# How do languages differ in vocabulary?



## arnold99

Hello everyone.

I'm doing a research for a school essay and I'd like to write about how languages differ in vocabulary. So, for example, as far as I know, there are many words in British English to describe the rain, there is: drizzling, spitting, pouring, puddle... And it's understandable because it rains a lot in England, so British people try to describe the gloomy weather as precise as they can. In Spain, though, we barely use more than one word to describe the rain.

I think it's really interesting but I don't find information about it. Do you know any sources about this subject? It'd be really helpful.

Thank you very much.


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## Hulalessar

I think Spanish has quite a few words too:

lluvia

llovizna

chubasco

chaparrón

diluvio

aguacero


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## fdb

I think you might find this instructive; perhaps even amusing.
http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/EskimoHoax.pdf


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## Erkattäññe

Hulalessar said:


> I think Spanish has quite a few words too:
> 
> lluvia
> 
> llovizna
> 
> chubasco
> 
> chaparrón
> 
> diluvio
> 
> aguacero


 Also garúa, those words describe differences in the intensity of the rain, they vary from speaker to speaker and region obviously and I guess a single speaker doesn't use all of them. For me the scale is garúa < llovizna < lluvia < diluvio from soft to strong. I know but don't use chubasco or chaparrón.


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## danielstan

Some say Icelandic has a hundred names for snow: https://blogs.transparent.com/icelandic/2012/11/21/a-hundred-names-for-snow/
I wonder how many words has an African language for "snow"...


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## Cossue

arnold99 said:


> In Spain, though, we barely use more than one word to describe the rain.


Well, actually here in Galicia it can rain a lot (in my hometown, Santiago de Compostela we have 1800mm and 140 days or rain per year), so Galician is rather rich in words that descrive fog/drizzle/rain/storm:
Los gallegos y sus 70 palabras para designar la lluvia


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## Hulalessar

Whilst "Inuit has [insert any number you like] words for snow" has been shown to be a myth, it does seem that the Saami have quite an extensive vocabulary covering snow (and reindeer) - see here: http://www.arcticlanguages.com/papers/Magga_Reindeer_and_Snow.pdf Since I know no Saami I have no idea how many of the words may also mean something else or if some of the words are compounds equivalent to "wet snow". The question to ask I suppose is how many morphemes does the language have which relate exclusively to snow and reindeer. And of course we need to know how many of these words are in regular use. My father was a carpenter and joiner and had words for different parts of doors and windows. However, none are used (and indeed were not used by him) in non-specialist situations. So, whilst we can say that English has a rich vocabulary to describe windows and doors it is a bit misleading.

It is obviously the case that people do not have words for things they do not know about. It is also the case that trades and professions will develop lexica to assist them in talking about their business with precision. It is more difficult to say whether it is always the case that a people will develop extensive vocabulary to describe their environment. Though England is not mountainous it is not all flat and has many words for high places: hill, mountain, mount, fell, down, tor, hillock, ridge, dune, knoll, etc. I wonder if Dutch has as many words? Do the Swiss have more?

You do not get far learning any language without realising that its words do not have a one to one correspondence with your own. Where your language may make do with one, the other may require you to choose between two or more. Classic ones for English speakers learning a Romance language are "know" and "can". Equally, a language may lack a distinction that your own makes. I think that arnold99 could usefully explore how everyday words cover different areas, rather than trying to find specific topics where one language may or may not have a larger vocabulary than another.


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## myšlenka

Hulalessar said:


> Whilst "Inuit has [insert any number you like] words for snow" has been shown to be a myth, it does seem that the Saami have quite an extensive vocabulary covering snow [...] Since I know no Saami I have no idea how many of the words may also mean something else or if some of the words are compounds equivalent to "wet snow". The question to ask I suppose is how many morphemes does the language have which relate exclusively to snow and reindeer. And of course we need to know how many of these words are in regular use.


I don't know much about (Northern) Saami, but I had a look at the article and it is clearly more of an article of (Saami) culture than of language. Magga did not assemble the list himself but he has drawn examples from a list made by Nils Jernsletten (a list I think I was able to find and which clearly had many words sharing roots). Magga says in his article that there are 175-180 words basic (!) stems on snow and ice (after citing words that look like compounds to me) and that by including different word classes and possible derivations, "_we may probably very easily come up to something like one thousand lexemes with connection to snow, ice, freezing, and melting_". Such sensational numbers are probably just meant to be exactly that.


