#aftarem

[best-non-english-word-torunament]

Round three: Rub'eyna'oj vs Aftarem

(poll at the end)

Rub'eyna'oj (Kaqchikel)

[ɾuɓejnaʔox]

Translation: cognition (lit. "your internal wisdom")

Kaqchikel or Caqchikel Maya is a Mayan language spoken by 411 000 people in Guatemala. It is a threatened language and one reason is that some parents choose to speak Spanish in the home so that their children can start school with Spanish as a first language, which means that the language doesn’t get passed down to the next generation in all families. This is a common reason languages become endangered. Kaqchikel uses many glottalised sounds, which means that some sounds are partly articulated with the vocal folds. This sounds a bit like a pop of air. English only has the glottal stop [ʔ], which is the sound of the little pause in the middle of uh-oh, when the vocal folds close entirely and cuts off air. Kaqchikel on the other hand, also has sounds like glottalised k or glottalised ts.

Motivation: This word did not exist in historical Kaqchikel but was created as an intentional neologism (among many others) in order to prevent the necessity of Spanish in Maya communities. "Your internal wisdom" is a beautiful way to think about cognition and thoughts in general.

Aftarem (Bislama)

Unable to find IPA

Translation: Pursue, seek

Bislama is an English-based creole with around 14 200 speakers. It is spoken in Vanuatu, where it’s the national language and used as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of the 110 living languages. Bislama emerged in the late 1800s due to the practice of “blackbirding”, aka deceiving or kidnapping Pacific Islanders and taking them to work as indentured labourers on plantations, mainly in Australia and Fiji. Due to everyone speaking different languages, a pidgin emerged that later became a creole. This language was taken to Vanuatu when labourers returned and spread because it could be used as a lingua franca. Most of the vocabulary is English-based with some French, but the grammar is typical of local languages.

Motivation: Literally “after him”. Plus it’s fun to say

Which is the best word?

Rub'eyna'oj

Aftarem

Voting ended onAug 24, 2023

[best-non-english-word-torunament]

Round one: Fietsen vs Aftarem

Fietsen (Dutch)

[ˈfitsə]

Translation: To ride a bike

Dutch is an Indo-European language belonging to the Germanic branch spoken by 16 million people in the Netherlands and 24 million total. Most speakers outside the Netherlands are from Belgium, which has a Dutch-speaking area with 7 600 000 speakers. It makes up one end of the West Germanic Dialect continuum. Dutch is also the basis for Afrikaans, spoken in South Africa.

Motivation: It's a very important word to the Dutch, who bike *a lot.* On average, they own 1.3 bicycles per person, which is the highest bicycle per capita rate in the world! Around a third of Dutch people use bikes as their most common method of transportation, too, because their cities are built around it, rather than cars or trucks.

Aftarem (Bislama)

Unable to find IPA

Translation: Pursue, seek

Bislama is an English-based creole with around 14 200 speakers. It is spoken in Vanuatu, where it’s the national language and used as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of the 110 living languages. Bislama emerged in the late 1800s due to the practice of “blackbirding”, aka deceiving or kidnapping Pacific Islanders and taking them to work as indentured labourers on plantations, mainly in Australia and Fiji. Due to everyone speaking different languages, a pidgin emerged that later became a creole. This language was taken to Vanuatu when labourers returned and spread because it could be used as a lingua franca. Most of the vocabulary is English-based with some French, but the grammar is typical of local languages.

Motivation: Literally “after him”. Plus it’s fun to say

Which is the best word?

Fietsen

Aftarem

Voting ended onJul 13, 2023

[best-non-english-word-torunament]

Round two: Bettseechesch vs Aftarem

(poll at the end)

Bettseechesch (Luxembourgish)

[ˈbætˌzeːχeʃ]

Translation: Dandelion (literally it means "bed wetter" because dandelions have a diuretic effect, it's also called Pissblumm, which literally means piss flower)

Luxembourgish is an Indo-European language belonging to the Germanic branch, spoken by half a million people, most of them in Luxembourg. It is part of the Continental West Germanic dialect continuum, but also influenced by French.

Motivation: French, German, Italian and some Dutch dialects all have a similar name about pissing the bed for this plant and that's just the ones I'm aware of, I'm sure there's more. It's funny to me that apparently so many people wet their beds after eating dandelions that people decided that that's what this plant should be called lol Plus look at it, it's a bonkers word to look at!

Aftarem (Bislama)

Unable to find IPA

Translation: Pursue, seek

Bislama is an English-based creole with around 14 200 speakers. It is spoken in Vanuatu, where it’s the national language and used as a lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of the 110 living languages. Bislama emerged in the late 1800s due to the practice of “blackbirding”, aka deceiving or kidnapping Pacific Islanders and taking them to work as indentured labourers on plantations, mainly in Australia and Fiji. Due to everyone speaking different languages, a pidgin emerged that later became a creole. This language was taken to Vanuatu when labourers returned and spread because it could be used as a lingua franca. Most of the vocabulary is English-based with some French, but the grammar is typical of local languages.

Motivation: Literally “after him”. Plus it’s fun to say

Which is the best word?

Bettseechesch

Aftarem

Voting ended onJul 22, 2023

This is the last poll of round two! Expect a pause, then I'll be back with round three