Geordie
June 23, 2009
My discovery of the North of England took me to Newcastle this weekend. The people in this part of the North-East are called “Geordies” and I was surprised that no-one around me could tell me why. It turns out that the origin of the term is lost in the history, but fear not, there are a couple of hypotheses and here are the two most likely explanations :
It seems that everybody agrees that it derives from a diminutive form the name george, which was once the most popular name for eldest sons in the north-east of England. Some say that the name comes from the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, during which the people of Newcastle supported George II, others that it is derived from the “Geordie” safety lamp, designed by George Stephenson, used by miners in the North-East, rather than the “Davy” lamps, designed by Humphry Davy, which other mining communities preferred. Who knows?
Either way, Newcastle is a great city and I really enjoyed listening to the Geordie dialect. You don't need to understand what's going on around you to have a nice time, do you?
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Thanks a lot to Matthew for pointing out a great comment about a Geordie trying to do a presentation in French (at the end of the article) and to Charles for emailing me about Mark Knopfler's song "Sailing to Philadelphia", about a Geordie boy emigrating. Lovely.
Beyond the pale
June 17, 2009
Here, "pale" isn’t the adjective derived from O.Fr. paile, from L. pallidus "pale, pallid", but the noun that comes from L. palus "stake," related to pangere "to fix or fasten".
The Phrase Finder explains that
Catherine the Great created a "Pale of Settlement" in Russia in 1791. This was a western border region of the country in which Jews were allowed to live. The motivation behind this was to restrict trade between Jews and native Russians. Some Jews were allowed to live, as a concession, beyond the pale.
Pales were enforced in various other European countries for similar political reasons, notably in Ireland (The Pale) and in France (the Pale of Calais).
Hence, the expression “beyond the pale” has come to mean "beyond the limits of what is acceptable".
Margaret Gelling
June 4, 2009
We spent last Saturday walking in Swaledale, in the Yorkshire Dales, starting from Gunnerside. Our walk book pointed out that this name comes from Norse “Gunner’s saetr”, meaning “Gunner’s slope”, which reminded me of the recent death of Margaret Gelling, an expert in the field of place names and their origin, which fascinates me. I love how language allows us to see a very real connection between a place and its past, and this is particularly evident in Yorkshire, where traces of Viking settlers are everywhere.
Her main theory was that English place names were coined with reference to the geographical landscape: she studied them not just from a linguistic point of view, but also took into account their archeological and physical contexts. Her work covered mainly the counties of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Shropshire. Her obituary in the Economist is an excellent read.
Place names in the Yorkshire Dales.
Swaledale, near Crackpot (Old English Kraka, a crow and Norse word Pot, usually a cavity or deep hole often in the bed of a river, but in Crackpot's case refers to a rift in the limestone)
Swaledale, near Muker, from Norse Mjor-aker (narrow piece of land)
Austral
May 13, 2009
I’m currently working on a document about security in Africa, and particularly in Southern Africa, which is translated as Afrique australe in French. Austral dates back to 1372 and comes from Auster, which, in Roman mythology, is the name of the Southern wind. This is also where the name Australia (Terra Australis) comes from.
In Roman mythology, the other winds are: Aquilo (North), Eurus (East) and Favonius (West). In Greek mythology, they are called Notus (South), Boreas (North), Eurus (East) and Zephyrus (West).
Pandemic, epidemic and endemic
April 30, 2009
Endemic
Relating to a disease or pathogen that is found in or confined to a particular location, region, or people. Malaria, for example, is endemic to tropical regions.
1662, from Gk. endemos "native," from en- "in" + demos "people, district".
Epidemic
An outbreak of a disease or illness that spreads rapidly among individuals in an area or population at the same time.
1603, from Gk. epidemia "prevalence of an epidemic disease", from epi- "among, upon" + demos "people, district".
Pandemic
An epidemic that spreads over a very wide area, such as an entire country or continent.
1666, from Gk. pandemos "pertaining to all people," from pan- "all" + demos "people, district".
Endemic, epidemic and pandemic are three words that refer to the spread of infectious diseases among a population, but on different scales, as their etymology suggests. An infection is endemic when it affects a very specific and limited group of people and is constant and at a stable rate, an epidemic occurs when new cases of a certain disease in a given human population, during a given period, substantially exceed the normal rate, and a pandemic indicates a far higher number of people and a much larger region affected than an epidemic.
In the case of swine flu, it thus seems appropriate to use the term “pandemic”: the number of people with the disease is still small, but the rate of infection is above normal and the disease is present on several continents.
Piglet photo by crispyking
Why I won't have a blog
April 23, 2009
Diary of a fledgling translator, part 6
A year has past since my last post… A busy year spent doing many things among them prospecting, training, networking and of course translating.
My inability at keeping this diary a regular feature makes me fully appreciate the commitment and the talent a blog requires.
Two weeks ago, I attended a conference for women in business and a free Search Engine Optimization workshop run by my local Business Gateway. At both events, I was described the many benefits a blog can have in terms of peer recognition, traffic and publicity. Yet, deep down I know this is not for me. Being a rather slow writer, a blog would definitely take too much of my time. Also, I do not want to take the gamble to ruin the professional image I have tried to build through my website by boasting a blog with one update every six months. Moreover, as the diary of a fledgling translator would not be appropriate as part of a professional website, I still cannot think of a blog at the moment which would not be a pale imitation of the excellent translations ones that are already available, Naked Translations ticking all the boxes of my dream blog.
In terms of marketing strategy, there is no such thing as the perfect recipe. I am convinced that you have to adopt the strategy that suits best your personality and your schedule. At the moment, I feel more comfortable with conferences and networking events. This is partly because after a whole day spent at home in front of the computer, I am dying for a proper chat face to face.
I try to attend both specialist and non specialist events. Last November, I attended a Proz conference in London entitled “the Translator as strategic partner” which was a great experience. I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the presentations, the friendly atmosphere and the work opportunities that resulted from it. I came back buzzing with new ideas but most importantly with the comforting feeling that I was on the right track. I have also joined my local CIOL society and I am planning to join the ITI one in order to be even more in touch with colleagues and the latest developments in the industry.
On the other hand, as I have tried from the start to diversify my client base by working directly with individuals and businesses, I like going to general business networking events and meeting people from all sorts of industries. Not only do I find it personally enriching but it also helps generating word of mouth especially since I am often the only translator there.
On those occasions, I have noticed how little people tend to know and understand about translation and language services in general. That is why I recently jumped on the opportunity when my local Women in Business club asked me to give a presentation on my services, the benefits of languages services for businesses and the pitfalls to avoid. The feedback was great.
Therefore, informing and educating future clients, helping them to think their translations needs through in order to know what to ask for is more and more a route I would like to explore…Wait, a minute, that could be an idea for a blog, couldn’t it?
To be continued...
Marie.
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