Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2023 January 28

= January 28 =

"JOD" in the context of a Chinese cotton mill that makes metal parts
What does the last sentence mean? InedibleHulk (talk) 08:08, 28 January 2023 (UTC)


 * The source given says "Juvenile Offender Detachment". —Kusma (talk) 08:16, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I tend to avoid portable document formats. InedibleHulk (talk) 08:20, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Why? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 09:46, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Opening them in another app, then remembering to close it and delete them are just three steps I'd rather not take. My reader is also fairly user-unfriendly, especially in zooming. Hope that helps. InedibleHulk (talk) 10:32, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

The rest of us alieurophiles
I quote the article Ethel Jacobson, as it describes contemporary reactions to the 1969 book Curious Cats:


 * The reviewer for the Arizona Republic also enjoyed it: "it was lucky for the rest of us alieurophiles that [Harrison and Jacobson] happened to meet and decide to collaborate"

The context makes it pretty clear that "alieurophiles" means "cat-lovers". But ... does it? Google, the omniscient, only knows it from this sole token. Yet the word (or pseudo-word) stands out: if it had just been the writer's invention, it surely wouldn't have got past the copy-editor. All I can say is that no alternative synonym for cat-lover comes to mind. ("Feliphile" somehow sounds very wrong.) Informed comment, anyone? -- Hoary (talk) 12:49, 28 January 2023 (UTC)


 * @Hoary Try . Bazza (talk) 13:02, 28 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Since -phile comes from Ancient Greek, the preference is to borrow the first component also from Ancient Greek, in this case 106% (aílouros, "cat"). While ⟨ali⟩ for ⟨ail⟩ can be seen as a simple transposition typo, spelling this with ⟨eu⟩ is mistaken. --Lambiam 14:30, 28 January 2023 (UTC)


 * So, it's a typo for 'ailourophile', which sounds somewhat strained, already? 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 14:56, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * "Ailurophile" is the usual spelling of the word. Deor (talk) 15:19, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * However, ailourophile is an "alternative spelling of ailurophile". Alansplodge (talk) 17:36, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * The word "alieurophile" is seemingly mothing more than a typo, or a spelling by someone who has only heard the word and never seen it written. Given the pronunciation of the word, the latter hypothesis is not implausible at all. 176.128.237.169 (talk) 18:22, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Mothing? :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:30, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes I'll need some insecticide soon. 176.128.237.169 (talk) 18:34, 28 January 2023 (UTC)


 * We have an article on Ailurophobia (fear of cats), but Ailurophilia redirects to Cat culture. How interesting. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  20:19, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

Thank you, all. I'm embarrassed to say that the base ailuro- and the English words starting with it are unfamiliar to me. Within the next few minutes, I'll fix the article. -- Hoary (talk) 22:08, 28 January 2023 (UTC)

Ethnologue paywall
I don't like that Ethnologue has a paywall. What are the chances that Ethnologue don't have a paywall anymore five years from now? Why did Ethnologue introduce a paywall?. There is no site compared to Ethnologue. --40bus (talk) 21:11, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Why don't you write to them and ask? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:18, 28 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Our crystal ball is out of order; it will take at least five years to get it working. --Lambiam 12:27, 29 January 2023 (UTC)


 * There is a "Contact us" option on the website. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:32, 29 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Considering how unreliable Ethnologue is, it was awfully bold of them to think anyone would be willing to pay for it at all. As long as it was free, it was marginally better than nothing, but now? Forget about it. —Mahāgaja · talk 10:05, 30 January 2023 (UTC)

Regarding the name of a book in Arabic
Professor Nahum Slouschz wrote the book Ha'Ea Pel'Ea (or Felie), in Hebrew (meaning The Island of Wonder or Felie Island), where he documents his two research visits to the island of Djerba in the south of Tunisia & region, especially studying the life, history & traditions of the Jewish communities in it, in the beginning of the 20th century.

In page 152 (comment 19) in this book, he incites a book in Arabic, Kitab Al-Adani, where the name of an old place (city ? village ?), Djerid (not to be confused with the south-western Djerid), is mentioned (resided on the coast, not far from the island of Djerba. Seemingly, this book in Arabic deals with Berber languages).

What I'm trying to find out is how its name is exactly translated into English & French, as well as in Arabic (its original name), in order to be able to efficiently find the book itself webwide, or in any library. I'll also be glad to know the name of the book's author, hoping it's known to someone. בנצי (talk) 23:21, 28 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Could be a typo for Kitab al-Aghani perhaps? --2A02:5080:1C00:C700:E463:91:AB5A:B50B (talk) 05:50, 29 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Could possibly be. I wonder if this book is translated into English, in order to be able to read & search within. Thank you for the typo idea. בנצי (talk) 08:15, 29 January 2023 (UTC)


 * On GBS only available in snippet view, but we can glimpse here. It is a bit far apart from, the transliteration of the Arabic title of Abu al-Faraj's book on the Hebrew Wikipedia, for a simple typo. Is it plausible that this 10th-century collection of songs deals with Berber languages? AFAICT, , the most likely title to be transliterated as Kitab al-Adani, doesn't mean anything.  --Lambiam 12:21, 29 January 2023 (UTC)


 * A quick google search indicates that the most common Hebrew spellings of Abu al-Faraj's book title are כתאב אלאגאני and כתאב אלאע'אני, neither of which coincide with either Slouschz's spelling or hewiki spelling.
 * Note also that the assertion that the book deals with Berber languages is בנצי's, not Slouschz's. --82.166.199.42 (talk) 07:12, 30 January 2023 (UTC)