Єн цοιδιцει οφт нε мαнπαнεн παнxω.
In vacation.dat often not breakfast.acc eat.1sg.
In my vacation, I often do not have breakfast.
This sentence does not only show both an interesting word and a special construction, it is also true. Not that I starve myself until lunch, it's just that I don't wake up until around noon. It's also true in weekends. My biological clock must hate me for that, 'cause I have to wake up at 7:00 to go to school every day. Am I glad I'm done with that for some weeks.
Oh, right, мαнπαнυ. Well, first of all, you might have noticed that the literal translation should actually be "I often do not eat breakfast". In English you 'have a meal' or 'have a dinner', whereas in ᴧυрιοнεcκι you "eat a meal".
Me waking up at noon is quite normal in higher social classes in Lurionas, where they wake up at around ten o'clock, and have ἑᴧπαнυ (< ἑᴧecε 'sun' + παнxυ 'meal'; "lunch") within an hour or two. Then at around eight in the evening, families regroup to enjoy some dinner, цεcтπαнυ (< цεcтεр 'evening'). Labourers, or мαнοιрec, on the other hand, have to wake up early to go to work. Therefore breakfast is called мαнπαнυ, which is shortened from мαнοιрιε παнxυ ("labours meal").
That may sound demeaning, but in Lurion it hardly is, as мαнοιрυ is much more approbative than ποιεрυ "work". Where ποιεрιc can mean anything from slave to teacher, from baker to soldier, мαнοιрιc, which has obviously something to do with мαнυ (hand), is used to show that someone works really hard, makes a decent living, puts his back into it.
Arabic has a fancy word associated with eating lunch, specifically (not sure if it applies to other meals. It probably does), and I have no idea what it's etymology is. Bur rather than eat one's lunch, I would say, سأطناول الغداء, or "I will take my lunch". Fancy!
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I guess it can come from anywhere. There are silly idioms that could change into a fixed expression in every language.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, in Dutch one could say "zullen we een restaurantje pakken?" ('shall we grab a restaurant?': 'shall we go out for some dinner?') or "tafelen" ('to table': 'to have dinner'). Admittedly, not completely without either sounding silly or being - trying to be - funny, but when people use it often enough, it might just become an actual expression.