A realisation: white eggs in Maltese

[pne]

The thought came to me that apparently in Maltese, "egg" literally means "a white thing" -- for example, "a white egg" would be "bajda bajda", if I'm not mistaken, i.e. roughly "a white white-thing". (So I suppose Casablanca, or Ad-dar al-Bayda [Id-Dar il-Bajda], could also be "The Egg House" in Maltese, not just "The White House". Casadelhuevo? But "the egg white" is, I believe, "l-abjad tal-bajda", i.e. "the white[masc.] of the white[fem.]")

Also strangely enough, one of the dictionaries I had seemed not to have an entry for "bajda", which is unfortunate since it would be good to know the individual and collective plurals (bajdiet; bajd), for example. Fortunately, the other one I have does. (But that one doesn't list "bajda" and "bojod" [feminine and plural, respectively] s.v. "abjad" [the masculine/citation form of the adjective "white"], so it has its shortcomings, too.)

Comments

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

In Mexico it's the same: "blanquillo" literally means "little white thing."

The actual Spanish word for egg, "huevo," is also slang for testicles, and in Mexico it's so offensive that they won't use it any other way.

[wingflutter.livejournal.com]

yeah btw, 'bajd' is also slang for testicles in Maltese!!

[wingflutter.livejournal.com]

the reason 'bajda' won't be in the dictionary as 'white' is because the actual colour is 'abjad'. the feminine only comes about as an adjective.

apologies for not replying to the email you'd sent requesting some translations, i just havent had any time lately!!!

[pne.livejournal.com]

the reason 'bajda' won't be in the dictionary as 'white' is because the actual colour is 'abjad'. the feminine only comes about as an adjective.

I hadn't expected to find 'bajda: (feminine adjective) white' in the dictionary (as you pointed out, adjectives appear under the masculine form, which is fine for me even if it does mean some looking and guessing if I haven't seen the word before) -- but I had expected to find 'bajda: (feminine noun) egg'!

After all, if you're reading a story where someone "kul bajd" or "xtara sitt bajdiet", even if you found "bajda" under "abjad" you'd still be wondering what white things he ate or bought if you don't know that the feminine form, as a noun, means an egg.

[pne.livejournal.com]

apologies for not replying to the email you'd sent requesting some translations, i just havent had any time lately!!!

I understand.

Thanks for not forgetting about it, though!