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## djara

Classical Arabic had literally hundreds of words for "camel". They used different words according to age, size, the shape of their legs, of their tails, etc. This is representative of the central role camels played in their original desert society. In Tunisian Arabic today, you'd find, at most, four words: 'jmal' (male), 'naaqa' (female), 'g'oud' (young) and 'bil' for a group of camels.


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## fdb

djara said:


> Classical Arabic had literally hundreds of words for "camel". They used different words according to age, size, the shape of their legs, of their tails, etc. This is representative of the central role camels played in their original desert society. In Tunisian Arabic today, you'd find, at most, four words: 'jmal' (male), 'naaqa' (female), 'g'oud' (young) and 'bil' for a group of camels.



"Literally hundreds" is an exaggeration, but there are lots.


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## djmc

I used to ski and climb mountains both in Britain and the Alps. Without searching too greatly I can think of about 30 terms for different conditions of ice and snow that I could use, with a bit more searching I might think of about 20 more. Some of these are from English, others from french or German, but used quite commonly by those who are interested in the phenomena. It is specialised vocabulary, but widely known. It seems to me obvious that cultures that for various reasons have an interest in various phenomena or spheres of activity should have the words to describe them. This may either be invented from within the language itself or borrowed from another.


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## entangledbank

Perusing a dictionary for large numbers of specialized camel words is amusing, but without knowing their context, it can be misleading. Comparably important in English is the horse, and while we'd be surprised by a special word for "camel that drags its feet slowly", this is exactly the sort of thing we have in English. In a mediaeval historical context we have steed, charger, palfrey, and destrier. Pejorative terms from when people commonly rode or drove them include hack, nag, stumbler, plodder, and miller. We have all the variety terms like shire, draught-horse, Palomino, Arab, and thoroughbred; plus colours like bay and roan and strawberry and chestnut, most of which can be used as nouns denoting the horse. I don't know much about horse-racing but I bet they have pejorative terms too alongside sport varieties like trotter and steeplechaser, and words for horses that perform well in the wet or over distances. All this in addition to the obvious age and sex terms like foal, yearling, stallion, mare, colt, dam, sire, filly.

_Edit._ I keep thinking of more ranges. You go after foxes on a hunter; and you have leaders and wheelers on your carriage. They might be high-steppers or sweet goers instead of being prads or incurable slugs. (I read a lot of Georgette Heyer.) At the betting track you put your money on the gee-gees or the neddies, hoping it's not an also-ran or a scratching. And cowboys must have had special words for their mounts.


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## Hulalessar

entangledbank said:


> Perusing a dictionary etc



Your post makes a very good point. And the thing is that many of us will not necessarily know _precisely _what some of the words mean even if we are familiar with them. I know that it is always damsels who ride palfreys, but I could not explain precisely what it is that defines a palfrey. I certainly do not know the difference between bay and roan.


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## Treaty

There is also a huge list of words in Arabic for lion. However, many of them are adjectives referring a different attributes.


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## apmoy70

Greek has a rich vocabulary for the sea:

-*«Θάλασσα»* [ˈθalasa] (fem.) --> _high seas, sea_ < Classical fem. noun *«θάλασσα»  tʰắlassā* (with unknown etymology, possibly Pre-Greek).
E.g. in Modern Greek *«Μεσόγειος Θάλασσα»* [meˈsoʝi.os ˈθalasa] (both fem.) --> _Mediterranean Sea_.

-*«Πέλαγος»* [ˈpelaɣos] (neut.) --> _sea, embayment of sea_ < Classical neut. noun *«πέλαγος» pélagŏs* --> _sea_ (with unknown etymology, possibly Pre-Greek).
E.g. in Modern Greek *«Αιγαίο Πέλαγος»* [eˈʝe.o ˈpelaɣos] (both neut.) --> _Aegean sea_.

-*«Πόντος»* [ˈpondos] (masc.) --> _sea_ < Classical epic masc. name of sea, traditionally used for shipping routes *«πόντος» póntŏs* --> _sea_ (PIE *pont-eh₁-/*pn̥t-h₁- _path_ cf Lat. pōns, Proto-Slavic *pǫtь > Rus. путь, OCS пѫть > BCS пут/put, Bul. път).
E.g. in Modern Greek *«Εύξεινος Πόντος»* [ˈefk͡sinos ˈpondos] (both masc.) --> lit. _Hospitable Sea_, also found as _Euxine Sea_, ancient name of _Black Sea_, *«Ελλήσποντος»* [eˈlispondos] (masc.) --> _Hellespont_, *«ποντοπόρο πλοίο»* [pondoˈpoɾo ˈpli.o] (both neut.) --> _seagoing vessel/ship_.

