the remainder of its allotted millennium. None of us likes to be reminded of the inevitable decline that age brings to all, whether mythical or of all too solid flesh.
 * But then, as Hamlet had to be reminded, "'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so." On the model of young equines generally (zebras and others of that stripe) I would go with calf foal, for less formal registers. (Oops! Excuse my foally. I meant foal. I am not so skilled in the onomastics of the actual.) (৳?)
 * N oetica Tea? 05:27, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * None of us likes to be reminded of the inevitable decline that age brings to all ... - then stop reminding us! Some of us are becoming increasingly over-sensitive to the very mention of this ghastly topic.  You know how some people avoid the use of the number 13 in house numbers, floors of buildings and the like?  Well, we now have a whole year of being worried out of our tiny minds.  We'll all be rooned, said Hanrahan.  So, anything you can do to take our minds off the inevitable would be greatly appreciated. :)  --  Jack of Oz  [Talk]  06:02, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Sorry Jacko, I forgot all about your rage against age. Anyway, we old hands at the Sprachhilfentisch should record for the New Year, and for these younger tonguecontortionists, that the tiny newborn of the beastorn (q.v. supra) is the leastorn, right? (Be warned: it grows real quick.)
 * N oetica Tea? 09:14, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * If it was really little, you could call it a puny-corn'. :) KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 08:39, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * A funny pun for a puny quasi-pony, KT. A cutie! (₰?)
 * N oetica Tea? 08:59, 2 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Don't, because we will have an entire range of My Little Punycorn products in the end. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 10:18, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Determination on reliability of Portuguese source needed
Can editors of this board who understand Portuguese, please comment on this discussion at WP:RSN:


 * Determination on reliability of Portuguese source needed

Thanks! A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 21:59, 1 January 2013 (UTC)