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edit: I just looked it up. It's a "sleuth" or a "sloth" of bears, but I can't think of any situation in which bears would cluster together, expect as a family.
Bears might group together around an abundant food source, like when catching salmon in transit. Otherwise they are solitary.
No, I didn't know it was covered thoroughly in school in Russia. I assumed, due to the mistake you made, that it might not be covered thoroughly. Anyway, it's a fun topic. And even in our schools, the dizzying number of terms are not all covered. I didn't know the one for bears, for example. People have fun looking them up, and learning new ones. Some of them are kind of funny. So no, I wouldn't assume Russian schools cover more than just some basic ones, if that.
So the point is--fun. (Heaven forbid we should enjoy a lighthearted moment on this thread! )See, I didn't know the ones Scrat posted; squadrons of seabirds, and bushels of otters. Those are funny!
This is really an interesting topic! The Russian language also has a few words for displaying animal clusters (стая, свора, стадо, табун, косяк (for fish), etc), but for bears there is no single word. This proves once again that the English language has a much more vocabulary than Russian language.
This is really an interesting topic! The Russian language also has a few words for displaying animal clusters (стая, свора, стадо, табун, косяк (for fish), etc), but for bears there is no single word. This proves once again that the English language has a much more vocabulary than Russian language.
Oh gawd NO))))
Trust me on this one)))
Overall English has tendency to cluster, where Russian has tendency to assign to each and every detail its own word)))
P.S. As far as bears go, I've heard "медвежья свора" in Russian
This is really an interesting topic! The Russian language also has a few words for displaying animal clusters (стая, свора, стадо, табун, косяк (for fish), etc), but for bears there is no single word. This proves once again that the English language has a much more vocabulary than Russian language.
Frankly, I suspect there's a guy in a room somewhere, just thinking up goofy new ones. A "business" of weasels? Really?! (One of Scrat's examples) One really does wonder where some of these come from. And who decides to make this or that one official? Is there a dictionary jury somewhere?
And who decides to make this or that one official? Is there a dictionary jury somewhere?
Not only a word, but even each phoneme in the word has a history. Sometimes this history can go to 70,000 years ago: https://youtu.be/oLGcD1ACbZo?t=4m21s
(the wonderful lecture about life of words)
Oh gawd NO))))
Trust me on this one)))
Overall English has tendency to cluster, where Russian has tendency to assign to each and every detail its own word)))
Russian language is 150,000 words. English is 400,000 words (a lot of archaic words).
At the same time, Russian is a very archaic language. Russian is pretty close to the ancestor of the Indo-European language/
Quote:
Originally Posted by erasure
P.S. As far as bears go, I've heard "медвежья свора" in Russian
+ "Russian is a very archaic language."
By the way, my favorite example of the transformation of words (the source is the same Zaliznyak):
For Russian language:
*gwiHwotoH (Indo-European) -> *gwīwotā -> *wīwotā -> живота (old Russian) -> жизнь (Russian). Already in the second step the Russian word is guessed.
For French language:
*gwiHwotoH (Indo-European) -> *gwīwotā -> *wīwotā -> *vīvotā -> *vīvutā -> *vīvitā -> *vītā -> vīta (Latin) -> vita -> vida -> vide -> *viđe -> viе
Not only a word, but even each phoneme in the word has a history. Sometimes this history can go to 70,000 years ago: https://youtu.be/oLGcD1ACbZo?t=4m21s
(the wonderful lecture about life of words)
I LOVE these lectures!
Russian is remarkably close to Iranian (speaking of Indo-Euro roots, and Russian being an ancient language), have you noticed? If you can find a list comparing words in Iranian with Russian, it's eye-opening. That makes sense, in view of Russia's Scythian history and Indo-Iranian genetic heritage.
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(Heaven forbid we should enjoy a lighthearted moment on this thread! )See, I didn't know the ones Scrat posted; squadrons of seabirds, and bushels of otters. Those are funny!
