Surely each of us has encountered the following situation. You dictate your address to a foreigner Email, and when you reach the @ icon, you fall into a slight stupor, because on a subconscious level you understand that if you use the word “dog”, you will definitely be misunderstood.
It must be said that the Russians are not the only inventors in this regard who decided to give the @ symbol an animal nickname. In Italy, for example, it is called a “snail”, and, let’s be fair, it looks more like a snail @ than a dog, but the Greeks associate the symbol with a duck and call it “παπάκι”.
WHAT IS THE @ ICON CALLED IN ENGLISH AND THE HISTORY OF THE SYMBOL
Meanwhile, English name The @ symbol is one of the most logical and simple ones. When you dictate your email address to a foreigner, just say “at” - this is the name of the “squiggle” in English speaking countries. And here's the reason. The fact is that initially this symbol in old printed documents was replaced English preposition“at” or French “à”, and the sign was mainly used in papers, telling about the purchase or sale of something. A simple example. The phrase "Mr White bought this house at the rate of 100,000 dollars" could look like "Mr White bought this house @ 100,000 $."
Painting "Market in the port", Emanuel de Witte
However, it was not printers who first invented the @ icon. They simply borrowed it from market traders, and the sellers used it again to indicate prices, for example, “12 apples @ $1” - that is, “I sell a dozen apples for one dollar.” It must be said that the symbol was international and helped to make transactions without unnecessary words And deep knowledge languages.
“Great Fish Market”, painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder.
However, if you delve even further into the jungle of the history of the @ symbol, you will discover a completely “shocking truth”. The fact is that the @ icon was not invented by merchants, but by medieval monks. The first to use the squiggle, which is well known to all of us, was in 1345 by the Byzantine chronicler Constantine Manasseh; he put it instead of the letter “A” in the word “Amen”. True, why Konstantin did this, the researchers never found out.
Well, then off we go! Medieval monks began to actively use the @ sign to replace at, to, by, about with them - this simple trick allowed saving expensive parchment and valuable ink. By the way, the @ sign is still often called “at” today, not only in English-speaking countries. For example, under this name it appears in Arabic And Georgian languages (آتْ), as well as in Esperanto(ĉe-signo), Hindi(at), Icelandic(the local “hjá” is actually a translation of the word at) and Thai(at). In addition, this is the name of the symbol in Hong Kong, Macau, Lithuania, Latvia And Estonia. In other languages, the expression “at the rate” is assigned to the “dog”, which translates as “according to the estimate”, so the icon is called, for example, in Nepal.
£25 IN ONE @
IN Spain And Portugal the @ symbol was historically called arroba and was used to designate 25 pounds, and in Italy it was used to reflect when writing a unit of weight based on the capacity of a standard amphora. For example, a document compiled by the Florentine Francesco Lapi has survived to this day. In it, he reported that he had sold wine in Peru in quantity @ and at a favorable price. The document is dated May 4, 1536, and it was sent from Seville to Rome.
And to this day in Spain, Portugal, Mexico And Brazil for the @ icon the same word arroba is used - old name a measure of weight of 25 pounds, by the way, in Brazil and Portugal it is still used to mean 15 kilograms. In France the @ icon has several names, but sometimes it can also be called arobas, which is again associated with the scale measure of 25 pounds (converted arroba), however, today this word is used less and less. In Catalonia, @ is also sometimes called arrova - again a renamed arroba.
@ IN THE ANIMAL WORLD
And yet associations with animals in relation to @ symbol- the most common. And, by the way, indicative. It’s worth at least a quick study of the list to understand that we are all very different, and the same thing can remind us of completely different things.
1. B Germany@ called klammeraffe, which means “monkey tail”, by the way, it seems. This symbol is also called in Africa– aapstert, China– xiao laoshu (小老鼠), in Romania– maimuţă, in France– queue de singe and in Luxembourg– afeschwanz. But in Poland The icon is simply called a monkey – małpa or małpka. The symbol received the same name in Croatia And Indonesia, V Serbia(majmun) and in Slovenia(afna). IN Macedonia@ is called maјmunche, which means “little monkey”, and in Bulgaria one of the names of the maymunka-a symbol is “monkey A”.
2. Danes And Norwegians The symbol resembles a pig's tail, which is how the word grisehale is translated, which is used in Denmark and Norway. However, in Norway they also have a spare musical name for the @ sign - krøllalfa, which means “twisted harp”.
3. Residents Sweden went further than their Scandinavian neighbors, they call @snabel-a, which means “elephant trunk”. However, trunk @ is sometimes called both in Denmark and in Farroe Islands– I wonder, have the residents of Farrer ever seen live elephants?