-*«Ωκεανός»* [oce.aˈnos] (masc.) --> _large body of water, ocean_ < Classical masc. *«Ὠκεανός» Ōkĕanós* --> _mythical name of a river that surrounds the world, ocean, personification of a sea deity_ (with obscure etymology, the variants *«Ὠγηνός» Ōgēnós* (masc.) & *«Ὠγενός» Ōgĕnós* (masc.) point towards Pre-Greek substrate).
E.g. in Modern Greek *«Ατλαντικός Ωκεανός»* [atlandiˈkos oce.aˈnos] (both masc.) --> _Atlantic Ocean_.

-Classical 3rd declension fem. noun *«ἅλς» hắls* (nom. sing.), *«ἁλός» hălós* (gen. sing.) --> _poetic name of sea_ (PIE *seh₂-l- _salt_ old word found in most IE languages).
In MoGr *«ἅλς»* is found mostly in compounds (e.g. *«παραλία»* [paɾaˈli.a] (fem) --> _beach, seashore, seaside_ < Homeric *«παρὰ τῆς ἁλός» părà tês hălós* --> _next-to-the-sea_), or as derivatives (e.g. *«άλμη»* [ˈalmi] (fem.) --> _brime, seawater_).


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## Nino83

Three different words for rice:
rice growing, raw rice, cooked rice
Malay: padi, beras, nasi (also: pulut ‘sticky rice’)
Vietnamese: lua, gao, com
Japanese: ine, kome, gohan or meshi
Hot and non-hot water:
Japanese: mizu, yu


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## Delvo

Sometimes differences in the numbers of words for things just come up for nor particular reason. For example, English's verbs "let" and "leave" both equate to the single German verb "lassen", but English-speakers have no more need for letting or leaving than German-speakers. This randomness makes it easy to find examples that _seem_ like they might be meaningful even if they actually aren't. For example, the PIE word for "sword" is preserved with the same meaning in Germanic languages, but most other IE and non-IE languages use a single word for swords and knives, and that word ended up meaning "drill" in eastern Slavic. Are we to think that the distinction between a sword and a knife is more important in some cultures than in others, and/or that at some time in history the eastern Slavs experienced a decrease in the need for swords and an increase in the need for drills at the same time, which nobody else experienced? I think not.


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## ahvalj

Delvo said:


> For example, the PIE word for "sword" is preserved with the same meaning in Germanic languages, but most other IE and non-IE languages use a single word for swords and knives, and that word ended up meaning "drill" in eastern Slavic. Are we to think that the distinction between a sword and a knife is more important in some cultures than in others, and/or that at some time in history the eastern Slavs experienced a decrease in the need for swords and an increase in the need for drills at the same time, which nobody else experienced? I think not.


*_Swerđan_ actually has no clear connections and there is no evidence to postulate it for Proto-Indo-European. _Orel VE · 2003 · A handbook of Germanic etymology: _395 and _Kroonen G · 2013 · Etymological dictionary of Proto-Germanic: _499 hypothesize it may contain a suffix _-*dʰro->-đa-_ (_*rđr>rđ_), in which case this word is indeed comparable with the Common Slavic _*su̯irdla _(Slavic prefers the variant _-dʰlo-_ of this suffix; there is also a more widespread variant _*su̯irdila,_ perhaps with an epenthetic vowel to break the cluster _rdl_): Germanic prototype thus being _*su̯er-dʰrom_ vs. Slavic _*su̯r̥-dʰlom._ The suffix is deverbal, so we should expect both words to be derived from some verb _*su̯er-_.

*P. S. *On the other hand, Common Slavic has _*džirdla_ "gorge" (> Polish _źródło_) and _*gurdla_ "throat" (> Polish _gardło_), both from _*gʷr̥-dʰlo-m,_ without such an epenthesis (i. e. no _**džirdila_ and _**gurdila_), so it is not impossible that the Slavic word for "drill" actually has the root _*suerdʰ-_ or _*su̯erd- _and thus either is not related to "sword", or contains a root extension absent in Germanic, or the Germanic word itself has no suffix before the stem vowel.


