Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 October 2

= October 2 =

Russian translation
What does she say before the applause in this music video? AllBestFaith (talk) 15:29, 2 October 2016 (UTC)
 * You'll increase your chances of getting an answer if you put the time in your link. Basemetal  21:44, 2 October 2016 (UTC)
 * very approximate: she says the song is self-sufficient, but nevertheless, she would like to set the stage a bit. then she adds that the song is about the human soul that came into the world looking for truth, light, good, beauty etc, but bumps into a dead-end and bunker walls. because of this it loses control and succumbs to madness. the cat's eye that glows in the dark, is something supernatural and stands for madness and absurdity. it's as though life was a train on fire from which no one can escape. however, the good will prevail nonetheless. Asmrulz (talk) 09:11, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you Asmrulz your translation makes good sense. Do we have names for either of the performers in the video? AllBestFaith (talk) 13:05, 3 October 2016 (UTC)


 * I believe the performers are Розалия Каримова (guitar, vocals), and Светлана Филиппова (violin). —Stephen (talk) 10:04, 4 October 2016 (UTC)

Methuselah's name
In most interwikis, Methuselah is named Mathusalem, with minor variations. Where did the -lem ending come from? Neither the Hebrew original, nor the Greek LXX has it. --51.9.188.8 (talk) 21:04, 2 October 2016 (UTC)


 * The Latin Vulgate, probably. According to this site, the nominative of his name in Latin is Mathusalam. --Nicknack009 (talk) 21:34, 2 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks, that's interesting indeed! It uses Mathusalam for accusative and Mathusalae for genitive, which would correspond to the expected nominative Mathusala, according to Latin declension. Yet, somehow that copy of the Vulgate uses the irregular nominative Mathusalam. Others do use Mathusala instead. Could it be that most European languages borrowed his name from the Latin accusative, instead of nominative? --217.140.96.140 (talk) 08:07, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Maybe they thought it was an analagous to Adam, which (in Latin) is Adam in the nominative and Adae in the genitive. (Source: well, I would know, wouldn't I?) Or maybe analagous to Jerusalem, which is typically not declined in Latin, so it's Jerusalem in the nominative and all the other cases. Adam Bishop (talk) 11:01, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Indeed, I've now found two more names which seem to have been re-analysed in the same way as Adam, yielding gen. Abrahae and Mariae from acc. Abraham and Mariam. (On top of that, Mariam lost her -m in the nominative -- the opposite of what happened to Mathusala!) Yet the majority of biblical names ending in -am, such as Balaam and Roboam, remained indeclinable like Jerusalem; and so were the majority of names ending in -aḥ, such as Jephte and Manue. It seems that St.Jerome and his scribes weren't all that consistent in their choice of Latin transliteration for Hebrew names. --217.140.96.140 (talk) 14:43, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Another curious example is Noe, which is indeclinable in the Vulgate (as is Abram) and in the dictionaries, but declined as Latin declension at la:Noë --217.140.96.140 (talk) 21:23, 3 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Origin of the name: ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:16, 2 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately it doesn't even mention Mathusalem. --217.140.96.140 (talk) 08:07, 3 October 2016 (UTC)


 * It seems that Methuselah is mentioned both as the subject (nominative) and object (accusative) at a particular point in the Bible.  This looks like a simple printer's error.   These are not uncommon - even one early edition of the Book of Common Prayer has numerous variations and the Easter table in many early Catholic breviaries and missals is a mess. 80.44.164.18 (talk) 11:01, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Just noticed Adam's earlier post.  That's an interesting theory, but surely a fourth - century Roman printer would be educated enough to know that the guy's name was Methuselah.   Anyways, St Jerome, who presumably provided the copy, wouldn't have made that mistake. 80.44.164.18 (talk) 11:48, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Printing was introduced in the West in the 15th Century: there were no "Roman printers" – it was all hand-copied, either privately by the person who wanted the copy, or commercially largely by slaves. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.2301.95} 90.202.211.191 (talk) 16:59, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * My joined - up writing was so illegible that my mother told me to print - and I have done so ever since. 80.44.164.18 (talk) 18:35, 3 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Oh yeah? Well my printing has gotten so bad due to 30 years of word-processing and typesetting that my signature has deteriorated to Initials with squiggles, and I don't even print if I can avoid it. When I do, its in big and small caps. I basically wrote in cursive for less than a 12th of my life, even less if you consider that I had to use both hands to control the pen, and was almost classified as disabled for the first year we were taught that most evil method. I routinely ask clerks if they can read what I have written (living at 25017 Canterbury Avenue West doesn't help), and have been told twice that "I had to teach my grandchildren how to sign their names." Next we'll all be using exes. μηδείς (talk) 01:59, 5 October 2016 (UTC)
 * I hope this isn't going to turn into a variation on the Four Yorkshiremen. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.202.211.191 (talk) 11:14, 5 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Oh, you think that's bad? μηδείς (talk) 04:15, 6 October 2016 (UTC)