Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 June 29

= June 29 =

labiovelar vs ...
Does any language contrast /kʷ/ (one phoneme) with /kw/ (two phonemes)? Can you point me to a recording that illustrates the contrast? —Tamfang (talk) 01:33, 29 June 2020 (UTC)

You may substitute any velar for /k/ in this question. —Tamfang (talk) 01:34, 29 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Courtesy links: Labialized velar consonant, Velar consonant. --Lambiam 12:10, 29 June 2020 (UTC)


 * According to our article on Standard German phonology, the consonant // as used in Deutsch is realized as . So I wonder how Deutschwörterbuch is pronounced. (This is not an answer to your question as this is not a phonemic contrast.)  --Lambiam 12:42, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * The letter "w" is pronounced /v/ in German, so it must be [-tʃʷvʷ-], and certainly not /-tʃw-/. --Theurgist (talk) 00:08, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

cosa fatta capo ha
This sentence from Divine Comedy apparently has been translated as 'stone dead has no fellow'. What does it mean exactly? Thanks in advance. Omidinist (talk) 07:01, 29 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Try this - scroll down to the text below the flip book. https://fliphtml5.com/lnym/weuq/basic/451-500 41.165.67.114 (talk) 07:25, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * More: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199539536.001.0001/acref-9780199539536-e-2132 41.165.67.114 (talk) 07:32, 29 June 2020 (UTC)


 * In the Divina Commedia the word order is different: "Capo ha cosa fatta".Inferno, Canto XXVIII, 107. The Italian Wikipedia has an article on the Italian phrase. It was used in the form "coſa fatta capo hà" by Macchiavelli, recounting an incident in which Mosca dei Lamberti, a 13th-century Florentine politician, allegedly uttered these words, inciting a murder that supposedly instigated the War of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Dante is referring to the same incident. The literal meaning is "a done deed has an end". The closest English equivalent in meaning is "a thing done cannot be undone", a phrase already stated in Latin by Terence, or, "what is done is done". --Lambiam 12:02, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Many thanks. Omidinist (talk) 15:43, 29 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Wow, I have to admit I would not have gotten that. Usually I find Dante roughly as easy to read as, say, Shakespeare, which I take to be an indicator of how fast English was changing at the time, given that Dante was a couple centuries earlier.  But I was coming up with "the chief has done the thing" or some such.  Maybe context would have helped. --Trovatore (talk) 17:03, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * You are not alone. —Tamfang (talk) 04:10, 1 July 2020 (UTC)