Stamps motivate us to engage with languages

[andy66]

Languages of Valle d'Aosta

/RogerE
[/quote]

Hello,
It's all right what you are writing, only that you don't have to get confused with languages and dialects. In Italy there are 12 languages recognized by the Italian constitution (law 482/1999, yes we had to wait many years to get that stated), all others are just dialects, and those are many more, at least one for each province. Here you can see a map of the several languages and the areas where they are spoken:
https://it.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislazione_italiana_a_tutela_delle_minoranze_linguistiche
You can see that mostly they are spoken near the borders. The most interesting are those known as Neo-Latin, that is they come directly from ancient Latin (alike french, Spanish, portoguese and Rumanian) and are Ladin, Friulan and Sardinian. Ladin is spoken also in parts of Switzerland, Sardinian also in Corsica and Friulan nowhere else in the world (except for our many emigrants that went all over )

Andrea

[RogerE]

Thanks Andrea = andy66 I like your comment about Friulan.

More later. In the meantime I will get back to the glossary...

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Philatelic Glossary, E–K

• Esperanto

Poŝtmarko — Postage stamp

• Estonian

Postkast — Post box

• Finnish

Ehiö — Postal stationery

Ensipäivän kuori — First day cover

Hammastamaton — Imperforate

Hammastettu — Perforated

Kirjattu kirje — Registered letter

Leima — Cancellation, postmark

Lentoposti — Air mail

Malli — Specimen

Pikakirje — Express letter

Postimerkki — Postage stamp

Postitoimisto — Post Office

Suomen Postimerkit — Finnish stamps

• Flemish

Postkaart — Postcard

• French

Allemagne — Germany

Boîte aux lettres — Post box

Carte Postale — Postcard

Catalogue de vente aux enchères — Auction catalogue

Charnière  — Hinge

Colis posteaux — Parcel post

Destinataire — Recipient/addressee

Enveloppe — Cover, envelope

Expéditeur/expéditrice (m/f) — Sender

Exposition de timbres — Stamp exhibition

Filigrane (m) — Watermark

Les timbres-poste — Postage stamps

Neuf sans charnière — Mint never hinged/Mint unhinged

Odontomètre — Perforation gauge

Par avion — By air mail

Premier jour d'émission — First day of issue

Se tenant — Joined (stamps of different designs)

Tête-bêche — Head-to-tail

Timbre — Stamp

Timbre d'usage courant — Definitive stamp

Timbre préoblitéré — Precancel

Train postal — Mail train

Vente sur offres — Mail auction

• German

Briefmarken — Postage stamps

Briefzentrum — Mail centre

Dauermarke— Definitive stamp

Ersttagsbrief — First day cover

Firmenlochung — Perfin

Flugpost — Air mail

Frankreich — France

Ganzsache — Postal stationery, entire

Gefälligkeitsabstempelung — Cancelled to order

Griechische Briefmarken — Greek stamps

Nachporto — Postage due

Paketpost — Parcel post

Postfrisch — Mint never hinged

Postgeschichte — Postal history

Postschiff — Post delivery boat

Prägedruck — Embossed printing

das Scharnier — Hinge

Selbstklebend — Self-adhesive

Sondermarke — Commemorative stamp

der Umschlag — Cover, envelope

Ungezähnte Briefmarke — Imperforate stamp

Vorausentwertung — Precancel

Wiesenschaumkraut — Lady's Smock/Cuckooflower(!)

Zähnungsschlüssel — Perforation gauge

• Greek

γραμματόσημο [grammatósimo] — Postage stamp

ταχυδρομείο [tachydromeío] — Post Office

• Greenlandic

Kalaallit Nunaat — Greenland

Juullip frimærkiinik mappersakkat — Christmas stamp booklet

• Hebrew

בֵּית דוּאַר [Beit duar] — Post Office

בּוּל דוֹאַר [Bool duar] — Postage stamp

מִכתָב רָשׁוּם [Miktav rashum] — Registered letter

שובל [Shoval] — Tab (at base of an Israeli stamp)

• Hindi

डाक घर [Dāk ghar] — Post Office

डाक टिकट [Dāk tikat] — Postage stamp

डाक टिकट प्रदर्शनी [Dāk tikat pradarshanī] — Stamp exhibition

डाक विभाग [Dāk vibhāg] — Postal Department

पंजीकृत डाक [Panjīkrt dāk] — Registered mail

पोस्ट कार्ड [Post kārd] — Postcard

प्रतिरूप [Pratiroop] — Specimen

प्रथम दिवस आवरण [Pratham ðivas āvaran] — First day cover

भारत [Bhārat] — India

भारतीय डाक और तार विभाण [Bhāratīya dāk aur tār vibhān] — India Posts and Telegraphs Division

विशेष आवरण [Vishèsh āvaran] — Special cover

• Indonesian

Perangko — Postage stamp

Sampul hari pertama — First day cover

• Italian

Busta primo giorno — First day cover

Catalogo d'asta — Auction catalogue

Francobolli — Stamps

Francobollo definitivo — Definitive stamp

Instituto Polygrafico e Zecca Della Stato — National Mint and Printing House

Posta prioritaria — Priority mail

Ufficio postale — Post Office

• Japanese

ステーショナリー [Sutēshonarī] — Postal stationery

切手 [Kitte] — Stamp

日本 [Nihon] — Japan

普通切手 [Futsū kitte] — Definitive stamp

書留郵便 [Kakitome yūbin] — Registered mail

航空便 [Kōkū-bin] — Air mail

見本 [Mihon] — Specimen

郵便局 [Yūbinkyoku] — Post Office

• Korean

우체국 [U.che.gug] — Post Office

우표 [U.pyo] — Postage stamp

.
/RogerE

[honza]

Ahoj Roger,

May I point out an error in your French glossary. The plural of 'colis postal' (seen on French stamps) is 'colis postaux; (seen on Belgian stamps) not 'colis posteaux'.

Also, as I pointed out in a private email, 'Falz' is the usual term in German for a stamp hinge.

Best wishes,

Honza

[RogerE]

Thanks for picking up those corrections, honza.
I don't remember seeing honza's private e-mail about Falz. If I did see it, I had forgotten by the time I was preparing the latest section of the glossary. Apologies for that!

_________________

Correcting my spelling error:
French: le colis postal, les colis postaux — parcel stamp, parcel stamps

Explicit normal terminology:
German: der Briefmarkenfalz, die Briefmarkenfalze — stamp hinge, stamp hinges
Common usage:
German: der Falz, die Falze (or Fälze) — hinge, hinges

As honza implies, das Scharnier is not the commonly used German term for stamp hinge. That word is a loan word from French charnière.

The basic meaning of Falz is a sharp fold, usually in paper. Stamp hinges are traditionally folded, so Falz is a natural name, while Briefmarkenfalz is explicit as "stamp hinge".
Here is a relevant Wikipedia extract:

Ein Briefmarkenfalz oder kurz Falz, auch Klebefalz, ist ein einseitig gummierter Pergaminstreifen und dient zur Befestigung von Briefmarken auf einer Unterlage (z. B. Albumseite).
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briefmarkenfalz

Compare with:

In philately, stamp hinges, or mounts, are small, folded, transparent, rectangular pieces of paper coated with a mild gum. They are used by stamp collectors to affix postage stamps onto the pages of a stamp album.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_hinge

Those two descriptions are parallel, but not exactly equivalent. Stylistically, the German is slightly more precise.

/RogerE

[honza]

Ahoj again Roger!

Going back to 'colis postal', this strictly means postal parcel rather than parcel stamp. The noun is 'colis' and 'postal' is the adjective. Thus 'colis postaux' means more than one parcel rather than more than one stamp.

For example a stamp in English could be inscribed PARCEL or PARCELS to indicate its use regardless of the number of parcels sent

Cheers again,

Honza

[RogerE]

Aaahh, thanks to honza for another correction. I was so focussed on correcting the spelling error that I didn't examine the meaning carefully enough. Well, now I've learnt something more!
.

_______________

.
Corrected translation:
French: le colis postal, les colis postaux — postal parcel, postal parcels

Not all parcels are intended to go through the post, so the adjective "postal" is appropriately specific.
The following quotes are from various entries in
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/

French: colis
Pronunciation IPA: /kɔ.li/
Noun: colis m (plural colis)
• parcel, package
• baggage, luggage

The etymology of the French word colis is interesting.
Latin collum —> Italian collo —> French colis
Summary: From neck comes the association with something wound around the neck, hence collar. In turn, that suggests wrapping an object, hence parcel.

French colis, borrowed from Italian colli, plural of collo.
Italian: collo
Pronunciation IPA: /ˈkɔl.lo/, [ˈkɔl̺l̺o]
Noun: collo m (plural colli)
• neck (all senses) [cognate with French cou — neck]
• collar
• parcel, package; luggage (especially when bulky)
• (anatomy) neck, cervix

In turn, the Italian collo derives from Latin:

Latin: collum
Noun: collum n (genitive collī); second declension
• (anatomy) neck, throat
• upper stem of a plant
• (symbolically) servitude

Footnote: The English word collar also ultimately comes from the Latin collum. As several recent posts in this thread were about Burmese, I found that Wiktionary also notes that Burmese borrows its word for collar from English: ကော်လာ (category: Burmese terms borrowed from English)
[ကော်လာ — က k, ကော် kau; လ l, လာ la]
English collar. IPA: /kɔ̀là/ Romanisation: MLCTS: kaula

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Philatelic Glossary, L–P

• Latin

Helvetia — Switzerland

• Latvian

Latvijas Pastmarkas Gada Komplekts — Latvian stamps year set

• Malayalam

അഞ്ചലോട്ടക്കാരൻ [Anchalōttakkāran]— Postman

അഞ്ചൽ പെട്ടി [Anchàlpetti] — Post box

ആവരണം [Āvaranam] — Cover

തപാലാപ്പീസ് [Thapālaappīs] — Post Office

തപാൽ [Thapāl] — Post

തപാൽ പെട്ടി [Thapāl pettī] — Post box

തപാൽ മുദ്രാ പ്രദർശനം [Thapāl muðra praðarshanam] — Stamp exhibition

പ്രഥമ ദിവസ ആവരണം [Prathama ðivada āvaranam] — First day cover

മുദ്ര [Muðrā] — Stamp

മുദ്രാ ശേഖരണം [Muðrā shèkaranam] — Philately

മേൽപടി അച്ചടി [Mèlpadi achchadī] — Overprint

വിശേഷ ആവരണം [Vishèsha āvaranam] — Special cover

സ്ഥിര ചിത്ര മുദ്ര [Sthira chithra mudrā] — Permanent pictorial cancellation

• Maltese

Bolla — Stamp

Bolli ta' malta — Stamps of Malta

ittra rreġistrata — Registered letter

• Marathi

टपाल तिकिट [Ṭapāla tikiṭa] — Postage stamp

पत्र [Patra] — Letter

• Mongolian

[Rendered here in "new script (Cyrillic)"; traditional vertical script omitted]

Aгаарын шуудан [Agaaryn shuudan] — Air mail

Шуудангийн төлбөр [Shuudangiin tölbör] — Postage due

Дугаарын эхний өдөр [Dugaaryn ekhnii ödör] — First day of issue

Илгээмжийн шуудан [ilgeemjiin shuudan] — Parcel post

• Nepali

नेपाल [Nēpāla] — Nepal

पहिलो दिन कभर [Pahilō dina kabhara] — First day cover

हुलाक टिकट [Hulāka ṭikaṭa] — Postage stamp

• Odia/Oriya

ଡାକ ଘର [ḍāk ghara] — Post Office

• Polish

Okładka pierwszego dnia — First day cover

Pustopole — Gutter pairs

Skrzynka pocztowa — Post box

Ustawa stemplowa — Stamp duty

• Portuguese

Aerograma — Aerogram

Álbum de selo — Stamp album

Auto-adesivo — Self-adhesive

Bissecto — Bisect

Bloco — Block

Burelagem — Burelage

Caixa de correio — Post box

Caixa postal — Mailbox

Cancelado a pedido — Cancelled to order

Carta registrada — Registered letter

Carteiro — Postman

Cartofilia — Deltiology

Charneira— Hinge

Código de rastreamento — Tracking code

Correio aéreo — Air mail

Correio prioritário — Priority mail

Correios — Post Office

Correspondência censurada — Censored mail

Correspondência registrada — Registered mail

Destinatário — Recipient

Emissão base — Definitive stamp

Ensaio — Essay

Envelope — Cover, envelope

Falsificação — Forgery

Falso (m), falsa (f) — Bogus, fake

Filatelia — Philately

Folha em miniatura — Miniature sheet

Franquia — Franking

História postal — Postal history

Imperfurado — Imperforate

Imposto do selo — Stamp duty

Impressão no verso de um selo — Backprint

Inteiro Postal — Entire

Litografia — Lithography

Livreto — Booklet

Lupa — Magnifying glass

Marca d'água — Watermark

Marca de recebimento — Receiving mark

Papel vergê — Laid paper

Perfuração mista — Mixed perforation

Pré-cancelamento — Precancel

Primeiro dia de emissão — First day of issue

Remetente — Sender

Selo — Stamp

Selo comemorativo — Commemorative stamp

Selo de bobina — Coil stamp

Selo de caridade — Charity stamp

Selo de receita — Revenue stamp

Selo definitivo — Definitive stamp

Selo postal — Postage stamp

Sobreimpressão — Overprint

Sobretaxa — Surcharge

Taxas de postagem — Postage dues

Valor de catálogo — Catalogue value

Vinco — Crease

.
/RogerE

[RogerE]

Philatelic Glossary, Q–Z

• Quechua

Chaski unanchana — Postage stamp

• Russian

Германия [Germaniya] — Germany

Заказное письмо [Zakaznoye pismo] — Registered letter

Kонверт первого дня [Konvert pervogo dnya] — First day cover

Oткрытка [Otkrytka] — Postcard

Почтовое отделение [Pochtovoye otdeleniye] — Post Office

Предварительное гашение [Predvaritel'noye gasheniye] — Precancel

С Новым Годом [Snovim godom] — Happy New Year!

• Samoan

Fa'alēaogāina — Cancellation

Le faʻaaogaina — Unused

Meli ave pusa — Parcel post

Meli fa'amuamua — Priority mail

Meli fa'ava'alele — Air mail

Meli fa'asolopito — Postal history

Meli mai fafo — Foreign (overseas) mail

Meli toe fo'i mai — Returned mail

O le aso muamua o le lomiga — First day of issue

O le fa'ailoga vai i pepa — Watermark

O le faʻailoga — Stamp

O le faʻailoga aloaia — Official stamp

O le faʻailoga e leai ni pu — Imperforate stamp

O le faʻailoga tupe maua — Revenue stamp

O le faʻatasiga fa'ailoga — Stamp club

O le falemeli — Post Office

O le pepa pipii — Hinge

O le posikaki — Postcard

O le pusa meli — Mailbox

O le taga meli — Mail bag

O le tagata ave meli — Postman

O le teutusi — Envelope

O le tioata faʻalauteleina — Magnifying glass

O le tusi fa'ailoga — Stamp album

O pu i fa'ataamilo o se faʻailoga — Perforations

Ta'avale meli — Mail truck

Tagata na lofoa le tusi — Sender/Person who sent the letter

Totogi faʻaopoopo — Surcharge

Tuātusi — Address

• Scots Gaelic

Litir-Adhair — Air Letter

Troimh'n phost-adhair — By Air Mail

• Sinhala

තැපැල් කාර්යාලය [Tæpæl kāryālaya] — Post Office

පළමු දින කවරය [Paḷamu dina kavaraya] — First day cover

ලියාපදිංචි ලිපිය [Liyāpadiṁci lipiya] — Registered letter

• Spanish

Alemania — Germany

Inglaterra — England

Odontómetro — Perforation gauge

Primer día de circulación — First day of issue

Sobre — Cover, envelope

• Swedish

Vattenstämpel — Watermark

• Tamil

அஞ்சல் [Añchal] — Post

அஞ்சல் அட்டை [Añcal aṭṭai] — Postcard

முதல் நாள் அட்டை [Mutal nāḷ aṭṭai] — First day cover

• Telugu

తపాలా బిళ్ళ [Tapālā biḷḷa] — Postage stamp

• Thai

จดหมายลงทะเบียน [Cdh̄māy lng thabeīyn] — Registered letter

ที่ทำการไปรษณีย์ [Thī̀thảkār pịrs̄ʹṇīy̒] — Post Office

ประเทศไทย [Prathet Thai] — Thailand

ไปรษณีย์ [Pịrs̄ʹṇīy̒] — Post Office

สตางค์ [Satang] — Satang

แสตมป์ [Saetamp] — Stamp

• Turkish

Köprülü pullar — Gutter pairs

Posta kodu — Postcode, ZIP code

Pul posta — Postage stamp

Zarf — Cover, envelope

• Vietnamese

Bìa thư — Cover

Blốc tem — Souvenir sheet

Bưu cục chuyển phát — Receiving Post Office

Bưu cục lưu động — Mobile post office

Bưu điện — Post Office

Bưu tá — Postman

Bưu thiếp — Postcard

Bưu thiếp cực đại — Maxicard

Chuyển về người gửi — Return to sender

Con tem — Stamp

Dấu hủy — Cancellation

Địa chỉ —  Address

Ngày Phát hành Đầu tiên — First day of issue

Người gửi — Sender

Người nhận — Recipient

Phong bì — Envelope

Tem chết — Cancelled stamp

Tem giả — Fake stamp, counterfeit

Tem học — Philately

Tem hủy trước — Cancelled to order stamp

Tem in lỗi — Error stamp

Tem không răng — Imperforate stamp

Tem kỷ niệm — Commemorative stamp

Tem phổ thông — Definitive stamp

Tem quân đội — Military stamp

Tem sư vụ — Official stamp

Tem thiếu cước — Postage due

Tết — Lunar New Year

Thư bị phá hoại — Destroyed/damaged mail

Thư hàng không — Air mail

Thùng thư — Mailbox

• Welsh

Post Awyr — Air mail

Post Brenihol — Royal Mail

.
/RogerE

[RogerE]

Travancore Cochin — Malayalam script

A post introducing Malayalam was included earlier in this thread, at
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=90529&start=374

A current post by sagi2917 on the Happy Day thread showed this Travancore postcard, offering us an opportunity to examine some philatelic instances of Malayalam:
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=82193&start=6021

.
Malayalam title (top right):
ആഞ്ചൽ കാഡ്
[āñcal kāḍ]
Analysis: ആ ഞ്ച ൽ . കാ ഡ്
— Post Card

Malayalam subtitle (top right):
വിലാസം
[vilāsaṁ]
Analysis: വി ലാ സം
— address
മേൽ
[mēl]
Analysis: മേ ൽ
— over, above
മേൽ വിലാസം
[mēl vilāsaṁ]
— address here

Malayalam subtitle (top left)
My attempted transcription (perhaps not quite accurate?)
എഴതാന ഇഇസഥലം
[eḻatāna 'i'isathalaṁ]
— This is the place to write

Travancore–Cochin or Thiru–Kochi was a short-lived state of India (1949–1956). It was originally called United State of Travancore and Cochin and was created on 1 July 1949 by the merger of two former kingdoms, Travancore and Cochin with Thiruvananthapuram as the capital. It was renamed State of Travancore–Cochin in January 1950.

Travancore Cochin 1951

.

.
Malayalam denomination:
രണ്ട് പൈസ
[raṇṭ paisa]
Analysis: ര ണ്ട് . പൈ സ
— two pies
.
Malayalam caption for image:
തിരുവിതാംകൂർ തപാൽ സ്റ്റാമ്പുകൾ
[tiruvitāṅkūr tapāl sṟṟāmpukaḷ]
Analysis: തി രു വി താം കൂ ർ . ത പാ ൽ . സ്റ്റാ മ്പു ക ൾ
— Travancore postage stamp
.
Marathi caption on original image:
त्रावणकोर टपाल तिकीट
[trāvaṇakōra ṭapāla tikīṭa]
Analysis: त्रा व ण को र . ट पा ल . ति की ट
— Travancore postage stamp
.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travancore%E2%80%93Cochin

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Ge'ez Script

Sadly, Ethiopia is currently in the news because of widespread conflict and disruption, with many of the
nonparticipants fleeing the conflict areas on foot, carrying what little food and belongings they can manage...

With over 109 million inhabitants as of 2019, Ethiopia is the 12th most populous country in the world, the second most populous nation on the African continent (after Nigeria), and most populous landlocked country in the world.

Against that reality, let us look at the philatelic and linguistic cultural windows into that region.

The Ge'ez script, or at least a modern version of that classical script, is recognisable from Ethiopian stamps.

.

.
Ethiopia, 22 Jun 1942, First Day Cover, Haile Selassie definitives

.

.

Geʽez /ˈɡiːɛz/ ግዕዝ Gəʿəz IPA: [ˈɡɨʕɨz], referred to in some scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic, is an ancient South Semitic language of the Ethio-Semitic branch. The language originates from the region encompassing the Eritrea and northern Ethiopia regions in East Africa.

Today, spoken Geʽez is used only as the main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church, and the Beta Israel Jewish community.

The closest living languages to Geʽez are Tigre and Tigrinya, with lexical similarity at 71% and 68%, resp.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge%CA%BDez

What is the principal language of Ethiopia?

That simple question has a surprisingly complicated answer.
The official languages of Ethiopia include Afar, Amharic, English, Oromo, Somali, Tigrinya

Of the languages spoken in Ethiopia, 86 are living and 2 are extinct; 41 of the living languages are institutional, 14 are developing, 18 are vigorous, 8 are in danger of extinction, and 5 are near extinction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Ethiopia

አማርኛ — Amharic
Pronunciation: /amarɨɲːa/

Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas and as a lingua franca by other populations residing in major cities and towns of Ethiopia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amharic

ትግርኛ — Tigrinya Geʽez
[tigriññā]
Pronunciation /tɨɡrɨɲa/
Native to Eritrea, Ethiopia
Ethnicity Tigrinyas
Native speakers 9 million (2011–2012)

Tigrinya Ge’ez Tigrinya: ትግርኛ (also spelled Tigrigna), is an Ethiopic Semitic language spoken in Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia in the Tigray region. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions.

Although Tigrinya differs markedly from the Geʽez (Classical Ethiopic) language, for instance in having phrasal verbs, and in using a word order that places the main verb last instead of first in the sentence — there is a strong influence of Geʽez on Tigrinya literature, especially with terms relating to Christian life, Biblical names, and so on. Ge'ez, because of its status in Ethiopian culture, and possibly also its simple structure, acted as a literary medium until relatively recent times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigrinya_language

.

ትግረ / ትግሬ / ትግራይት / ኻሳ — Tigre
Tigre / Tigrē / Tigrayit / Xasa
Tigre Geʽez
Native to Eritrea
Ethnicity Tigre
Native speakers 250,000 – 1.05 million (2014)

Tigre Geʽez Tigre: ትግረ tigre, or ትግሬ tigrē, better known in Eritrea by its autonym Tigrayit ትግራይት, and also known by speakers in Sudan as al-Bani amir (Arabic: البني عامر‎), is an Afroasiatic language spoken in the Horn of Africa. It belongs to the North Ethiopic subdivision of the South Semitic languages and is primarily spoken by the Tigre people in Eritrea.

Along with Tigrinya, it is believed to be the most closely related living language to Ge'ez, which is still in use as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Tigre has lexical similarity, 71% with Ge’ez and 64% with Tigrinya. As of 1997, Tigre was spoken by approximately 800,000 Tigre people in Eritrea.

The Tigre mainly inhabit western Eritrea, though they also reside in the northern highlands of Eritrea and its extension into the adjacent part of Sudan, as well as Eritrea's Red Sea coast north of Zula.

The Tigre people are not to be confused with their neighbors to the south, the Tigrayans of Eritrea and Ethiopia, who speak Tigrinya. Tigrinya is also derived from the parent Geʽez tongue, but is quite distinct from Tigre despite the similarity in name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigre_language

ብሊና / ብሊን — Bilen
Region central Eritrea and eastern Sudan
Ethnicity Bilen people
Native speakers 91,000 (2006)

The Bilen language ብሊና [b(ɨ)lina], or ብሊን [b(ɨ)lin] is spoken by the Bilen people in and around the city of Keren in Eritrea and Kassala in eastern Sudan. It is the only Agaw (Central Cushitic) language spoken in Eritrea. It is spoken by about 120,000 people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilen_language

Ge'ez script

The Wikipedia source for the quotes (lightly edited) which follow is
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge%CA%BDez_script

Geʽez ግዕዝ [Gəʿəz] is an abugida script (alphasyllabary) for several languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It originated as an abjad (consonant-only alphabet) and was first used to write Geʽez, now retained as a liturgical language... In Amharic and Tigrinya, the script is often called fidäl ፊደል — script, letter...

The representation of sounds here uses a system common (though not universal) among linguists who work on Ethiopian Semitic languages. This differs somewhat from the conventions of the International Phonetic Alphabet = IPA.

To understand the syllabic script (abugida), it is helpful to see the original characters, which represent consonants only (abjad).

Ge'ez abjad

.

Ge'ez abugida

Modern Geʽez script is written from left to right.

The Geʽez abugida developed under the influence of Christian scripture by adding vocalic diacritics to the consonantal letters. The diacritics for the vowels, u, i, a, e, y, o, were fused with the consonants in a recognisable but slightly irregular way, so that the system is laid out as a syllabary. The original form of the consonant was used when the vowel was ä /ə/, the so-called inherent vowel. The resulting forms are shown below in their traditional order. For some vowels, there is an eighth form for the diphthong -wa or -oa; and for some of those, a ninth for -jä.

To represent a consonant with no following vowel, for example at the end of a syllable or in a consonant cluster, the y /ɨ/ form is used (the character in the sixth column).

.

Adaptations of Ge'ez abugida for modern languages

The Amharic script uses all the basic consonants plus the ones indicated below.

Tigrinya has all the basic consonants ... plus the ones indicated below. A few of the basic consonants are falling into disuse in Eritrea.

Tigre uses the basic consonants except for ś (ሠ), ḫ (ኀ) and ḍ (ፀ). It also uses the ones indicated below.

Bilen uses the basic consonants except for ś (ሠ), ḫ (ኀ) and ḍ (ፀ). It also uses the ones indicated below...

.
Numerals

Numbers are over- and underlined with a vinculum; in proper typesetting these combine to make a single bar, but some less sophisticated fonts cannot render this and show separate bars above and below each character.

.

.
Detail of 1942 First Day Cover

.
ሊትዮጵያ፡ — Ethiopia

Ethiopia /iːθiˈoʊpiə/ Amharic: ኢትዮጵያ [ʾĪtyōṗṗyā], Afar Ge'ez: ኢትዮጵያ [Itiyoophiyaa], Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, an East African landlocked country on the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west and Sudan to the northwest.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia

፰ ሳንቲም — 8 centimes
8 sanitime

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Ge'ez script, Amharic, Hebrew and Arabic

The previous post introduced the Ge'ez script, used in modern day Ethiopia to write several languages, in particular Amharic.

ኢትዮጵያ
[ītiyop’iya]
— Ethiopia
Analysis: ኢ ī, ት ti, ዮ yo, ጵ p’i, ያ ya
.
አማርኛ
[āmarinya]
— Amharic
Analysis: አ ā, ማ ma, ር ri, ኛ nya

Amharic is spoken as a first language by the Amharas (some 22 million) and as a lingua franca by other populations residing in major cities and towns of Ethiopia.

Israel celebrates Aliya of Ethiopian Jews

This post is motivated by Eli's latest post in the Folklore on Stamps thread:
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=72459&hilit=folklore&start=279
.
Aliyah [US pronunciation: /ˌæliˈɑː/; UK pronunciation: /ˌɑː-/], Hebrew: עֲלִיָּה‎ [aliyah] — ascent, is the Jewish term used to describe immigration of Jews from the diaspora to Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah


The Israeli commemorative stamp has inscriptions in Ge'ez script, Hebrew, Arabic and English
As usual, the country name appears trilingually:
.

יִשְׂרָאֵל [yisrael]
إسرائيل ['iisrayiyl]
— Israel
.

.
Israel, 12 Apr 2011, Commemorating Aliyah of Ethiopian Jews

.

የኢትዮጵያ ይሁዲቃች አሊያ
Analysis:
የኢትዮጵያ [yəītiyop'iya]: የ yə, ኢ ī, ት ti, ዮ yo, ጵ p'i [pɨ], ያ ya
ይሁዲቃች [yehudikačy (?)]: ይ yi, ሁ hu, ዲ di, ቃ ka, ች čy [t͡ʃi] (?)
አሊያ ['əliya]: አ 'ə, ሊ li, ያ ya
— Aliyah of Ethiopian Jews
Amharic: [contrast with the Ge'ez inscription on the Israeli stamp]
የኢትዮጵያ አይሁዳዊ አሊያ
[ye’ītiyop’iya āyihudawī ālīya]
— Aliyah of Ethiopian Jews

עליית יהודי אתיופיה
[aliit yehudi etiopih]
— Immigration of Ethiopian Jews

The main language used for communication among Israeli citizens and amongst the Ethiopian Beta Israel in Israel is Modern Hebrew. The majority of the Beta Israel immigrants continue to speak in Amharic (primarily) and Tigrinya at home with their family members and friends.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Jews_in_Israel

Ethiopian Jews/Beta Israel now in Israel

Ethiopian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants from the Beta Israel communities in Ethiopia who now reside in Israel. To a lesser, but notable, extent, the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel is also composed of Falash Mura, a community of Beta Israel which had converted to Christianity over the course of the past two centuries, but were permitted to immigrate to Israel upon returning to the Israelite religion — this time, largely to Rabbinic Judaism.

Most of the community made aliyah from Ethiopia to Israel in two waves of mass immigration assisted by the Israeli government: Operation Moses (1984), and Operation Solomon (1991). Today, Israel is home to the largest Beta Israel community in the world, with about 125,500 citizens of Ethiopian descent in 2011, who are mainly assembled in the smaller urban areas of central Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Jews_in_Israel

The present Israeli currency unit is the new shekel:

שח = שקל חדש
With vowels explicitly included:
שֶׁקֶל חָדָשׁ
[shekel ẖadash] ["ẖ" as "ch" in Scottish "loch"]
The currency sign for the new shekel  ₪ is a combination of
the initial Hebrew letters of shekel (ש) and ẖadash (ח) (new).
Usually simplified to "shekel" colloquially. 100 agorot = 1 shekel

.
The last Hebrew line on the stamp states the year and the designers' names:
.

התשע''א = 5771, corresponding to 2011CE
The difference is 3760 (early in the Gregorian year) or 3761 (later in the Gregorian year).
Key:א = 1 ,ע = 70 ,ש = 300 ,ת = 400 ,ה' = 5000.
.
For example, right now (Nov 2020) the Jewish year is התשפ״א = 3761 + 2020 = 5781
This uses 80 = פ

.

The stamp designers:
עלמו אישטה — Almo Ishtah
יגאל גבאי — Yigal Gabay

/RogerE

[Eli]

Thank you, Roger, for posting this information about the languages used on the stamps and about the Ethiopian Jews in Israel. As "Stamps motivate us to engage with languages", your thread motivates us to learn about different cultures around the world.

One comment, please. In the following translation:

עליית יהודי אתיופיה
[aliit yehudi etiopih]
— Immigration of Ethiopian Jews

It should be: Ali-yat Yehudei Ethiopia (instead of: aliit yehudi etiopih).

Ali-yat is "Aliya of..".

The word "Yehudei" means "Jews of... (Yehudi is singular = Jew. In Hebrew the writing of Yehudei and Yehudi is the same, the difference is in the punctuation).

[RogerE]

Thanks Eli, that's exactly the kind of expert correction my linguistic posts need!

I suspect there are also some errors in my work with the Ge'ez script, so expert input on
that would be very helpful. I suppose the language is Amharic, but it might be Tigrinya,
or it might be a variant language used by the Ethiopian Jewish community... In any case,
my transliteration includes some "best guesses", which could easily be mistaken.

My problem with the Hebrew was that the source text does not include the vowel markings
(nekudot), and when such vowel-free text is entered into Goggle translate the vowels are
usually not supplied. As my Hebrew is less than fluent, I might still make poor guesses at
pronunciation of vowel-free text. In this case, there were some "obvious" mistakes!
For instance, I can look at the "subtext" in Goggle translate and discover that the
relevant verb has this voweled version: לַעֲלוֹת [la-alot] — to ascend, go up, but I can't
persuade it to give me the voweled version of the noun: עלייה [aliya] — aliya, ascent.

[In my earlier post I did include a version of aliya with full vowels, thanks to the Wikipedia page
for including that helpful version:

Aliyah [US pronunciation: /ˌæliˈɑː/; UK pronunciation: /ˌɑː-/], Hebrew: עֲלִיָּה‎ [aliyah] — ascent,
is the Jewish term used to describe immigration of Jews from the diaspora to Israel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah]

Can any reader suggest an on-line method for getting the voweled version of vowel-free
Hebrew text? Words from phrases like עליית יהודי אתיופיה are challenging because they
include declined forms (plurals, possessives, etc) which are not "straight" dictionary entries.

Some notes on Hebrew script

Eli's helpful corrections to my transliteration prompted me to do some further reading. Although
I didn't find an on-line method of having unknown vowels (nekudot) added to vowel-free Hebrew
text, I did revise my knowledge of nekudot, and learnt something more about the script's history.
I will share a few relevant Wikipedia quotes, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_alphabet

Historical origins

Paleo-Hebrew, Samaritan and Assyrian scripts

A Hebrew variant of the Phoenician alphabet, called the paleo-Hebrew alphabet by scholars, began to emerge around 800 BCE...

The paleo-Hebrew alphabet was used in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Following the exile of the Kingdom of Judah in the 6th century BCE during the Babylonian captivity, Jews began using a form of the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, another offshoot of the same family of scripts, which flourished during the Achaemenid Empire. The Samaritans, who remained in the Land of Israel, continued to use the paleo-Hebrew alphabet. During the 3rd century BCE, Jews began to use a stylized, "square" form of the Aramaic alphabet that was used by the Persian Empire (and which in turn had been adopted from the Assyrians), while the Samaritans continued to use a form of the paleo-Hebrew script called the Samaritan alphabet. After the fall of the Persian Empire in 330 BCE, Jews used both scripts before settling on the square Assyrian form.

Ktav Ashuri

Ktav Ashuri, Hebrew: כְּתָב אַשּׁוּרִי‎ [ktav ashurí] — Assyrian script , also Ashurit, is the modern-day Hebrew language name for the Hebrew alphabet now in use in Israel. It is used to write both Hebrew and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic.

Vowels as matres lectionis

In traditional [vowel-free] Hebrew script, vowels are indicated by the weak consonants Aleph (א‎), He (ה‎), Waw/Vav (ו‎), or Yodh (י‎) serving as matres lectionis [consonants indicating which vowel sounds should be added for pronunciation]...
In modern forms of the script, as in the case of Yiddish and to some extent Modern Hebrew, vowels may be indicated. Today, the trend is toward full spelling with the weak letters acting as true vowels...

א‎ alef, ע ayin, ו‎ waw/vav and י‎ yod are letters that can sometimes indicate a vowel instead of a consonant... When they do, ו‎ and י‎ are considered to constitute part of the vowel designation in combination with a niqqud symbol, whether or not the diacritic is marked, whereas א‎ and ע are considered to be mute, their role being purely indicative of the non-marked vowel.

.

It can be seen that aleph א‎ and ayin ע imply a range of vowels, so the reader really needs to already know the pronunciation of the word to be able to choose the correct vowel in each instance.

Vowels as diacritics

To preserve the proper vowel sounds, scholars developed several different sets of vocalisation and diacritical symbols called nequdot ניקודות‎ — points. One of these, the Tiberian system, eventually prevailed. Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, and his family for several generations, are credited with refining and maintaining the system. These nequdot are normally used only for special purposes, such as Biblical books intended for study, in poetry or when teaching the language to children.

.

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Armenian

A recent post by Harryk in another thread included this cinderella.
He remarked that the text on this stamp is probably Armenian.
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=93008&start=1
.

.

.

This prompted me to look at the Armenian alphabet.

Armenian alphabet

My source for the quotes which follow is this Wikipedia site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_alphabet

The Armenian word for "alphabet" is այբուբեն [aybuben], named after the first two letters of the Armenian alphabet:

⟨Ա⟩ այբ [ayb]
⟨Բ⟩ բեն [ben]

Armenian is written horizontally, left-to-right.

The Armenian alphabet, Armenian: Հայոց գրեր [Hayots' grer], or Հայոց այբուբեն [Hayots' aybuben], Eastern Armenian: [haˈjotsʰ ajbuˈbɛn]; Western Armenian: [haˈjotsʰ ajpʰuˈpʰɛn]) is an alphabetic writing system used to write Armenian. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The system originally had 36 letters; eventually, three more were adopted. The alphabet was also in wide use in the Ottoman Empire around the 18th and 19th centuries.
.

The alphabet in brief

.

.

The alphabet in detail

The Armenian alphabet has an upper case ["capital"] and lower case version of each letter
These are shown in the table which follows, along with the letter names and their pronunciation,
the pronunciation of the letters, and the transliterations of the letters.

.

.

The two transliteration systems

.

.

The stamp inscription
Here is my current "best guess" transcription of the stamp text, all in upper case:
I also offer the corresponding lower case transcription.

.
ՎԱՑԿԱԿԱՆ ԹՂԹԱԿՑՈՒԹԻՒՆ
VAC'KAKAN T'LT'AKC'OWT'IUN
.
վացկական թղթակցութիւն
vac'kakan t'lt'akc'owt'iun
.
Google translate gives the transcription: [vats’kakan t’ght’akts’ut’iun]
.

I have not found a satisfactory translation, though it might mean something like "vaccine correspondence"(?)
Any expert help would be greatly appreciated!

/RogerE

[nigelc]

Hi Roger,

Just a quick thought, could the first letter on the Armenian language label be an uppercase "ho" as in the following glyphs from Wiktionary?

This just helps Google Translate shift from vaccine to bakery.

[Panterra]

The first character seems the ambiguous one here. I suggest it could be a cha, which then makes the stamp translate to "online correspondence".

չացկական թղթակցութիւն

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Armenia 1922 50k on 25,000 Roubles, SG # 207.

[OldDuffer1]

A few more German Philatelic terms:

Brief- Letter
Drucksache- Printed Matter
Eilboten- Express
Einschreiben- Registered
Falz- Hinge- not to be confused with Falsch- Fake!
Geschäftlich- Business Mail
Karte- Postcard
Nachnahme- Cash on Delivery
Nachgebühr- Postage Due
Steurmarke- Tax Stamp (For Example- Berlin Tax Stamp)
Unzulässig- Inadmissible
Wertbrief- Insured item.
Zensur- Censored
Zurück- Return (to sender).

Compliments on this excellent thread!

[RogerE]

Thanks OldDuffer1 for your German philatelic terms. Those I included in the Glossary E-K were
all contributed in entries in the celebratory thread for 500 posts in this Stamps and Languages thread.

Thanks nigelc and Panterra for contributing suggestions on my Armenian transliteration.
Both suggestions look reasonable.
• The lower case 'cha' = 'ča' Չ • չ in the Wikipedia article looks right, whereas the upper case form
doesn't. However, the text on Harryk's cinderella appears to be all in upper case...

• The upper case 'ho' Հ in the Wikipedia article doesn't look like a good match,
but the versions given in Wiktionary are different, and the upper case version (letter 16) looks quite plausible. I think Nigel's suggestion is probably correct.

Here is Wiktionary's listing of the Armenian alphabet. It is in a different font from that used in the Wikipedia article, and the differences are significant.

.

.

The difference between upper case 'ho' in the Wiktionary list and the version in the Wikipedia article seems to be simply a difference in fonts rather than an error in one of the lists.

The text on the 1922 Armenian postage stamp

Panterra showed us this stamp:

.

.
Armenia, 1922 surcharge: 50k on 25,000r, SG207.

.

The banner text at the top of the stamp appears to be
.

ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ԱՒ ՀԱՆԻԱՊԵՏՈՒԹՒՒՆ
HAYASTANI AW HANIAPETUT’WWN
— The Republic of Armenia

ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ՀԱՆՐԱՊԵՏՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ [Google Translate]
HAYASTANI HANRAPETUT’YUN

The lower text
25000 ՌՈՒԲԼՒ
RRUBLW
— Rouble(s)

The surcharge abbreviates
50 կոպեկ
—50 kopek
.

/RogerE

[OldDuffer1]

Here is a cover from Armenia which I recently put up on another thread:
"SPIES, ESPIONAGE AND SECRET POLICE on stamps"
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=34883&start=200

[peterh]

• Welsh

Post Brenihol — Royal Mail

.
/RogerE

Incorrect. It's Post Brenhinol

[RogerE]

Latest developments:

Thanks to OldDuffer1 for posting the Armenian First Day Cover.
I hope to get back to it in a follow-up post.

Thanks to peterh for correcting this Welsh term:

• Welsh
Incorrect (somewhat dyslexic!):
Post Brenihol — Royal Mail
Correct version:
Post Brenhinol — Royal Mail
.
___________________
.

In the Happy Day thread Ubobo.R.O. has posted this minisheet:
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=82193&start=6087

.

.
Slovenia, 1999, Horses minisheet

.

There is some rather inconspicuous text on each stamp prompting this
brief encounter with Slovenian:
.

Slovenski hladnokrvni konj — Slovenian coldblood horse
Ljutomerski kasač — Ljutomer trotter
Slovenski toplokrvni konj — Slovenian warmblood horse
Lipicanec — Lipizzaner
.

The Slovenian alphabet is pronounced much like other European alphabets based on the
Roman/Latin alphabet, with a few notable differences for English speakers, occurring in
these examples as follows:

'j' is pronounced like 'y' in English 'yet'
'c' is pronounced like 'ts' in English 'bits'
'č' is pronounced like 'ch' in English 'chat'

.
I found the Equinest website a fine go-to place for information about horse breeds.
The following quotes are from that site. http://www.theequinest.com/breeds/
.

The Ljutomer Trotter comes from Ljutomer, Slovenia, an area famous for their horse breeding and trotting races. Horses have traditional value to the local culture, and have been used in wedding ceremonies since the 19th century. Late in that same century trotting races became popular as well, and the focus of breeding local animals was turned specifically to trotting.

The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner is perhaps most well known for their fine performing stallions from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna which is the oldest riding academy in the world. The Lipizzan breed is named for the village of Lipizza near the northwest border of Italy (before World War II). Austria is actually credited with the origins of the breed because Lipizza was theirs during the breed’s development.

I also found some relevant information (including the following two quotes) at
http://www.horses-and-horse-information.com

Coldblood horses
Large horses with a gentle disposition and a placid interactive style are usually referred to as cold bloods. Cold blooded horses are descendants of the ancient European breeds used for farming, hauling and other types of heavy work. ... Examples of cold blooded horses include the Clydesdale, the Shire and the Belgian.

Warmblood horses
The warm blooded breeds were created when warriors returned to Europe from the Middle East and Africa with hot blooded Arabian horses captured in battle.
Breeding the large, heavy war horses of northern Europe with the lighter, faster and fiery tempered hot bloods from the Mongolian steppes created horse breeds that combine the quickness and agility of race horses with the larger build and milder temperament of cold bloods. Over time, the draft horses of Europe were increasingly bred with hot blooded imports, creating the forerunners of dozens of breeds in existence today. Warmbloods have smaller heads and bodies than draft horses and tend to be less excitable than hot blooded horses, making them good all-round horses for riding and light work.

/RogerE

[Panterra]

The first character seems the ambiguous one here. I suggest it could be a cha, which then makes the stamp translate to "online correspondence".

չացկական թղթակցութիւն

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But "online correspondence" is what most of us do, most of the time. Like on this forum, and our emails.

So why would they need a stamp for online correspondence?

Armenia 1922 35k on 20,000 Roubles, SG # 205.

The sculpture of an extinct animal (from the ruins of Ani) is shown on the stamp.

Ani (Armenian: Անի; Greek: Ἄνιον, Ánion; Latin: Abnicum; Turkish: Ani) is a ruined medieval Armenian city now situated in Turkey's province of Kars, next to the closed border with Armenia.

Between 961 and 1045, it was the capital of the Bagratid Armenian kingdom that covered much of present-day Armenia and eastern Turkey. Called the "City of 1001 Churches", Ani stood on various trade routes and its many religious buildings, palaces, and fortifications were amongst the most technically and artistically advanced structures in the world. At its height, Ani was one of the world's largest cities, with a possible population of circa 100,000.

Renowned for its splendor, Ani was sacked by the Mongols in 1236. Ani never recovered from a devastating 1319 earthquake, and was gradually abandoned until it was largely forgotten by the 17th century. Ani is a widely recognized cultural, religious, and national heritage symbol for Armenians. According to Razmik Panossian, Ani is one of the most visible and ‘tangible’ symbols of past Armenian greatness and hence a source of pride. In 2016, it was added in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

[RogerE]

Don't confuse Slovenia and Slovakia

Do you find it confusing to read about the countries Slovenia and Slovakia?
The recent post showing the minisheet of horse stamps from Slovenia might have prodded that confusion.

It turns out that because the two names are very similar, each country receives quite a lot of mail intended
for destinations in the other country, and mail exchanges take place regularly between authorities from both
nations.

A Youtube presentation about the two names can be found at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhflsG23wvM
.

.

• Slovenia was part of former Yugoslavia, which means the Land of the South Slavs

Yugoslavia /ˌjuːɡoʊˈslɑːviə/; Serbo-Croatian: Jugoslavija = Југославија [juɡǒslaːʋija]; Slovene: Jugoslavija [juɡɔˈslàːʋija]; Macedonian: Југославија [juɡɔˈsɫavija]; — South Slavic Land, was a country in Southeast Europe and Central Europe for most of the 20th century...

On 25 June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia became the first republics to declare independence from Yugoslavia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia

• Slovakia was part of former Czechoslovakia, The people of Slovakia are Western Slavs.

Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia /ˌtʃɛkoʊsloʊˈvækiə, -kə-, -slə-, -ˈvɑː-/, Czech and Slovak: Československo, Česko-Slovensko, was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its peaceful dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovakia

Both Slovene/Slovenian and Slovak are Slavic languages, so there are many similarities,
but there are also many differences.

Slovenian
slovenski jezik; slovenščina
— Slovenian Language; Slovene

poštna znamka — postage stamp
kuverto in pismo — envelope and letter
poštni paket — postal parcel
knjigo — book
konj, konji — horse, horses
pes, psi — dog, dogs
mačka, mačke — cat, cats
ptica, ptice — bird, birds
hiša, hiše — house, houses

Slovak
slovenský jazyk; slovenčina
— Slovakian Language; Slovak

poštová známka — postage stamp
obálka a list — envelope and letter
poštová zásielka — postal parcel
kniha — book
kôň, kone — horse, horses
pes, psy — dog, dogs
mačka, mačky — cat, cats
vták, vtáky — bird, birds
dom, domy — house, houses

Read on!

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Slovak

Just to add to the theme of several recent posts, here is a minisheet celebrating horses, issued by Slovakia.
.

Slovak
29k: Konj Lipicanec — Lippizaner horse
31k: Slovaški toplokrvni konj — Slovak warmblood horse
.

.
Slovakia, 30 Jun 2005, Horses minisheet

.

Slovakia, 30 Jun 2005, Horse stamps, First Day Covers

.

Do you notice a parallel with the 1999 horses minisheet issued by Slovenia?

Footnote:

Slovakia has been a member of the European Union since May 2004, and is a member of the European Economic and Monetary Union. Slovakia adopted the euro on 1 January 2009, replacing its previous currency, the Slovak koruna.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_euro_coins

/RogerE

[nigelc]

Hi Roger,

Slovenia and Slovakia should also not be confused with the historical region and former Habsburg Kingdom of Slavonia, now a north western region of Croatia:

or with Slavinia, a historical region and former duchy in western Pomerania:

and the Slovene and Slovak languages should be distinguished from the Slav liturgical language Church Slavonic.

(The Kiev Psalter from 1397)

[RogerE]

Well nigelc, you've made the situation more complicated with those additional
similar country/region names and language references, wouldn't you say?

However, we can ease ourselves out of that extra complication by noting that only
Slovenia and Slovakia are current independent political entities, while the others
with very similar names are "historical only".

Regarding Slovak, the language of Slovakia, and Slovenian/Slovene, the
language of Slovinia, it looks to me as if my earlier post about horses
described in those languages might still have managed to get some
Slovenian into places where Slovak was intended

Lipizzaner horses

To provide us with some slightly longer passages for comparison, here are
parallel trilingual quotes (not exactly equivalent) from Wikipedia pages which
introduce discussions about Lipizzaner horses:

• English

The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner (Croatian: Lipicanac, Czech: Lipicán, Hungarian: Lipicai, Italian: Lipizzano, Slovene: Lipicanec), is a horse breed named for [= in reference to] the Lipizza Stud of the Habsburg monarchy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipizzan
.

• Slovak

Lipican alebo lipicanský kôň je jedno z najstarších kultúrnych plemien koní v Európe. Pôvod odvodzuje od starošpanielskych a starotalianskych koní. Vyšľachtený bol v dvornom žrebčíne Lipica (Slovinsko), založenom v roku 1580.
https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipican
.

— The Lipican or Lipizzaner horse is one of the oldest cultural horse breeds in Europe . The origin is derived from Old Spanish and Old Italian horses. It was bred in the court stud farm Lipica (Slovenia), founded in 1580 .

• Slovenian/Slovene

Lipicánec (hrvaško: Lipicanac, češko: Lipicán, madžarsko: Lipicai, italjansko: Lipizzano) je pripadnik pasme konjev, vzrejene v Lipici. Pasma je bila osnovana v letu 1580, na slovenskem Krasu, v takratni Habsburški monarhiji, kar Lipico uvršča v najstarejšo še vedno operativno konjušnico. Konjušnica je tesno povezana s špansko šolo jahanja na Dunaju v Avstriji, kjer izvajajo haute école in razne druge jahalne tehnike.
https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipicanec
.

— Lipicánec (Croatian: Lipicanac, Czech: Lipicán, Hungarian: Lipicai, Italian: Lipizzano) is a member of the horse breed from Lipica. The breed was founded in 1580, in the Slovenian Karst, in the then Habsburg Monarchy, which places in Lipica the oldest stable still operational. The stable is closely linked to the Spanish riding school in Vienna, Austria, with its haute école and various other riding techniques.

/RogerE

[nigelc]

Well nigelc, you've made the situation more complicated with those additional
similar country/region names and language references, wouldn't you say?

However, we can ease ourselves out of that extra complication by noting that only
Slovenia and Slovakia are current independent political entities, while the others
with very similar names are "historical only".
/RogerE

Well, yes and no Roger.

Slavonia still exists as a region and in the name of a fine bird, the Slavonian Grebe:

In practice I find the biggest problem arises in distinguishing the two names of Slovak and Slovenian in their own languages:

Slovenčina (Slovak for "Slovak")

Slovenščina (Slovenian for "Slovenian")

We met these two endonymic glossonyms in your earlier post on the languages of the European Union.

[RogerE]

Yes Nigel. I emphasised "current independent political entities" in a move to
help ease potential distraction for other readers of this thread.

The list of EU languages and their two-letter designations are discussed in the posts at
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=90529&start=342
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=90529&start=349
.

Slovak = sk
Slovenian/Slovene = sl
.

I included the endonyms within a recent post:
.

Slovenian
slovenski jezik; slovenščina
— Slovenian Language; Slovene

Slovak
slovenský jazyk; slovenčina
— Slovakian Language; Slovak
.

I suppose we just have to be aware how similar these terms are, and carefully distinguish them,
just as nuclear physicists have to be careful to distinguish polonium from plutonium,
and writers have to distinguish theirs from there's...
And Armenians have to distinguish lower case 'cha' and upper case 'ho'...

Reminds me of the currently popular statement "It is what it is" (which is surely true!).

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Italian

Waffle has posted this attractive minisheet celebrating high-end winegrape production in Italy:
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=92287&start=272

.

.
Italy, 2012 minisheet of 15 stamps celebrating high-end wine-grape production

.

What do IGT, DOC and DOCG mean?

Here are excerpts from an excellent website on Italian wine and food culture.
The Italian is relatively accessible, and good practice for those who wish to read it, but
I include screenshots of the "automatic translations" into English for a wider readership.
As usual, the Italian style is attractive, while the "automatic" English version is a bit
awkward and clunky in places, but does convey the information.
https://www.webfoodculture.com/vini-doc-docg-prima-parte/

.

.
"Automatic" rendition into English
.

.

/RogerE

[Panterra]

Let's look again at the Mongol vertical script, discussed earlier on this thread.

Stamps of Mengkiang often show this script. The capital of Mengkiang was Kalgan, and the ruler was Demchugdongrub. According to the Althistory website, it was a republic.

Mengkiang 1943 stamp showing Prince Demgchugdongrub, the Chairman of the Federal Government.
Note the Mongol vertical script down the left side of the stamp.

The Chinese characters for its name, 蒙疆聯合自治政府, translate as Mengjiang United Autonomous Government. It was officially recognised as an independent state by several countries in Europe as well as Manchukuo and Japan.

Mengkiang 1943 Second anniversary of the Pacific War commemoration. SG 106 - 107.

Mengkiang 1944 Fifth Anniversary 4c, Horse. SG 108.

The horse stamp is almost entirely done in Mongol vertical script, and is a superb example of calligraphy. The "horse" appears as an extention of the script.

I have not yet been able to translate the text running through the horse's body.

For more information, visit the Mengkiang thread.

[RogerE]

That calligraphic horse image is amazing! Thank you Panterra.

I am hoping you will show us some Mongolian vertical script analysed into its components, with matching romanised transliterations, so we can better understand the script. Access to software which achieves this, and the patience to actually carry out the steps, are the two key requirements...

The denominations on the Mengkiang stamps in your post are in familiar Chinese characters, which I can transcribe, transliterate and translate here.

The currency unit is
分
[fēn]
— cent
.
The stamp denominations are (from right; from left)
分四 = 四分
[sì fēn]
— four cents
分八 = 八分
[bā fēn]
— eight cents

The word 分 [fēn] essentially means a fractional part. Its meanings include a branch of an organisation,
a fraction of a larger unit of currency, the fraction one-tenth, and several units of measurement:
• a unit of length (one third of a centimetre)
• a unit of area (2/15 of a square kilometre)
• a unit of weight (half a gram)
• a unit of time (one minute = 1/60 of an hour)
• a unit of angular measure (one minute = 1/60 of a degree)

.
Normally 分 [fēn] comes with an additional word to indicate
which of its many possible meanings is intended. For example:
.
一分钟等于六十秒
[Yī fēnzhōng děngyú liùshí miǎo]
— One minute is equal to sixty seconds
.
钟 [zhōng] — bell, clock, time
分钟 [fēnzhōng] — minute (of time)
秒 [miǎo] — second (of time)
等于 [děngyú] — be equal
.

/RogerE

[Panterra]

ᠮᠧᠨᠵᠶᠠᠨ ᠤ ᠨᠢᠭᠡᠳᠦᠭᠰᠡᠨ ᠠᠦ᠋ᠲ᠋ᠣᠨᠣᠮᠢᠲᠤ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠭ ᠤᠨ ᠭᠠᠵᠠᠷ
Mengjiang United Autonomous Government

Sadly my acquaintance with this script does not extend to the sort of analysis Roger has requested.

And my apologies that this sentence is horizontal. To look "authentic", it should be vertical.

Best site to convert Cyrillic Mongolian (i.e. Mongol sentences written in Russian font) to vertical script is this one:
http://trans.mglip.com/EnglishC2T.aspx

You must first convert your sentence from English (or other language) to Mongolian Cyrillic. One way is here:
https://translate.google.co.nz/

But I have not yet discovered how to reverse the process!

[RogerE]

A correction to my post about the Chinese character 分 [fēn].
I wrote:

The word 分 [fēn] essentially means a fractional part. Its meanings include a branch of an organisation,
a fraction of a larger unit of currency, the fraction one-tenth, and several units of measurement:
• a unit of length (one third of a centimetre)
• a unit of area (2/15 of a square kilometre)...
.

I subsequently noticed that, as a unit of area, 分 [fēn] = 1/15 sq.km.
(My earlier mental calculation accidentally doubled the fraction.)

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Turkish

Prior to the 1920s, Turkish was written in a version of Arabic script.
Some recent posts of Ottoman Empire revenues by Harryk in another thread have shown
some nice examples , including:

.

.

I would like to summarise here some discussion from that thread, because it relates to Turkish language and Arabic script, topics which fit well here.

____________________
.

I thought I could read the denominations on the middle and right stamps in the top row, so I posted:

The denomination for the stamp on the left is 5 lira (at top: "lira 5 lira")
The denomination for the stamp on the right might be one (?) lira, in the lower inscription line.
The first word looks to me like اون or لون
Perhaps Number-O-Ne can correct that second reading attempt for us...
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=93008&start=24

In reply, Number-O-Ne came up with the following corrections and comments:

The one on the right is 10 Para, the yellow one is 5 Para
1 kuruş (piastre) = 40 Para
100 kuruş = 1 Lira.
The Lira in the Ottoman Empire was a very high denomination, used for accounting and not in daily life. The common currency unit was kuruş.

I replied:

Thank you Number-O-Ne!

My mistake with the unit of currency was to read it as اره [l(i)r(a)h] rather than پاره = پ اره [par(a)h]
The diacritic consisting of a triangular group of dots was unfamiliar to me.
Following your correction, I have now learnt that /p/ = پ is a special Turkic phoneme/grapheme.
As for the second stamp, evidently اون [-un] is the Turkish number word 'on' — ten .

This commentary might still need some further correction or discussion.
Please contribute anything appropriate Number-O-Ne.

By the way, I found this Wikipedia site on how Arabic script was adapted to write Turkish:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Turkish_alphabet
This includes the relevant comment:

The Ottoman Turkish script is a Turkish form of the Perso-Arabic script. Well suited to writing Arabic and Persian borrowings, it was poorly suited to native Turkish words. ... Still, Turkic languages such as Azerbaijani and Uzbek continue to be written using Arabic script in Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Number-O-Ne followed up with some extra comments (lightly edited):

Turkish and Arabic are different languages. The Arabic script was developed for Arabic. When it got "borrowed" by the Turks and Persians (Iran still uses it, Turkey does not), new characters were needed for sounds that did not exist in Arabic. An example is "P", another example is "ch". The Turkish language sometimes borrowed from Farsi, sometimes found its own creative solutions.
The word "on" = ten shows a typically Turkish rule of spelling where alif ا in front of waw ؤ becomes "O" in اؤن /on/.
Everyday Arabic script takes vowels for granted [= "understood"], while in the Turkish version of the script every vowel has its own place...

My Latin/Roman alphabet analogy to explain the differences between Arabic script and Turkish written in Arabic script is to liken them to English and Polish: both use Latin/Roman letters, but Polish has its own version of some letters that give different sounds, and someone cannot go far in pronouncing Polish if they are only familiar with English.

I found the comments by Number-O-Ne very helpful. They have improved my understanding significantly. In my experience, there are relatively few Turkish speakers today who can read the language when written in the Turkish version of Arabic script, so the help given us by Number-O-Ne is particularly appreciated.


Note on the Ottoman lira:

The Ottoman lira remained in circulation until the end of 1927.

The Ottoman lira replaced the kuruş as the principal unit of currency in the Ottoman Empire, with the kuruş continuing to circulate as a subdivision of the lira, with 100 kuruş = 1 lira. The para also continued to be used, with 40 para = 1 kuruş.

Until the 1930s, the Arabic script was used on Turkish coins and banknotes, with پاره for para, غروش for kuruş and ليرا for lira, تورك ليراسي /Türk Lyrasi/ for "Turkish lira". In European languages, the kuruş was known as the piastre, whilst the lira was known as the livre in French.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_lira

/RogerE

[Number-O-Ne]

Yes, RogerE, thanks so much for compensating for my laziness

Another curious consequence of differences in spelling is errors in pronouncing and spelling non-Turkish words and especially place names.

A typical example is Kaboul, Afghanistan.

In Ottoman times very few people had a reason to travel there, and even less people from there came to Turkish cities. There was not enough personal interaction for people to hear how the name of the city was pronounced.

The original spelling was كابل pronounced Kabûl in Turkish transcription. However, when Turkish people saw the name in its written form, they pronounced it Kâbil according to Turkish rules.
K in Kaboul: c as in car
K in Turkish version k as in key

Even today, that city is known in Turkish as Kâbil

[RogerE]

Turkish — Romanised Alphabet

Thanks Number-O-Ne for your continued helpful input, and modesty. It is clear from your remarks that you have deep knowledge of Turkish, including the written form in its special version of Arabic script. I hope you will continue to correct my mistakes, and to supply additional helpful commentary.

___________________________
.

I hope to examine, in due course, the version of Arabic script used to write Turkish in the Ottoman Empire.
However, it is easier and more contemporary to first examine the romanised script used for modern Turkish.
Later, this will give us a "hindsight perspective" on the version of Arabic script formerly used for Turkish.

.

.
Turkey, 2020, Mosaics of Heleplibahche

.
TÜRKİYE CUMHURİYETİ
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti
/ˈtyɾcije dʒumˈhuːɾijeti/
— Republic of Turkey

Note the distinctive letter İ i with upper dot in upper and lower case,
contrasting with the distinctive letter I ı without upper dot.
For example, the latter occurs in Turkish ALTI altı — six
.

Turkish — Modern Romanised Alphabet

The quotes which follow come from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_alphabet

Introduction

The Turkish alphabet, Türk alfabesi, is a Latin-script alphabet used for writing the Turkish language, consisting of 29 letters, seven of which (Ç, Ş, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ü) have been modified from their Latin originals for the phonetic requirements of the language. This alphabet represents modern Turkish pronunciation with a high degree of accuracy and specificity. Mandated in 1928 as part of Atatürk's Reforms, it is the current official alphabet and the latest in a series of distinct alphabets used in different eras.

.

.

Türk alfabesi

Political and cultural aspects of the Romanised Alphabet
.

As cited by the reformers, the old Arabic script was much more difficult to learn than the new Latin/Roman alphabet. The literacy rate did indeed increase greatly after the alphabet reform, from around 10% to over 90%, but many other factors also contributed to this increase, such as the foundation of the Turkish Language Association in 1932, campaigns by the Ministry of Education, the opening of Public Education Centres throughout the country, and Atatürk's personal participation in literacy campaigns

.

.

The Turkish Language Association, Türk Dil Kurumu = TDK, is the official regulatory body of the Turkish language, founded on July 12, 1932 by the initiative of Atatürk and headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. The Institution acts as the official authority on the language, contributes to linguistic research on Turkish and other Turkic languages, and is charged with publishing the official dictionary of the language, Güncel Türkçe Sözlük.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Language_Association

/RogerE

[Number-O-Ne]

Historical anecdote about Turkish Language Association:

In WW1, an Armenian reserve officer in Turkish Army was arrested for alleged espionage. He was seen speaking English with some British POWs. His initial defense "I'm learning English and this is the only way I can practice" was found ridiculous. He was transferred, under arrest, to the 7th Turkish Army Headquarters, and his case was assigned to one of the junior generals for initial investigation.

That junior general was Mustafa Kemal Pasha, later Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. He understood the situation. The Armenian officer's case, which would have resulted in a swift trial and execution with any other investigator, was dismissed and the reserve officer was reinstated.

In 1932, that particular officer (Hagop Martayan), who was abroad, was personally invited back to Turkey by Atatürk to teach linguistics, and then became the first chairman of the Turkish Language Association.

Interesting fact to show that one person's vision can make a big difference for many.

[Panterra]

Turkish

Prior to the 1920s, Turkish was written in a version of Arabic script.
Some recent posts of Ottoman Empire revenues by Harryk in another thread have shown
some nice examples , including:

.

.

I would like to summarise here some discussion from that thread, because it relates to Turkish language and Arabic script, topics which fit well here. . . .

___

It is indeed interesting that the once-great Ottoman Empire changed its script after World War I and the overthrow of the Sultanate. I wondered if the once-great Russian Empire contemplated this too?

Fortunately, the wonderful worldwide web provides the answer:

Has Russia ever considered moving from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin alphabet?

Yes, of course! In 1920–1930 Soviet authorities seriously considered converting to the Latin alphabet with diacritics.

The arguments were roughly as follows:

The Cyrillic civil script, even after the spelling reform, is still the product of the Russian Empire and thus symbolises national chauvinism, oppression of minority languages, missionary propaganda, and Russian imperialism.
The spelling is still far from ideal, with no one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds.
Using the Latin letters, it is easier to create (new) writing systems for the languages of USSR, all using the same letters, and later expand the communist ideology into other countries.
The Latin alphabet is more economical space-wise. Also looks cool.
The Latin alphabet belongs to no one, anyway. It is the script of the future, and at the same time it is not strongly associated with any single country or culture.
With the new Latin script, teaching children writing and reading will take less time (somehow).
As a bonus, latinisation will make it more difficult for the populace to read useless rubbish published before the 1917 revolution. Of course, good literature should be republished in the new script.


Забытые вехи истории: латинизация русской азбуки

Some of this analysis is solid.

If you ever wondered why Cyrillic letters look so much like the Latin ones, it is because of the early 18th century redesign. Apparently, Peter the Great did not like how Russian print looked. Too old, he said. Books and newspapers resembled some medieval schlock. A modern man deserved better literature than that.

In that sense, the Civil Type introduced in 1708 and used from then on was indeed much closer associated with Russia and Russian government than the Latin typefaces.

For a while the Russian Empire did not have a particularly active language policy. Then, in the late 19th century, it moved towards Russification and downgrading large minority languages. Alexander II and Alexander III made Russian obligatory for many regions; some local languages were also forbidden from use in schools and public events (e.g. in theatre or official business). It especially hit Ukrainian and Belorussian population.

There is also the issue of design. Modern Cyrillic shapes, unlike the Latin ones, did not evolve gradually over centuries. They were introduced by a decree. At least some Russian font designers say that the rushed modernisation of the Cyrillic type made it rather inconvenient for future generations of font artists:

ж has too heavy a centre, ш is too wide.
the capital У is hard to balance.
there are too few ascenders and descenders, unlike in cursive writing.
upper- and lowercase letters look mostly the same, unlike in cursive writing.
и, м, н, ш, щ, п etc.: so many letters have vertical strokes, the text is ugly (factually incorrect: the percentage of such letters in a text is about the same as in English; most common letters are о, е, а, и, н, т, с—in this order)

There were a few problems with the argument, too. One of the issues is that the literacy level achieved by the Soviet rule was quite high, and Russian Empire was not half bad either. You see, in the 1890s most young people had learned to read; by 1920 they were not young; old illiterate people were no longer the majority. If you switched to the Latin script, well over half the population would have to relearn.

Learning to read in Russian is also… not that hard. Most people I know learned to read somewhere between ages 3 and 6, and reached the plateau at about 7 or 8. It does not get much easier than that.

Nowadays another consideration has become a non-issue, namely, the number of letter shapes you have to be able to print. It sure takes time to design a Latin, or Latin-with-diacritics, or Cyrillic, or Greek typeface. Once it has been designed, however, you can create a book in that font with no economic restrictions whatsoever. Even phototypesetting rendered the hard restriction obsolete: unlike with metal type, you no longer had to store hundreds of letter blocks of different sizes.

In the end, Stalin’s government ended the project in January 1930, stating that the Cyrillic is there to stay. Latin-based scripts were still being developed for minority languages but after a few years they were converted to Cyrillic, too. It was fine ideologically. At first, the Communist party thought of themselves as an international organisation; they envisioned world revolution. During Stalin’s reign the vision shifted to building communism in a single country; so now USSR was not the opposite of pre-revolutionary Russia, it was more like Russian Empire 2.0. Thus retaining the existing alphabet and parts of the old culture made a lot of sense.

For any language, the purpose of a script is to serve the needs of the native speakers, first and foremost. If natives can learn to read reasonably fast it is not that important how odd or obsolete the system is.

Chinese logograms work fine for Chinese, despite them taking years to learn. The same symbols are so-so for Japanese, so the Japanese added phonetic symbols to the mix; this hybrid system is not particularly easy—but schoolkids do have time, don’t they?

Even English speakers, who use the Latin alphabet, still retain an extremely outdated orthography where most vowels are spelt with letters never supposed to represent these sounds (and where could and mould do not rhyme).

By that standard, the Cyrillic script used for Russian was and still is more than decent.

[RogerE]

Turkish — Romanised Alphabet (continued)

Thanks for that nice account Number-O-Ne. Hagop Martayan must have been grateful to
encounter someone who had vision and unfettered understanding of circumstances.

__________________
.

Often it is helpful to see more than one presentation of the script/alphabet of a given language.
So here are excerpts from the Omniglot presentation of Türkçe

.

Until 1928 Turkish was written with a version of the Perso-Arabic script known as the Ottoman Turkish script. In 1928, as part of his efforts to modernise Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk issued a decree replacing the Arabic script with a version of the Latin alphabet, which has been used ever since. Arabic and Persian loanwords were also replaced with Turkish equivalents. Nowadays, only scholars and those who learnt to read before 1928 can read Turkish written in the Ottoman Turkish script.
https://omniglot.com/writing/turkish.htm

.

.

Sample text

A characteristic of Omniglot introductions to languages is the inclusion of a sample text (always the same basic text) in the language under discussion, and in the English version of the U.N. You can actually listen to the text being read by a mother-tongue speaker of the language (he reads quite fast!), at
https://omniglot.com/writing/turkish.htm

Bütün insanlar hür, haysiyet ve haklar bakımından eşit doğarlar. Akıl ve vicdana sahiptirler ve birbirlerine karşı kardeşlik zihniyeti ile hareket etmelidirler.

— All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

.

/RogerE

[Number-O-Ne]

One thing to consider:

Turkish language is syllable-based. Arabic alphabet, which is appropriate for Arabic, does not make justice for the subtleties of the Turkish language.

The original Turkish alphabet was also made to accommodate the syllables and worked just fine when there was no interaction with other cultures.

Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Turkic_script

Other alphabets were used throughout the history for social and religious reasons.

Initial transition to Arabic script was clearly a religious choice. Atatürk, who advocated for a secular government and a secular society, made the transition to Latin letters a priority, for purposes of modernization.

[RogerE]

Turkish — Arabic Script

Some recent posts here have discussed Turkish, beginning with
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=90529&start=587

Turkish has been written in a version of the Roman/Latin alphabet for nearly a century
(officially legislated in 1929), but before that time it was written in a version of Arabic
script across the Ottoman Empire.

The philately of the Ottoman period is still very popular among collectors (and deservedly
so — it is extensive, and much of it has artistic/design appeal). It is therefore of practical
interest for us to spend some time getting acquainted with Turkish Arabic script.

Turkish Arabic script
Text quoted here is from the Wikipedia article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Turkish_alphabet#

Ottoman Turkish script is written right to left. The appearance of a character changes depending on its position in a word:
— isolated (in a one-character word);
— final (in which case it is joined on its right side to the preceding character);
— medial (joined on both sides); and
— initial (joined on its left side to the following character).
Some characters cannot be joined to their left side, and so do not possess separate medial and initial forms.
When these characters appear In medial position, their final form is used. When they appear in initial
position, their isolated form is used.

.

