30 December 2013

paw is känpa

känpa = paw (noun) (some things Google found for "kanpa": an uncommon term; Kanpa International Sales is a Pakistani seafood company; a rare last name; kanpa can mean fund raising in Japanese when transliterated; name of a place in Maharashtra, India; name of a small community in Western Australia; similar Kanp'a is a place in South Korea)

Word derivation for "paw"
Basque = hanka, Finnish = käpälä
Miresua = känpa

Another word in Finnish for paw is tassu.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice said of her cat Dinah, "she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face..."

26 December 2013

tail is häztan

häztan = tail (noun) (some things Google found for "haztan": a rare term; user names; Haztan Automotive Limited and Haztan Group Limited are or were companies in New Zealand; a rare last name; similar Hazlan is an unusual masculine name that can be Malaysian; similar Hazlan is a domain in the Ravenloft gaming world)

Word derivation for "tail"
Basque = häntä, Finnish = buztan
Miresua = häztan

Another word in Finnish for tail is pyrstö.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat "vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin..."

22 December 2013

whisker is viboke

viboke = whisker (noun) (some things Google found for "viboke": a rare term; user names; gaming character names; similar Vibok Works is a Spanish studio for publishing, art and architecture; similar Vibeke is a Scandinavian feminine first name; similar Viboge is the name of a place in Denmark)

Word derivation for "whisker"
Basque = bibote (whisker, mustache)
Finnish = viiksi (whisker, half of a mustache) (mustache is viikset)
Miresua = viboke

Another Finnish word for whisker is viiksikarva, where karva means hair, fur.

The Basque word for whisker, bibote, is from the Spanish word for mustache and whisker, bigote.

Whiskers, the plural, such as of a cat, will be viboket. This word will also mean mustache. By the way, there are other words in Basque and Finnish for hair in a beard or sideburns.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Queen of Hearts shrieked out, "Turn that Dormouse out of court! Suppress him! Pinch him! Off with his whiskers!"

18 December 2013

size is tamko

tamko = size (noun) (some things Google found for "tamko": a common term; TAMKO Building Products for roofing and decks; an unusual last name; a rare first name; Tamko is a Finnish acronym for Tampereen Ammattikorkeakoulun Opiskelijakunta (Tampere University of Applied Sciences Student Union); in Swahili tamko means statement; similar Tamkor is the name of a place in India)

Word derivation for "size"
Basque = tamaina, Finnish = koko
Miresua = tamko

The Basque word tamaina is similar to the Spanish noun tamaño which means size. Another Basque word for size is neurri (size, measure).

The Finnish word koko means size, format. As an adjective, koko means whole, entire. Another Finnish word for size is suuruus (size, greatness, magnitude).

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Caterpillar asked Alice, "What size do you want to be?"

14 December 2013

glove is eshukas

eshukas = glove (noun) (some things Google found for "eshukas": a very rare term; similar shukas is a word derived from Swahili for sashes (decorative lengths of cloth) worn in parts of Africa; similar Shukas is a rare last name; similar Eshuk is a rare last name; similar Ashuka is an Indian restaurant in Luton, England)

Word derivation for "glove"
Basque = eskularru (esku (hand) + larru (skin))
Finnish = hansikas
Miresua = eshukas

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The White Rabbit was "splendidly dressed, with a pair of white kid gloves...".

There's a syllable break between the s and the h, there's no "sh" sound in the pronunciation.

10 December 2013

elbow is kynädo

kynädo = elbow (noun) (some things Google found for "kynado": a rare term; user names; nickname for a toddler boy; similar KYNAR 500 PVDF resin is used in high-end paints for metals)

Word derivation for "elbow"
Basque = ukondo, Finnish = kyynärpää
Miresua = kynädo

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in the Mad Tea-Party chapter, the March Hare and the Hatter had the sleeping Dormouse sitting between them, and they "were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it".

By the way, the plural, elbows, would be kynädot.

06 December 2013

soup is zeipo

zeipo = soup (noun) (some things Google found for "zeipo": an unusual term; user names; gaming character names; Zeipo Pty Ltd is a small Australian company; similar Zeipau (aka Szczepanow) is the name of a place in Poland)

Word derivation for "soup"
Basque = zopa, Finnish = keitto
Miresua = zeipo

In Chapter 10 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Mock Turtle sings the song "Turtle Soup" which begins like this:
"Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!"

02 December 2013

answer is evastun

evastun = answer (noun) (some things Google found for "evastun": a rare term; name of the Spanish website and twitter account for Escuela Valle Astún (Astún Valley (Ski) School); similar Vastun is a rare last name; similar Vasstun is the name of a place in Norway)

Word derivation for "answer"
Basque = erantzun, Finnish = vastaus
Miresua = evastun

This snippet is from the Mad Tea-Party scene:
"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
"No, I give it up," Alice replied: "what's the answer?"
The riddle was "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?" The Hatter asked Alice a riddle that had no answer.

30 November 2013

skirt is gane

gane = skirt (noun) (some things Google found for "gane": a common term; an unusual last name; user names; Mokume-gane is a mixed-metal laminate with distinctive layered patterns first made in Japan; an unusual to rare usually masculine first name; in Latvian gane means a shepherdess; forms of the Spanish verb ganar meaning to win, gain or earn; in Scots the past participle of gae which means go; name of places in Senegal, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and Sweden)

Word derivation for "skirt"
Basque = gona, Finnish = hame
Miresua = gane

In the final chapter of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice "jumped up in such a hurry that she tipped over the jury-box with the edge of her skirt, upsetting all the jurymen".

26 November 2013

pepper (spice) is piperi

piperi = pepper (noun) (some things Google found for "piperi": an uncommon term; Piperi Mediterranean Grill in Boston, MA; an unusual last name; Anemone piperi (Piper’s Anemone) and Campanula piperi (Olympic bellflower) are wildflowers of the US Northwest and British Columbia; in Latin datative singular of piper which means pepper (spice); name of a Greek island in the National Marine Park of Alonnisos Northern Sporades; name of places in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro)

Word derivation for "pepper (spice)"
Basque = piper, Finnish = pippuri
Miresua = piperi

This is the word for pepper, the spice, peppercorn or Piperaceae. Not the fruit of Capsicum plants, such as green or red bell peppers.

In Chapter 6 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice said to herself, "as well as she could for sneezing", "There's certainly too much pepper in that soup!"

22 November 2013

card is karti

karti = card (noun) (some things Google found for "karti": a common term; an unusual last name; Ali Ahmed Karti is a Sudanese Foreign Minister; an unusual to rare first name; Karti P Chidambaram is the son of an Indian politician; in Latvian accusative singular form of karte which means map, chart; may mean does in Urdu (transliterated); name of a place in Iran)

Word derivation for "card"
Basque = karta, Finnish = kortti or pelikortti (game + card)
Miresua = karti

In the last scene in Wonderland, Alice said to the Queen of Hearts and the court, "You're nothing but a pack of cards!"

18 November 2013

cake is tarku (revisited)

tarku = cake (noun) (some things Google found for "tarku": an uncommon term; user names; a rare last name; a rare usually masculine first name; name of a Hittite pagan God; gaming character names; means spindle in Sanskrit (transliterated); name of places in Nepal, India and Iran)

Word derivation for "cake"
Basque = tarta, Finnish = kakku
Miresua = tarku

My previous Miresua conlang word for cake was kartu. I changed this word because kartu would have been too similar to my next word.

In Chapter 1 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice finds "very small cake, on which the words 'EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants".