Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2006 December 2

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December 2

Arabic word's meaning

What does Rafidite[1] mean?--Patchouli 02:03, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

The Google results suggest that it's a pejorative term used by Sunni extremists to describe Shiites as effectively infidels. Memri.org confirms this explicitly. I'll be interested to see the more precise answer. Wareh 02:15, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

This 1979 article (JSTOR subscription req'd) says that the term "Rafīḍa" goes back to Zayd ibn Ali's uprising:

The uprising, which took place in 122/740...occasioned a serious split in the Shi‘i ranks, between those who were ready to heed Zayd’s call to arms (i.e. the proto-Zaydiyya) and those who did not believe in the efficacy of armed resistance (i.e., the proto-Imamiyya). The latter were accused by their opponents of deserting and rejecting Zayd. It is said that before their desertion (rafḍ) they demanded unsuccessfully that Zayd publicly dissociate himself from Abu Bakr and `Umar and pronounce them sinful usurpers. When, in subsequent generations, after having gone through several changes of meaning, the term "Rafīḍa" became a popular pejorative appellation of the Imamiyya, it was intended to recall two major sins: for the Zaydiyya, the sin of rejecting Zayd, and for the Sunnis, that of rejecting the first two caliphs.

The thesis of the article is that, contrary to other scholars’ reports, the Shiites did on occasion refer to themselves as Rawafīḍ: "The term 'Rafīḍa,' originally used as a pejorative appellation, was quite early interpreted by the Imamis (against whom it was primarily directed) as an honorific signifying 'Those who rejected evil.'" But evidently it's the Sunni's usage against the Shiites that's really stuck. Wareh 02:35, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you.--Patchouli 03:43, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

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We actually have an article Rafida (which has been a persistent _target of anonymous IP vandalism), established redirect. AnonMoos 05:16, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

D'oh! Wareh 21:50, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

What catagory do prepositions belong to? Lexical or functional?

Linguists have always been divded on the issue of whether prepositions are lexical or functional in nature. Please help me get to the bottom of this issue by providing some supporting articles for both points of view, and perhaps a compromise of the two. Thanks!

12.146.27.187 04:45, 2 December 2006 (UTC)Sara

Adposition might help you. Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]} 04:59, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Functional because they aren't content words; they are helping words.--Patchouli 05:42, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

That's what I thought, but the article I link to says they're lexical. Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]} 22:31, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

The article calls them lexical elements, which I take to mean that they are in the lexicon, and not necessarily that they are lexical words. The article further states that these are considered to be members of the syntactic category "P", but, unfortunately does not explain what that means. Perhaps it means: the category consisting of the adpositions. The article Function word lists adpositions as a type of words included in function words. In many cases the lexical elements derive from lexical words (like "inside" from "side"), but I can't find arguments in favour of categorizing them by themselves as lexical words.  --Lambiam^Talk 23:13, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

"English Syntax: An Introduction" by Andrew Radford argues in the section 2.4 that prepositions are lexical or subtantive categories, because they have subtantive lexical/descriptive content. To determine whether a word has descriptive content he uses the antonym test: if a word has antonym then it has descriptive content. He illustrates with the preposition "inside" which has antonym "outside". Vineet Chaitanya 13:02, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

That seems bunk. Inside and outside are also nouns: "I'm on the inside." Those nouns have simply been grammaticalized while still retained as nouns (and other word classes as well). Does he test to or at? Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]} 23:14, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

No! He does talk about "infinitive to" which he puts under functors. He does not talk about any other preposition, but he concludes: "This reflects the fact that nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions typically have subtantive descriptive content, and so are contentives." Vineet Chaitanya 07:57, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

English translation of the Chinese word "姑息"

As I understand it, "姑息" is used both as a verb and as an adjective. The Chinese dictionary I consulted explains its meaning as "to seek temporary peace or security" (my translation). It seems to have the connotation of seeking temporary peace or security through inaction or avoiding triggering direct conflicts. The same dictionary also explains that the word has a derived meaning of "to be forgiving or tolerant in an unprincipled way".

Used as an adjective, the word seems to mean having an attitude that favors appeasement, having a tendency to appease, or being tolerant in a morally wrong way.

Whether an verb or an adjective, the word seems to be used most often in a disapproving way (although the word is used in a neutral way in "姑息治疗" to mean "palliative therapy").

What would be some possible English translations of "姑息", besides the obvious "appease" and "appeasing"? --71.246.9.199 13:50, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

This word is often used in chengyu 姑息养奸 Yao Ziyuan 14:35, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I think many Chinese words could be used both as nouns, adjectives and verbs. Not unusual... Otherwise, what's wrong with the obvious? 惑乱 分からん 15:09, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

It's a matter of aesthetics. The word occurs in one line of the lyrics of a Chinese song. The translation is somewhat tricky because the context contains a Chinese set phrase, as well as symbolism of uncertain (to me) meaning. The word is used metaphorically(?) in the context. "Appeasing" doesn't seem to preserve the artistic quality very well. --71.246.9.199 15:35, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

姑息 is also used in Japanese (pronounced as kosoku) and means "stopgap; makeshift". Sanseido Daijirin (Japanese dictionary) explains 姑 means 'short term' and 息 means 'put stop'). --Kusunose 01:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

"Wax on, wax off"

What is the meaning and/or origin of this phrase?

thanks.

It comes from the movie The Karate Kid - for the story behind the phrase, see our article about the movie here. FreplySpang 18:19, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Incidentally, it doesn't work; that whole summer as a 13 year-old I waxed on and off and practiced the Crane Kick on the beach - no girl nor black belt nor triumphs over bullies or wider adversities.Wolfgangus 18:38, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

"Waxing" and "waning" are terms used to show an increase and decrease in something, particularly the amount of the Moon which is visible from Earth. I suspect they are using "wax on" to mean increase and "wax off" to mean decrease. I'd have to see the actual quote to know what is increasing and decreasing, however. StuRat 11:29, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I think he waxed cars... =S 惑乱 分からん 13:34, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Yup. Daniel thought he was waxing Mr Miyagi's vintage cars, when he was actually learning karate blocks. Clarityfiend 23:41, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

"Don't paint up down! Paint side side!" He also painted a fence, and some other stuff. Then he caught a fly with chopsticks. "Beginner's luck!" Ah, Pat Morita, you will be missed. Proto::type 14:25, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Hindi Words of Arabic Origin

Hello: I was wondering if anyone knew of Hindi words which are of Arabic origin. Thanks! Vikramkr 21:56, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

The word tandoor comes ultimately from Arabic, but I don't know if it is a Hindi word.  --Lambiam^Talk 22:45, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Paramount chief in Spanish

How do I translate this in the sense that is given in the above article? I came across 'Jefe de Estado' and 'Jefe Supremo' but these aren't exactly accurate. Any ideas would be much appreciated :) 210.7.6.151 21:59, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

This Google search gives several pages in Spanish that choose to use the recognized English term "paramount chief." Equivalents given include jefe tribal (cf. [2]), jefe supremo (cf. [3]). Wareh 01:26, 3 December 2006 (UTC)