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Ahhh, language (thelemmy.club)
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[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Not where that comes from. Both from Proto-Indo-European, but "meal" as in "eating a meal" derives from "to measure" while "meal" as in "oatmeal" derives from "to mill". They're false cognates.

御飯 ("gohan"), meanwhile, literally is just "cooked rice".

[-] loppy@fedia.io 3 points 1 month ago

cognate (n): Related in origin, as certain words in genetically related languages descended from the same ancestral root

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago

i assume it's more clear in other languages, e.g. in swedish it's "mjöl" for fine powders and "mål" for foodstuff.

[-] Dagnet@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That's me learning german. Apparently Fremdsprache means foreign language so I went "Isn't it weird that german calls other languages 'strange language?'" then I thought about my own language (portuguese) 'lingua estrangeira' which is basically the same thing haha

[-] Wfh@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Since stranger comes from strange, does it mean that strange means foreign, or that foreign means strange?

Would Dr Foreign be a better surgeon than Dr Strange?

THE PLOT THICKENS

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago

this made me realize how weird the term feels in swedish, like in german it's "strange language" but i can't recall ever hearing it used.
We'd just say "another language" or something.

[-] Trex202@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

"Come and eat your meal!"

"Well, actshually, mom, there is no meal in this dish..."

"Shut up and eat"

this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2026
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