The orthography of Ottoman Turkish is complex, as many Turkish sounds can be written with several different letters. For example, the phoneme /s/ can be written as ⟨ث⟩, ⟨س⟩, or ⟨ص⟩. Conversely, some letters have more than one value: ⟨ك⟩ k may be /k/, /ɡ/, /n/, /j/, or /ː/ (lengthening the preceding vowel; modern ğ), and vowels are written ambiguously or not at all. For example, the text ⟨كورك⟩ kwrk can be read as /ɡevrek/ 'biscuit', /kyrk/ 'fur', /kyrek/ 'shovel', /kœryk/ 'bellows', /ɡœrek/ 'view', which in modern orthography are written gevrek, kürk, kürek, körük, görek.

Arabic and Persian borrowings are written in their original orthography: sabit 'firm' is written as ⟨ثابت⟩ s̱’bt, with ⟨ث⟩ s̱ representing /s/ (in Arabic /θ/), and ⟨ا⟩ ’ representing /aː/ as in Arabic but with no indication of the short /i/. The letters ث ح ذ ض ظ ع are found only in borrowings from Arabic; ژ is only in borrowings from Persian and French. Although the Arabic vowel points (harakat) can be used ⟨ثَابِت⟩ s̱a’bit, they are generally found only in dictionaries and didactic works, as in Arabic and Persian,[9] and they still do not identify vowel sounds unambiguously.

/RogerE

[Number-O-Ne]

Nice input. Thanks

Further complications are also caused by different languages spelling same words, or place names as relevant in philately.

Typical example is İstanbul

Turkish (correct) version as seen on postmarks: استانبؤل

Arabic (incorrect) version
اسطنبؤل

Another is America:

Turkish: امريقا

Arabic: أمريكا

[RogerE]

Turkish — Arabic Script (continued)

Thanks Number-O-Ne
May I analyse the components of your examples of use of Arabic script?
I find it helpful to do that, to understand the elements composing the words.
.

İstanbul
Correct Turkish version — as seen on postmarks:
استانبؤل
Analysis: ا س ت ا ن ب ؤ ل
Arabic version (not correct Turkish)
اسطنبؤل
Analysis: ا س ط ن ب ؤ ل
.
America
Correct Turkish version:
امريقا
Analysis: ا م ر ي ق ا
Arabic version (not correct Turkish)
أمريكا
Analysis: أ م ر ي ك ا
.

/RogerE

[RogerE]

French for Philatelists

In the Happy Day thread Puffin has revealed that he does not know how to say "stamp booklet" in French.
As a quick fix:

un carnet de timbres — a stamp booklet
.

Here is a special sample of philatelic French for those who would like to brush up their vocabulary
The website of LaPoste includes this current item:

.

Detail, self-adhesive Marianne l'engagée priority rate stamp booklet

.
https://www.laposte.fr/timbres/timbres-marianne/carnets/carn ... /p/1118400
.

You will note that several phrases on the French page are not translated into English, or else are translated
awkwardly. These include:

Marianne l'engagée — the [socially/politically]-engaged Marianne
livraison offerte — free delivery [offered, subject to minimum expenditure]
timbres ... autocollants — self-adhesive stamps
particuliers(*) — specifics; particular subjects

(*) Example: Je vais parler de deux points particuliers — I want to address two specific matters.

/RogerE

[nigelc]

Hi Roger,

You raised an interesting point about the word "Particuliers" on La Poste's website.

I read this as a noun referring to general members of the public, as opposed to other types of customer.

The other other three values in the drop-down menu are "Professionnels", "Entreprises" and "Collectionneurs", i.e. professionals, companies and collectors.

If you maximise the window (and I guess this also depends on the screen resolution) the four categories are set out in line on the menu bar.

[RogerE]

Thanks Nigel. I'm sure that is a better reading of "particuliers" in the context of that LaPoste page.

I tried the exercise of looking at the pulldown menu under "particuliers" in the original French,
together with the Google-mediated translations into English and German, for comparative insights.

.

.

.

Clearly that pulldown menu is for accessing LaPoste products sorted by "target audience/consumers":

• Particuliers — Individuals — Einzelpersonen: ordinary private consumers (the "punters").
• Professionnels — Professionals — Profis (*): specialist consumers, such as doctors (the "pros").
• Entreprises — Companies — Unternehmen: business consumers (the "bosses").
• Collectionneurs — Collectors — Sammler: philatelic customers (the "stamp collectors").

(*) From this exercise I learnt the German word der Profi — the pro.
A usage example: spielen wie ein Profi — play like a pro.

/RogerE

[RogerE]

Stamps and Languages Local Index (501–600)
.

.
• Note that posts 501-600 are indexed in this "Local" Index, and all the previous posts are indexed
in the "Cumulative" Index (1-500). The two have not been merged to avoid too large a new post.
My plan is to index each successive hundred new posts with a "Local" Index, until the total number
of posts reaches 1000, when it will be time to have a new "Cumulative" Index for the thread.

• To access a post, paste or type its number into the url at the top of this page, to replace the number '600'
Example: to go to the first post on Armenian, listed here as Armenian 567, modify
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=90529&start=600
so that it becomes
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=90529&start=567
To go to the Cumulative Index for the first 500 posts on this thread, enter
https://www.stampboards.com/posting.php?mode=reply&f=13&t=90529&start=500
To go to the Local Index for the first 150 posts on this thread, enter
https://www.stampboards.com/posting.php?mode=reply&f=13&t=90529&start=150

/RogerE

[Panterra]

ᠷᠣ᠋ᠵᠠ ᠶᠠ‍ᠭᠢ‍‍ᠯᠢ‍ᠲᠢ‍‍ᠨᠠ ᠰᠠᠶᠢᠨ ᠅

Mongolia 1932: some of the pictorial set, with Mongol vertical script correctly used for the locals, and English to satisfy the UPU and collectors abroad.
The late great leader Sukhe Bator is shown on the 40 mung, and his monument on the 50 mung.

. . . but the Mongol vertical script does have a few problems, such as the inability of typewriters to quickly produce a standardised version. So the new Mongolian government began to introduce the Latin alphabet in the 1930s: the 20 mung stamp here shows crowds assemble to learn the new alphabet.

Mongolian stamps show the country name in English to this day, though their first issue of 1924 neglected to show the country name at all, and was harshly criticised by the UPU for such carelessness.

Mongolia 1924 10c from the first issue. SG 4.
The country name is conspicuous by its absence!

The Mongolian vertical script, a.k.a. Old Script, has been much on my mind lately.

One of my unpaid and part-time jobs in retirement is doing the quarterly magazine for Auckland Grey Power, where I have the title of Technical Editor.

So in the latest issue, being printed at the moment, and mailed out to members next week, I managed to sneak in some Mongolian Old Script in pale blue, on the front cover. It translates to "Grey Power Focus" so can be viewed as the Mongol magazine title.

Focus, December 2020.

Can you see it? Hidden along the left margin. I think most folks will not spot it at all, assuming it's part of the sea life in the photo!

Being an undersea enthusiast (and collector of diving on stamps!), I got to write the back-page article, promoting scuba diving for the elderly. Anyone interested is welcome to request a copy, or I can email you a pdf of the magazine.

Anyone who sees this magazine might assume we have many Mongols in Grey Power, to justify having a Mongol sub-title. But as far as I know, there are NO Mongolians in the organisation. (Though I could be wrong.)

[RogerE]

Tigrinya Ge'ez

The Ge'ez script, and its use in the modern languages Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigre and Bilen,
was introduced in the post
https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=90529&start=563

Conflict in Tigray

A current news report:

.

.

An official from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has told CNN the war in Ethiopia is far from over and that Eritrean troops are part of the conflict.

Speaking exclusively to CNN for the first time since the fall of Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region, Getachew Reda said the bulk of the region still remains in the hands of the TPLF.

"We withdrew from Mekelle because we did not want to give them the pretext to bombard the city back to the stone age, to indiscriminately bombard and destroy the town," Reda, Ethiopia's former Communications Minister and a member of the TPLF executive council, told CNN by phone from inside the Tigray region.
Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) took control of the city on Saturday, according to a tweet from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. It was under fierce bombardment earlier on Saturday, a humanitarian source on the ground and eyewitnesses who have fled Mekelle, told CNN.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/04/africa/ethiopia-war-tplf-exclusive-intl/index.html

Descriptive Data about Tigray

The Tigray Region, Tigrinya: ክልል ትግራይ; Amharic: ትግራይ ክልል, kilil Tigrāy; official name: Tigrinya: ብሔራዊ ክልላዊ መንግስቲ ትግራይ, Bəh̩erawi Kəllelawi Mängəśti Təgray (English: Tigray National Regional State) is the northernmost region of Ethiopia. Tigray is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama peoples.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigray_Region
.

Mekelle or Mekele, Tigrinya: መቐለ, mäqälle, Amharic: መቀሌ, mek’elē, is the capital city of Tigray Region in Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta awraja in Tigray. It is located around 780 kilometres north of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, with an elevation of 2,254 metres above sea level. Administratively, Mekelle is considered a Special Zone, which is divided into seven sub-cities. It is the economic, cultural, and political hub of northern Ethiopia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekelle
.

Tigrinya: ትግርኛ, also spelled Tigrigna, is an Ethiopic language spoken in Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia in the Tigray region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigrinya_language

Tigray: a Snapshot of Related Literature

.

Rivalry of Tesfom and Habtom (Tigrinya edition)
by Tesfay and Manghis

.

The Linguistic Dimension

.

Analysis of Several Words

.
ብሔራዊ ክልላዊ መንግስቲ ትግራይ
Bəh̩erawi Kəllelawi Mängəśti Təgray
— National Regional State of Tigray
.
ብ bə, ሔ ḥe, ራ ra, ዊ wi = ብሔራዊ bəh̩erawi
ክ kə, ል lə, ላ la, ዊ wi = ክልላዊ kələlawi
መ mä, ን nə, ግ gə, ስ sə, ቲ ti = መንግስቲ mänəgəsti
ት tə,ግ gə, ራ ra, ይ y[ə] = ትግራይ təgray

ክ kə, ል lə, ል lə = ክልል kələlə — region

መ mä, ቐ ḳʰä, ለ lä = መቐለ mäḳʰälä — Mikelle

ት tə,ግ gə,ር rə,ኛ ña = ትግርኛ təgrəña — Tigrinya

ክ kə, ጻ ṣa, ሙ mu, ን nə, ቲ ti = ክጻሙንቲ kəṣamunti — clothes

ህ hə, ል lə, ኽ xə = ህልኽ hələxə — rivalry
.

As usual, corrections by knowledgeable members are welcome.

/RogerE