4. B Italy@ called chiocciola, that is, “snail”. The icon is associated with a snail in Korea. However, their word golbaeng-i (골뱅이) or daseulgi (다슬기) is more, shall we say, detailed, it translates as “freshwater snail without tentacles.” In Welsh, which is common in Wales, @ is called malwen or malwoden, which also means "snail". In France@ is also sometimes called escargot - no translation is required here, everyone knows French escargot snails: if you haven’t eaten them, then you’ve definitely heard about them.
5. Armenians and Russians think alike, in Armenia@ is called shnik, which means "puppy".
6. But in some areas China the icon is called a mouse, I wonder what they call a computer mouse?
7. B Finland everything is quite interesting. Here @ is most often called kissanh nt, which means “cat’s tail”; by the way, Finns often use this sign when writing to indicate the sound “meow”!
8. B Greece The “dog” turned into a duck; the word παπάκι (papaki) is used to denote the symbol.
9. B Hungary But @ has a completely unpleasant name. Here the symbol is called kukac, which translates as “worm”. I can’t help but remember “Mowgli”: “And they also called you a worm, an earthworm”!
TASTY NAMES OF SYMBOL @
You may remember that in the 90s the @ icon was sometimes called a bun? In our country, however, this name did not catch on; so to speak, the “dog” won the “bun” in the linguistic duel. However, in some countries, edible names for the icon have also taken root.
1. For example, Danes sometimes called kanelbulle, which means “cinnamon bun.”
2. Residents Catalonia The word ensaïmada is often used to indicate @ - this is the name of buns typical of the island of Mallorca; by the way, the shape is very similar, a photo of the baked goods is below.
3. B Azerbaijan the symbol is called ət, which translates as “meat” or “food”. Where is the logic?
4. B Bulgaria@ is often called banitsa - this is also the name of a Bulgarian pastry with a twisted shape.
5. B Japan to denote the @ symbol, the word attomāku is most often used, which is the translation into the language of the Country rising sun English expression“at mark”, that is, “mark”, but sometimes the mark here is called naruto (naruto) because of the whirlpools in the Naruto Strait, as well as because of narutomaki - a type of kamaboko, a traditional component of ramen or udon. Product photo is below.
6. Residents also came up with a tasty name for the symbol. Israel, here @ is called strudel.
7. B Czech Republic And Slovakia The icon is called zavináč, which means “fish rolls”, usually made from herring.
ALMOST LIKE THE LETTER "A"
For many people, the @ symbol reminds us of A, which, in principle, is logical. AND this fact reflected in many languages of the world. So, in Greenland@ is called aajusaq, which means "something that looks like A", in Indonesia the symbol has several names, from simple “twisted A” - bundar or bulat to artistic ones: “snake-like A” (keong) and “monkey-like A” (monyet). In Bulgarian, @ also has an additional name - klomba, which means “poorly written letter A”.
By the way, in 2004 the @ sign was added to Morse code. Here it is denoted by the following combination of dots and dashes: ·-·-·. By the way, this is the only serious change that has been made to Morse code since the Second World War.
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Yulia Malkova- Yulia Malkova - founder of the website project. In past Chief Editor Internet project elle.ru and editor-in-chief of the website cosmo.ru. I talk about travel for my own pleasure and the pleasure of my readers. If you are a representative of hotels or a tourism office, but we do not know each other, you can contact me by email: [email protected]
Bow-wow!
The Spaniards attribute the sound "guau-guau" to dogs; the Bangladeshis record their barking as "gheu-gheu". The Chinese and Japanese believe that a dog barks with the sound “wan-wan,” while Koreans hear it as “man-man.” The French have several options for recording barks: "wa-wa", "woof-woof" and "jap-jap". Among the peoples South Africa dogs speak with the sounds “bluff-bluff”, “woof-woof” and “keef-keef”. Albanian and Romanian dogs bark as if warning: “Hum-ham!” Hungarian and German pets seem to be surprised: “Wow-wow!” Italian and Bulgarian dogs prefer the sound "bow-bow". Among the Arabs and Turks, dogs pronounce “how-how”. English and American quadrupeds - especially large ones - bark sternly: “Woof-woof!” They also have other expressions in stock: “raf-raf”, “af-af” and even “bow-wow”. A small lap dog barks “yap-yap” or “yip-yip” in English.
Crow!
