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Are the words reversed Max?

It's just a chiasmus.


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sjmaxq Offline OP
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If by chiasmus you mean, "utterly typical synaptic malfunction", then, yes, absolutely.


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No, more like a rhetorical device where two parallel constructions are reversed: like A and B, both B and A. Or some such. I.e., "Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you. &c.


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>No, more like a rhetorical device where two parallel constructions are reversed: like A and B, both B and A.

Yep, that's what a chiasmus is. I, however, simply stuffed up, confusing etaoin by listing the English equivalents of the Hindi words in the wrong order. Since I didn't then even know what a chiasmus was, I must plead incompetence rather than ingenuity.


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I found this on the net. I do not know whether it adds anything to the discussion. Thanks.

"Tadbhav words come from Sanskrit but through some regional language like Pali or Prakrit. They have changed along the way. Examples are bhai, behan, naak and kaan. Deshaj words come from languages other than Sanskrit, e.g. garhbarh and jagmag. Videshi words are words taken from foreign languages like Arabic, Persian, French and English. For instance, allah, namaz, kameez, aspataal and rail."




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kameez is defitnitely Urdu and probably derives from Arabic.


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confusing etaoin

not a difficult task, most days...

camera=chamber made me think of unicameral, which starts to make sense!



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the process of having a small opening in the wall of an other wise dark room, would created a faint, (and upside down) image on the wall opposite the the opening.

Wow, really of Troy? I've never heard of that before. Is this just a memory statement or do you have a site I can go to, to read up about it. It sounds very interesting and I'd love to know the reason behind it.



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I visited an optometrist once, whose waiting room was a camera obscura (literally 'dark room'). It was fun watching the activities of the parking lot upside down on the wall opposite the small opening.


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Another hint of (usually Persian) loanwords is the presence of a {z}, {f}, etc. Written with devanagri letters {j} and {ph} with dots to modify their pronunciation. One of the first signs I saw on my arrival to India written in devanagri read neshiNal baink National Bank ... (transcription from memory, may be wrong) ...

As for the Hindi terms, they're all tadbhava, i.e., Sanskrit words.

tadbhava tad 'that' + bhava 'being, becoming'; also tajja < tad (before a {j}) + ja 'born' ... A Sanskrit loanword (into a Prakrit language).

deshaja 'country-born, native': < desha 'place, region' cf. Bangladesh 'land of the Bengals', Anglo-Indian desi 'native of India'.

videshi 'snother country, foreign, abroad' < vi- 'apart, asunder' + desha.


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