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## Ihsiin

Arabic has different words for loud and silent farts: ضرطة and فسوة.


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## fdb

Delvo said:


> English's verbs "let" and "leave" both equate to the single German verb "lassen", but English-speakers have no more need for letting or leaving than German-speakers.



This is actually not true either from a diachronic or a synchronic viewpoint. Diachronically “let” is cognate with “lassen”, while “leave” is cognate with “bleiben”. Synchronically “let” means “lassen”, but “leave” means “verlassen”. I think that German and English both make an equally clear distinction between the two concepts.


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## Treaty

Nino83 said:


> Three different words for rice


These are the Persian ones:
growing (šālī), raw (berenj), cooked: unstrained plain (kate), strained plain (čelō), unstrained mixed (damī), strained mixed (polō, it is close to Indian pilaf). The last two can be also considered as styles of rice rather than a word for rice. I guess apart from damī others are loanwords came into Persian through different channels and in different stages.


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## Erkattäññe

ahvalj said:


> *_Swerđan_ actually has no clear connections and there is no evidence to postulate it for Proto-Indo-European. _Orel VE · 2003 · A handbook of Germanic etymology: _395 and _Kroonen G · 2013 · Etymological dictionary of Proto-Germanic: _499 hypothesize it may contain a suffix _-*dʰro->-đa-_ (_*rđr>rđ_), in which case this word is indeed comparable with the Common Slavic _*su̯irdla _(Slavic prefers the variant _-dʰlo-_ of this suffix; there is also a more widespread variant _*su̯irdila,_ perhaps with an epenthetic vowel to break the cluster _rdl_): Germanic prototype thus being _*su̯er-dʰrom_ vs. Slavic _*su̯r̥-dʰlom._ The suffix is deverbal, so we should expect both words to be derived from some verb _*su̯er-_.
> 
> *P. S. *On the other hand, Common Slavic has _*džirdla_ "gorge" (> Polish _źródło_) and _*gurdla_ "throat" (> Polish _gardło_), both from _*gʷr̥-dʰlo-m,_ without such an epenthesis (i. e. no _**džirdila_ and _**gurdila_), so it is not impossible that the Slavic word for "drill" actually has the root _*suerdʰ-_ or _*su̯erd- _and thus either is not related to "sword", or contains a root extension absent in Germanic, or the Germanic word itself has no suffix before the stem vowel.


I hope this root helps:

Root: *su̯er-3*
English meaning: stake / German meaning: `Pfahl'

Material: 
Ai. _sváru-_ m. `Pfahl, Doppelpfosten, langes Holzstück'; 
gr. ἕρμα n. `Stütze'; homer. 
Akk. ἑρμι̃να m. `Bettpfosten'; 
ahd. _swirōn_ `bepfählen', mhd. _swir_ `Uferpfahl', nhd. schweiz. _Schwiren_ `Pfahl', ags. _swier_, _swior_ m. f. `Pfosten, Säule'; mit _k_-Formans aisl. _svīri_ m. `Hals, Schiffsschnabel'(*_swerhjan_-), ags. _swīera_, _swīora_ `Hals' (_*swirhjan-_); 
lat. tiefstufig _surus_ `Zweig, Pfahl', Demin. _surculus_, _surcellus_; vielleicht _sūra_`Wade, Wadenbein' (s. unter *sōrā).


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## ahvalj

Erkattäññe said:


> I hope this root helps:
> 
> Root: *su̯er-3*
> English meaning: stake / German meaning: `Pfahl'
> 
> Material:
> Ai. _sváru-_ m. `Pfahl, Doppelpfosten, langes Holzstück';
> gr. ἕρμα n. `Stütze'; homer.
> Akk. ἑρμι̃να m. `Bettpfosten';
> ahd. _swirōn_ `bepfählen', mhd. _swir_ `Uferpfahl', nhd. schweiz. _Schwiren_ `Pfahl', ags. _swier_, _swior_ m. f. `Pfosten, Säule'; mit _k_-Formans aisl. _svīri_ m. `Hals, Schiffsschnabel'(*_swerhjan_-), ags. _swīera_, _swīora_ `Hals' (_*swirhjan-_);
> lat. tiefstufig _surus_ `Zweig, Pfahl', Demin. _surculus_, _surcellus_; vielleicht _sūra_`Wade, Wadenbein' (s. unter *sōrā).


