4 ms·

concurrency = I think you mean "competition". source: My native language is also Italian

by luckydata 9y ago

theseatoms 9y ago
Interesting. What Italian word best maps to "concurrency"?
- usrusr 9y ago
  Probably something that is close to the German "Konkurrenz" (edit: which "maps" to concurrency, by the unwritten rules of how English and German map their respective loan words from Latin, but translates perfectly to competition, but not at all to concurrency)
- toyg 9y ago
  The correct translation is "parallellismo", which has an obvious etymology.
  - davidw 9y ago
    Parallelism isn't concurrency, though!
    - toyg 9y ago
      You would make the distinction by prepending “fully” (parallelism) or “partially” (concurrency). Unfortunately the language of Dante doesn’t really allow for the finer points of CS :)
- DeusExMachina 9y ago
  The original mistake derives from the fact that the word for "competition" is "concorrenza" in Italian. That is the most common meaning, but "concorrenza" also has a very uncommon one, which is indeed "concurrency". This is not much of a surprise though. The Latin origin of both words is "cum currere" which means "run together. Why it got to mean competition in Italian I don't know. (It must be noted though that the verb "concorrere" keeps the meaning of running together and does not mean to compete. For that the verb is "competere") But no one would use "concorrenza" for "concurrency" in Italy. The best substitutes that come to mind are "parallelismo", or, less common "concomitanza". (Yes, I'm Italian too)
  - davidw 9y ago
    Competere then goes off to do duty as something like 'be responsible for': https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/italian-english/non-mi-compete https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/italian-engl... Languages don't line up 1-to-1 (I'm from Oregon)
    - DeusExMachina 9y ago
      Indeed, that's another meaning. The noun "competenza" (competence) comes from this meaning. Laungages are fun, aren't they? But notice that in the example you linked, there is the pronoun "mi" (to me). A pronoun that indicates the recipient is required for that meaning (it would be a dative case in Latin or other langage with cases). "To compete with someone" instead requires the preposition "con" (with)
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - mseebach 9y ago
    > which means "run together. Why it got to mean competition in Italian I don't know That seems obvious? To compete, you have to "run" (perform whatever activity you compete in) "together" (same activity, same time) with the other guy? Most literal example is a (running) race, which is a competition, literally featuring people running together.
jbn 9y ago
Funny, the same confusion exists in French "concurrence" can mean either "concurrency" or "competition". Here the meaning one aimed for was indeed "competition".
- kiliantics 9y ago
  German too: competition is "Konkurrenz", though concurrency would be "Gleichzeitigkeit" - literally, same-time-ness
  - CaptainZapp 9y ago
    While we're onto German, I always thought that eventually is the most confusing English word for a German speaker; an evil twin, so to speak. While the German eventuell means possibly, the English word means that something will happen definitely, but at a later, unspecified time. This can be confusing even to people who are well versed in both languages.
    - kiliantics 9y ago
      That one definitely confused me for far too long. If you've never read it, Mark Twain has an excellent little piece on German: https://www.cs.utah.edu/~gback/awfgrmlg.html https://www.cs.utah.edu/~gback/awfgrmlg.html
- azernik 9y ago
  In Spanish, I believe it's only used to mean competition.

concurrency = I think you mean "competition". source: My native language is also Italian

theseatoms 9y ago

Interesting. What Italian word best maps to "concurrency"?

usrusr 9y ago
Probably something that is close to the German "Konkurrenz" (edit: which "maps" to concurrency, by the unwritten rules of how English and German map their respective loan words from Latin, but translates perfectly to competition, but not at all to concurrency)
toyg 9y ago
The correct translation is "parallellismo", which has an obvious etymology.
- davidw 9y ago
  Parallelism isn't concurrency, though!
  - toyg 9y ago
    You would make the distinction by prepending “fully” (parallelism) or “partially” (concurrency). Unfortunately the language of Dante doesn’t really allow for the finer points of CS :)
DeusExMachina 9y ago
The original mistake derives from the fact that the word for "competition" is "concorrenza" in Italian. That is the most common meaning, but "concorrenza" also has a very uncommon one, which is indeed "concurrency". This is not much of a surprise though. The Latin origin of both words is "cum currere" which means "run together. Why it got to mean competition in Italian I don't know. (It must be noted though that the verb "concorrere" keeps the meaning of running together and does not mean to compete. For that the verb is "competere") But no one would use "concorrenza" for "concurrency" in Italy. The best substitutes that come to mind are "parallelismo", or, less common "concomitanza". (Yes, I'm Italian too)
- davidw 9y ago
  Competere then goes off to do duty as something like 'be responsible for': https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/italian-english/non-mi-compete https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/italian-engl... Languages don't line up 1-to-1 (I'm from Oregon)
  - DeusExMachina 9y ago
    Indeed, that's another meaning. The noun "competenza" (competence) comes from this meaning. Laungages are fun, aren't they? But notice that in the example you linked, there is the pronoun "mi" (to me). A pronoun that indicates the recipient is required for that meaning (it would be a dative case in Latin or other langage with cases). "To compete with someone" instead requires the preposition "con" (with)
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- mseebach 9y ago
  > which means "run together. Why it got to mean competition in Italian I don't know That seems obvious? To compete, you have to "run" (perform whatever activity you compete in) "together" (same activity, same time) with the other guy? Most literal example is a (running) race, which is a competition, literally featuring people running together.

jbn 9y ago

Funny, the same confusion exists in French "concurrence" can mean either "concurrency" or "competition". Here the meaning one aimed for was indeed "competition".

kiliantics 9y ago
German too: competition is "Konkurrenz", though concurrency would be "Gleichzeitigkeit" - literally, same-time-ness
- CaptainZapp 9y ago
  While we're onto German, I always thought that eventually is the most confusing English word for a German speaker; an evil twin, so to speak. While the German eventuell means possibly, the English word means that something will happen definitely, but at a later, unspecified time. This can be confusing even to people who are well versed in both languages.
  - kiliantics 9y ago
    That one definitely confused me for far too long. If you've never read it, Mark Twain has an excellent little piece on German: https://www.cs.utah.edu/~gback/awfgrmlg.html https://www.cs.utah.edu/~gback/awfgrmlg.html
azernik 9y ago
In Spanish, I believe it's only used to mean competition.