European roosters crow approximately the same way: in France they crow “kokoriko”, in Spain and Germany – “kikiriki”, in Italy – “kokkode”, in Holland – “kukeleku”, in Denmark – “kikiliki”, in Finland – “kukkokyeku” . The most original sound is made by a rooster English language: “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” Roosters crow unusually Faroe Islands("kakkularako"), in Iceland ("gagalago") and in Turkey ("u-uryu-uuyu"). The further from Europe, the more varied the options: among the Vietnamese the rooster crows “o-o-o-o”, among the Japanese it is “kokekokko”, and among the Filipinos it is “tiktilyaok”.
Meow meow!
Oink-oink!
How to call a cat
“Kitty-kitty” is a name used to address cats in Finland and Sweden. Spanish, Dutch, Greek and Portuguese cats are called with the sound “ps-ps”. Similar call signs are used in Turkey (“pissy-pissy”), England (“puss-puss”), Georgia and Moldova (“pis-pis”). In France, cats are called “minu-minu”, in Spain – “misu-misu”, in Germany – “mits-mits”, in China – “mi-mi-mi”. American tailed and tabby cats respond to “kitty-kitty-kitty”, Czech cats respond to “chi-chi-chi”, Japanese cats respond to “shu-shu-shu”, and Estonian cats respond to “kisyu-kisyu-kisyu”. If you call a French cat, smack your lips, and if you call a Belgian cat, whistle.
Surely you were interested in the question of why the pronunciation of animal sounds is always different in different countries. And why in England “woof” sounds like “yap-yap”, and in Japan it sounds like “kyan-kyan”.
The whole reason is that we, humans, and not animals, speak differently. The way we perceive their sounds indicates uniqueness human languages. Thus, in all languages, the cow says something close to “mu” - except in Urdu, where it says “bae”. It’s the same with a cat - everywhere she says something close to “meow”, and only in Japanese she says “nya”.
We suggest watching how animals speak in different languages, accompanied by wonderful illustrations by English artist James Chapman.
The dog barks
In Russia - woof-woof, aw-aw.
In Denmark - vov-vov (vov vov).
In Holland - small waf waf, medium-sized wof wof (woef woef).
In England - yap yap/arf arf - small, wuf-woof/ruff-ruff - medium (woof woof/ruff ruff), bow wow - large.
In Finland - small hau hau, medium and large vuff and rouf.
In France - ouah ouah.
In Germany - wau wau - small and medium, wuff wuff - large.
In Hungary - wow-wow (vau vau).
In Italy - arf-arf/bau-bau (arf arf/bau bau).
In Japan - kian-kian.
In Spain - guau or gua (guau/gua) - small, guav (guav) medium, guf-guf (guf guf) large.
In Sweden - vuv-vuv (vov vov).
In Turkey - hov hov.
The cat meows
In Russia - meow.
In Denmark - miav.
In Holland - miauw.
In England - mio (meow).
In Finland - miau-miau.
In France - miaou.
In Germany - miaou.
In Greece, miau.
In Hungary - miau.
In Italy - miaou.
In Japan - nyan-nyan or nyaa-nyaa (nyan nyan / nyaa nyaa).
In Spain - miao.
In Sweden - mjan mjan.
In Turkey - miyav.
In Latvia - nau-nau
The cat is purring
In Russia - mrrrr.
In Denmark - pierr.
In Holland - prrr (prrr).
In England - purr.
In Finland - hrr (hrr).
In France - ronron.
In Germany - cf (sr).
In Hungary - doromb.
In Italy - purr.
In Japan - goro goro.
In Spain - rrr (rrr).
Call the cat
In Russia, kitty is kitty.
In Denmark - kissar kissar (kissar-kissar).
In Holland - poes poes/ps ps ps.
In England - Pussy-pussy, Pussy-pussy.
In Finland - kis-kis.
In France - minu-minu, bi biss.
In Germany - mietz mietz.
In Greece - ps-ps-ps (ps-ps-ps).
In Hungary - kik-kik (cic-cic).
In Italy - vieni ricio.
In Spain - misu misu.
In Sweden - kiss-kiss.
In Turkey - pissy pissy (pissy-pissy).
Rooster crows
In Russia - crow.
In Denmark - kikiliks (kykyliky).
In Holland - kukeleku.
In England - cock-a-doodle-doo cock-a-doodle-doo.
In Finland - kukko kiekuu.
In France - cocorico.
In Germany - kikeriki.
In Greece - kikiriku/kikiriki.
In Hungary - kukuriku.
In Italy - chicchirichi.
In Japan - ko-ke-kok-ko-o (ko-ke-kok-ko-o).
In Spain - quiquiriquí/kikiriki.
In Sweden - kukeliku.
In Turkey - kuk-kurri-kuu, oo-oore-oo (kuk-kurri-kuuu, u uru uuu (pron: oo-oore-oo)).
