4 ms·

Aren't all those languages, except Latin, are similar and are in fact arabic dialects?

by xytop 8y ago

PeCaN 8y ago
No, not at all. Egyptian is its own branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages, not particularly close to any Semitic language and today preserved in the form of Coptic as a liturgical language. Ethiopian (presumably referring to Ge'ez) is a Semitic language but not particularly close to Arabic, and certainly not an Arabic dialect. I don't think anyone knows what Trogodyte was. It may have been related to one of these other languages or it may have been totally different. Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic (of which Syriac is a dialect) are all somewhat close but not mutually intelligible (they're more different than the Romance languages). Median and Parthian are both Northwestern Iranian (Indo-European) languages, but it's not clear how similar they would've been at the time. Regardless, they're far from "arabic dialects", not sharing any common ancestors with Arabic within the last ten thousand years or so. I don't know if you missed that she also spoke Koine Greek, but I think you probably know it's not an Arabic dialect.
- ivl 8y ago
  Trogodyte really reminds me of the word troglodyte. I have to wonder if it was a dismissive term for a language spoken by a people considered primitive that she was said to speak.
- benbreen 8y ago
  Plutarch apparently corrected "Trogodyte" to "Troglodyte." [1] Which piques my interest even more -- she spoke "cave dweller" language? Looks like Herodotus uses the term to refer to a group who lived on the shores of the Red Sea, so that would make sense geographically. [1] http://languagehat.com/polyglot-cleopatra/ http://languagehat.com/polyglot-cleopatra/
vbtemp 8y ago
Certainly not. This was hundreds of years before before the Arab/Muslim conquests. Perhaps they had Semitic roots, but consider Hebrew and Syriac (still spoken in small measure today) -- it would be absurd to call them dialects of one another.
smelendez 8y ago
A lot of them are related, but I'd still be impressed with someone who could fluently speak French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Catalan today.

Aren't all those languages, except Latin, are similar and are in fact arabic dialects?

by xytop 8y ago

Aren't all those languages, except Latin, are similar and are in fact arabic dialects?

No, not at all. Egyptian is its own branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages, not particularly close to any Semitic language and today preserved in the form of Coptic as a liturgical language. Ethiopian (presumably referring to Ge'ez) is a Semitic language but not particularly close to Arabic, and certainly not an Arabic dialect. I don't think anyone knows what Trogodyte was. It may have been related to one of these other languages or it may have been totally different. Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic (of which Syriac is a dialect) are all somewhat close but not mutually intelligible (they're more different than the Romance languages). Median and Parthian are both Northwestern Iranian (Indo-European) languages, but it's not clear how similar they would've been at the time. Regardless, they're far from "arabic dialects", not sharing any common ancestors with Arabic within the last ten thousand years or so. I don't know if you missed that she also spoke Koine Greek, but I think you probably know it's not an Arabic dialect.

ivl 8y ago
Trogodyte really reminds me of the word troglodyte. I have to wonder if it was a dismissive term for a language spoken by a people considered primitive that she was said to speak.
benbreen 8y ago
Plutarch apparently corrected "Trogodyte" to "Troglodyte." [1] Which piques my interest even more -- she spoke "cave dweller" language? Looks like Herodotus uses the term to refer to a group who lived on the shores of the Red Sea, so that would make sense geographically. [1] http://languagehat.com/polyglot-cleopatra/ http://languagehat.com/polyglot-cleopatra/

vbtemp 8y ago

Certainly not. This was hundreds of years before before the Arab/Muslim conquests. Perhaps they had Semitic roots, but consider Hebrew and Syriac (still spoken in small measure today) -- it would be absurd to call them dialects of one another.

smelendez 8y ago

A lot of them are related, but I'd still be impressed with someone who could fluently speak French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Catalan today.