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  • What does Gaul (French) mean?

    Sunday, October 09, 2005

    WORD FOR WORD: Bulbul, Hudhud and Cuckoo —Khaled Ahmed

    Birds are usually named from the sounds they make. That gives us the funny repeat-sound words. Sound imitation is also funny. Such names crop up in legends and mythology too. They may finally not apply only to birds

    We use many repeat-sound words, like bulbul and hudhud, both birds. It would be interesting to speculate how they are formed. My first conjecture is that they are onomatopoeic, that is, the names imitate the sounds these birds could be making.

    The other guess is that they point to something outlandish or legendary, the stuff of old tales and mythology. They are definitely more used for animals than men. Landmarks, too, can be thus named. Mythical simsim is a door in The Arabian Nights.

    But hudhud is a Quranic word. Etymology says it means a pigeon that is given to cooing (ghutarghun) a lot. Hudhud was Prophet Solomon’s (peace be upon him) pet bird. It was also a kind of spy-bird, which performed special chores for the Prophet.

    Solomon could speak with birds. That’s why hudhud (hoopoe in English) becomes important. It went out spying and brought back the report about the beauteous Queen Bilqis of Sheba. Then the bird also carried a letter to Bilqis from Solomon inviting her to embrace Islam.

    Our great treasury of legends, Qasas al Anbiya, tells us that each bird had a proverb to deliver. The one delivered by Hudhud was, ‘He who has no pity for others will not find pity’.

    The rationalist Muslims think that Hudhud was actually a tribe that owed allegiance to Prophet Solomon. Another repeat-sound bird is ababeel (plural), which again is rationally explained as vultures, not the sparrow or swift we know from daily life.

    Bulbul is also an Arabic word and means nightingale. The proverb it gives is: ‘Satisfaction is the true source of happiness’. Persian poetry would be nothing without the metaphor of bulbul, the most charming singing bird of all.

    In Urdu, it is derived. Our bulbul makes only raucous sounds. We have the cuckoo, another repeat-sound word from English. Bulbul has a strong humorous aspect to it when applied to people. All repeat-sound words tend to be funny.

    About nightingale one must learn a little more. The bird is supposed to sing at night. The last syllable ‘gal’ means to sing. In Latin ‘gallus’ also means the **** because it sings or makes a lot of noise. Since France was called Galicia and the French themselves were Gauls, the name stuck to them. Today the national bird of France is a rooster.

    Alas, the Gauls had to accept France as the final name of their country even though it implies a German tribal occupation of their land!

    The root for Anglo-Saxon ‘gal’ (to sing) comes from ‘gl’ which means throat. In Urdu, too, we have the same root for throat. Galla is throat and when we sing from it, it becomes gaana. Some word experts think that English call comes from ‘gal’.

    In Punjabi and Seraiki there is an interesting squabble over the word gaal. In Punjabi if you say gull it means anything said. If you prolong the sound and say gaal, it means a word of abuse. In more archaic and therefore more authentic Seraiki, gaal still means only talk. The truth is that the root of the word is the same: the throat.

    We have discussed two birds with repeat-sound names. Is this peculiar to only Arabic or are other nations involved in this kind of word-smithy, too? What about English dodo? We don’t know why the Portuguese gave this name to this extinct walking bird. In Portuguese it means stupid.

    The bat in Arabic is called wa****. King Solomon used to say that bats fly out only at night because their bodies are without feathers. Since they had a naked look about them, they feared that the people would laugh at them if they flew out during the day.

    Wa**** sounds pretty close to bat but this is a coincidence. English word bat comes from a Scandinavian word meaning flapping. The bat flaps its featherless wings. That is what we most remember about it.

    Next week we will discuss ‘duldul’ and ‘rafraf’. *

    A very interesting article.

    Leader and those with the same outlook would be delighted if the read close about the reference to France!


    "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

    I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

    HAKUNA MATATA

  • #2
    Originally posted by Ray
    A very interesting article.

    Leader and those with the same outlook would be delighted if the read close about the reference to France!
    Ever wonder how dog barks indifferent parts of the world?

    Woof, Woof! in northerm Europe.
    Bow, Bow ! In Italy.
    Ruff, Ruff! in US
    Gow, gow! in some parts of India

    Woofen, woofen in Germany??

    Comment


    • #3
      :)


      "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

      I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

      HAKUNA MATATA

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by gilgamesh
        Ever wonder how dog barks indifferent parts of the world?

        Woof, Woof! in northerm Europe.
        Bow, Bow ! In Italy.
        Ruff, Ruff! in US
        Gow, gow! in some parts of India

        Woofen, woofen in Germany??
        Don't forget those French Poodles...

        "Arf, Arf"





        ( woofen, woofen - I LOVE that! :) )
        "To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch

        "I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren

        "I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally

        "He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control

        Comment

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