Frog
In Russia - kva-kva, bre-ke-keks-kvarax.
In Denmark - kvaek-kvaek (kvæk-kvæk).
In England - croak.
In the USA - ribbit.
In Finland - kvaak.
In Germany - quaak-quaak.
In Hungary - bre-ke-ke/kuty kurutty/kurutch.
In Italy - cra-cra (cra cra).
In Japan - kero-kero (kero kero).
In Sweden - ko-ack-ack-ack (ko ack ack ack).
In Turkey - vrak-vrak (vrak vrak).
Bee
In Russia lzhzhzh.
The most common variant is bzzz, as they say in Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, and Spain.
In Holland - buzz.
In England they use two variants: buzz and bzzz.
In Greece - zoom-zoom.
In Italy - zzzz (zzzz).
In Japan - boon boon.
In Sweden - buzz buzz.
In Turkey - vizzz.
Torture
Like dogs, their sounds are divided into small and large.
In Russia - chik-chirik, fut (usually indicated by a whistle).
Denmark seems to be full of ornithologists. Judge for yourself, these sounds are visible and invisible there. A small bird in Denmark calls simply, but with a taste of pip-pip. The average size is perverted as dit, kari, jai, sige, ligue, sa, tit, son, vol can (dit kari jay sige lige sa tit son vol).
In Holland - tjiep.
In England, baby birds "talk" in different ways chip/chirp/chirrup/peep. Medium - chip-chip/tweet (cheep cheep/tweet). The big ones actually say something unimaginable - squawk.
In Finland - piip, medium teal/piip, large - you won’t believe it! croak (kvak).
In Germany - sum-sum (summ summ).
In Greece - small and medium squeaks tsiou-tsiou (tsiou tsiou). And big kra-kra (kra kra).
In Italy - small, medium and large are called chip. And the big ones still giggle sometimes - hihihi
(hihihi).
In Japan, nothing special - pii pii (pee pee/pii pii).
In Spain - pio-pio (pío pío).
In Sweden - pip-pip.
In Turkey - juik-juik (juyk juyk).
Chickens squeak almost the same pee-pee everywhere, or piip-piip. And the Japanese distinguished themselves, their chickens squeak piyo-piyo (piyo piyo).
Chicken
In Russia, co-co-co.
In Holland - tok-tok.
In England - cluck cluck.
In Finland and Hungary - cat-cat (kot-kot).
In France - cotcotcodet.
In Greece - ko-ko-ko or ka-ka-ka (ko ko ko/ka ka ka).
In Italy - cocode (coccode).
In Japan, ku-ku-ku-ku/ko-ko-ko-ko (ku-ku-ku-ku/ko-ko-ko-ko).
In Spain - caca-racá/cocorocó/.
In Sweden - ok-ok (ock-ock).
In Turkey - gat gdak (gut gut gdak).
Duck
In Russia - quack-quack.
In Denmark - rap-rap.
In Holland - kwak-kwak.
In England - quack quack.
In Finland - kvak.
In France - coin coin.
In Germany - quack quack.
In Greece - pa-pa-pa (pa-pa-pa).
In Hungary - hap-hap (háp-háp).
In Italy - kua-kua (qua qua).
In Japan - ga-ga (ga ga).
In Spain - cua cua.
In Sweden - kvack-kvack.
In Turkey - vak-vak.
Crow
In Russia (Hungary, Japan) car-car.
In Denmark and Holland, Greece and Italy, Sweden and Germany - kra-kra.
In England - kaak/caw.
In Finland - kraa/vaak.
In France - croa-croa (croa croa).
In Spain - ah-ah (ah ah).
In Turkey - gaak-gaak (gaak gaak).
Cuckoo
Basically, like ours - peek-a-boo.
In Holland - koekoek.
In Hungary - kakukk (kakukk).
In Japan, kakko-kakko (kakko-kakko). And the cuckoo squeaks: tokyo-kyoka-kyoku.
The cow moos (for those like us - moo - I won’t talk about those)
In Russia - muu.
In Holland - moe/boe.
In Finland - ammuu.
In France - meu (meuh).
In Germany - mmuuh (mmuuh).
In Japan - Mau Mau.
Goose
In Russia - eider.
In Holland and Germany - gak-gak (gak gak).
In England - onk-onk (honk).
Donkey
In Russia ia-ia.
In England - hee haw/eeyore.
In France - ian (hihan).
In Germany - tok-tock.
In Italy - yo-yo (ioh ioh).
In Turkey - ai-ai (a-iiii a-iiii).
Goat
In Russia - less.
In Denmark - May (mæh).
In Holland - me-me (mè mè).
In England - naa (naa).
In Finland - maa (mää).
In Germany - maeh-maeh (maehh maehh).
In Greece - maehehe.
In Hungary - meh (meh meh).
In Italy - mek-mek (mek-mek).
Sheep
In Russia - bey.
In Denmark - May (mæh-mæh).
In England - baa (baa).
In Finland - ma (mäh).
In Germany, baehh baehh.
In Greece - May-ee (mae-ee).
Pig
In Russia - oink-oink.
In Holland - knor knor.
In England - oink.
In France - groin groin.
In Germany - grunz.
In Japan - boo-boo (boo boo).
Parrot
In Russia - "ass fool".
In Holland - lorre/Lora Lora (lorre/Lora Lora).
In England - pretty Polly.
In France - coco.
In Germany - Lora Lora.
In Greece - gouri (gyuri).
In Hungary - drinking (pityu).
In Italy - Portobello.
In Japan - good morning - ohayo (=good morning).
In Spain - lorito lorito.
In Sweden - vakra klara.
In Turkey - naaber naaber/nasilin nasilin/muzhuk mujuk (naaber naaber/nasilin nasilin/mucuk mucuk (pron: mujuk)
It turns out that dogs bark differently in different countries. And the familiar Russian “woof-woof” is heard in a completely different way among many peoples. For example, Koreans (big “lovers” of dogs) hear “mung-mung.”
So, what does a dog bark sound like in other languages?
In Afrikaans (previously also known as Afrikaans), one of 11 official languages Republic of South Africa, a dog's bark sounds like "woef".
Albanians hear “ham-ham” or “hum-hum” (ham ham / hum hum). The Arabs pronounce it almost like ours, “haw haw.”
In the Bengali language (common in Indian state West Bengal and Bangladesh) dog barks are pronounced ghaue-ghaue. Bengali experts, please correct me if there is anything wrong.
In the Catalan language (it is spoken by about 11 million people in the so-called Catalan lands in Spain, France, Andorra and the Italian city of Alghero on the island of Sardinia), dogs bark “bup, bup”.
The Chinese hear it as “wang wang”.
Croatian dogs bark "vau-vau". Kind of pitiful, right?
In Denmark, dogs bark as “vov”, as if they were addressing some kind of Vova. In Holland "woef" (woef).
The English hear it in different ways: this is “bow wow”, and “arf”, and “woof”, as well as “ruff ruff”.
Let's move on to the Scandinavians. Estonians hear “auh” (auh), Finns hear “hau-hau” or “vuh-vuh” (hau hau/vuh vuh).
French barking sounds like “ouah-ouah” (ouah ouah), although they have a complex transcription there, I could be lying. Anyone who has studied French, please correct me if I'm wrong.
The Germans hear the following sounds in dog barks: “wau wau” or “wuff wuff”.
The Greeks are kindred spirits. They hear “gav” just like we do. The Jews also did not disappoint, they hear almost the same. In Hebrew, the barking of dogs is rendered as “haw haw” (haw haw/hav hav). There, in my opinion, only the sound “g” is fricative, close to the sound “x”. If someone knows Hebrew well, confirm or deny, okay?
In the Hindi language (it is widespread mainly in northern and central regions India) the barking of dogs is rendered as “bho-bho” (bho:-bho:)
Hungarians hear “wow-wow” (vau-vau). Residents of Iceland think that barking sounds like “voff.”
Indonesians believe that dogs bark "gong gong" (gonggong). The Italians are also original – “bau bau”.
The Japanese are a special people. Apparently their dogs are special too. They bark "wanwan" or "kyankyan".
Dog-eating Koreans hear barking as “mung-mung” or “wang-wang.”
Norwegian dogs bark “vof” or “vov-vov” (voff / vov-vov), sometimes, apparently, the sound at the end is simply deafened. Echo maybe ;)
Poles hear “hau-hau”, well, vaguely reminiscent of “woof-woof”.
The Portuguese and Brazilians (they have the same language - Portuguese) believe that the barking of dogs sounds in the following way: “au-au” (au-au).
Slovenians hear dogs barking as “hov-hov”.
Spanish and Argentinean dogs (Spain and Argentina also have the same language - Spanish) bark “guau-guau”.
Swedes hear “vov-vov” in the barking of dogs.
In Thailand, dogs bark "hoang hoang"
Turks almost hear us “hav-hav” (hav, hav). Also the Ukrainians with their “hacking-hacking” – “haf-haf”.
Well, and finally, the Vietnamese believe that dogs bark “wau wau”.
In general, all nations follow the inviolable principle of spelling - “as I hear, so I write” ;)