Why then not 4. _*su̯er- _"schneiden, stechen, schwären, eitern" of _Pokorny J · 1959 · Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 3. Band: 1050_ (both the Germanic and the Slavic words mentioned as cognates under this lemma, the Slavic one as "vielleicht")?


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## apmoy70

Modern Greek has rich vocabulary for describing different kinds of garden, also:

-*«Κήπος»* [ˈcipos] (masc.) --> _garden_ < Classical masc. noun *«κῆπος» kêpŏs* --> _plantation, garden, orchard_ (PIE *keh₂p- _enclosure_ cf Alb. kopshtë, garden, possibly Lat. capere, Proto-Germanic *hōbō > Ger. Hube, Dt. hoeve).

-*«Περιβόλι»* [peɾiˈvoli] (neut.) --> _kitchen-garden_ < Byz. Gr. neut. noun *«περιβόλιον» peribólion* --> _small orchard_ < Classical Gr. deverbal fem. noun *«περίβολος» pĕríbŏlŏs* --> _area enclosed, enclosure_ < Classical v. *«περιβάλλω» pĕrĭbállō* < compound, prefix, adv. & preposition *«περί» pĕrí* & *«πέρι» pérĭ* --> _about, around_ (PIE *per- _through, across, beyond_ cf Skt. परि (pári), _about, around_, Av. pairi (idem), Lat. per, Proto-Slavic *perdъ > Rus. перед, Cz. před, Pol. przed, Slk pred, OCS прѣдъ > BCS пред/pred, Bul. пред) + Classical v. *«βάλλω» bállō* --> _to throw, hit_ (PIE *gʷelh₁- _to hit by throwing_ with no certain cognates in IE languages).

-Rustic and colloquial *«μπαξές»* [baˈk͡ses] (masc.) --> _kitchen-garden_ < Turkish bahçe.

-*«Mποστάνι»* [boˈstani] (neut.) --> _melon/watermelon orchard_, (dial.) _kitchen-garden_ < Persian بوستان (bostaan) via Ottoman Turkish.

-*«Οπωρώνας»* [opoˈɾonas] (masc.) --> _orchard_ < Classical masc. noun *«ὀπωρών» ŏpōrṓn* (idem) < Classical fem. noun *«ὀπώρᾱ» ŏpṓrā* --> lit. _end of summer, harvest-time_, metaph. _seasonal fruit_ (PIE *h₁opi- _at, on_ cf Skt. अपि (ápi), _also, too_, Av aipi- _also_, Arm. եվ (yev), _and_ + PIE *h₁os-r-(n) _harvest-time_ cf Proto-Slavic *(j)esenь > Rus. осень, Svk jeseň, Pol. jesień, OHG arnōt, _harvest time_ > Ger. Ernte).

-*«Ελαιώνας»* [eleˈonas] (masc.) --> _olive-garden_ < Classical masc. noun *«ἐλαιών» ĕlai̯ṓn *(idem) < Classical fem. noun *«ἐλαίᾱ» ĕlaí̯ā* --> _olive, olive tree_ (with obscure etymology possibly pre-Greek).

-*«Αμπελώνας»* [ambeˈlonas] (masc.) --> _vinery_ < Classical masc. noun *«ἀμπελών» ămpĕlṓn* (idem) < Classical fem. noun *«ἄμπελος» ắmpĕlŏs* --> _grape-vine_ (with obscure etymology).

-*«Aνθώνας»* [anˈθonas] (masc.) --> _flower-garden_ < Byz.Gr 3rd declension masc. noun *«ἀνθών» anthṓn* (nom. sing.), *«ἀνθῶνος» anthônos* (gen. sing.) --> _land/enclosure devoted to the cultivation of flowers_ (calqued after the Classical «ἐλαι-*ών*» --> _land/enclosure devoted to the cultivation of olive trees_) < Classical neut. noun *«ἄνθος» ắntʰŏs* --> _flower_ (with obscure etymology; possibly related to Skt. उद्भिद् (udbhid), _sprout of the soma plant_, Alb. endë, _flour_).

-*«Αλτάνα»* [alˈtana] (fem.) & *«αλιτάνα»* [aliˈtana] (fem.) --> _parterre, flower-bed, land/enclosure where flowers are grown_ <  It. altana, _terrace_.


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