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[lojban] Re: Help with "beak", please.
On Sun, 9 Jan 2005, Robin Lee Powell wrote:
> I'm kind of stuck on a word for "beak"....
> I really don't understand
> what beaks are made out of, in general (if there is an "in
> general").
A bird's beak is made of keratin, like jgalu (fingernails, claws or
hooves). If I remember right, part of the beak is directly supported by
the facial bones, while the end is freestanding. A porpoise's beak is just
an elongated mouth, like a dog's or horse's snout. A human's "beak" is a
metaphor for a long nose.
English has specialized old-language words for lots of things, cf. lamb,
foal, calf, kitten, cub, puppy... Other languages are not as nitpicky. My
wife, who is Chinese, isn't here right now so I can't ask her, but I'm sure
I've heard her refer to a bird's "mouth" (niao ko, I think).
I think I wouldn't use "ctebi - lip" as the base word; I'd use "moklu -
mouth" like in Chinese, despite the definition of "oral *cavity*", because
for a bird (or for a human viewing a bird) the beak is the whole mouth, not
a peripheral part around the mouth.
"jgalu moklu" is tempting, but I think I'd prefer a proper translation of
"snout" as in "projecting mouth". But I wasn't able to get a good gismu
for "projecting".
James F. Carter Voice 310 825 2897 FAX 310 206 6673
UCLA-Mathnet; 6115 MSA; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095-1555
Email: jimc@math.ucla.edu http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc (q.v. for PGP key)
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