Puzzles

[nairi]

Since we have a Math thread, I thought it was only logical to have a Language puzzle thread as well. So here it is.

 

I guess I should start...

 

Ok, an easy warm-up:

 

What's up with this sentence?

 

The quick brown fox jumped over a lazy spotted dog.

 

Can you come up with an Armenian equivalent?

[Harut]

Aragasharzh, shaganakaguyn aghves@ tsatkets alarkot, putavor shan vrayov (vrayits):

 

here is a new puzzle for you:

"vrayov" te "vrayits"?

[nairi]

Good try, but wrong. Try again I'll give you a hint after this one if you want.

 

I'll tell you later

[Harut]

no, i'm right.

[Arpa]

This is a phrase to illustrate the true type characters of fonts.

It is composed to contain all the letters of the alphabet only once.

The Armenian euivalent would be;

http://www2.shore.net/~narbey/armen/aypen.html

So, I think the challenge would be to compose a phrase, however silly where all the letters of the ayb ben gim would be used, each no more than once.

[vava]

Hi Nairi,

 

This probably has nothing to do with anything at all - but the English sentence you quoted above:

contains every letter in the English alphabet. I suppose the challenge would be to find an equivalent sentence in Hayeren, that would contain every letter in the Armenian alphabet - which I most certainly cannot due (especially due to all this confusing transliteration! )

[vava]

Hey Arpa! You caught me as I was typing!! Grrrr...

[MJ]

It is alleged that Mashdots has come up with the Armenian Alphabet based on a prayer, which goes somewhat like this:

 

“Ararich bnutian ev goii…”

 

While I have heard many people allege it, I haven’t come across anyone who could narrate beyond the first few phrases or to give a reference. They claim that the prayer has been lost throughout the centuries. Clearly, this prayer those not satisfy the criterion of not having any letters repeated, but it is alleged that all letters of Armenian alphabet were picked up from this prayer.

[Harut]

MJ, i heard that prayer in full length some time ago on TV. i don't know how original it was though.

this is what the guy was also talking about. and some other interesting things.

[nairi]

Arpa and Vava, very good! Now come up with an Armenian equivalent (the less repeated letters, the higher you score!). I haven't been able to find anything decent yet btw.

[Sip]

What's up? The fox.

 

Armenian equavalent? Trick question. There are no quick foxes nor spotted dogs ... although there are plenty of lazy dogs in Armenia. No, this is NOT some sort of "intelligent" political comment or analogy.

 

If I really had to translate? in an "equivalent" sense?

 

Arag serjaguin aghvese tsadkets tsuyl desnvats shan vrits.

 

As far as Mashtots and the alphabet, I still maintain this was the original version:

 

aaa be ge de yez,

eh @ teki,

je ii le xe tse ke heri,

Q!$#^#@^@@@

p, ke, OFFFFFF gluxhes tsvats.

 

Ok, my modem connection sucks so I'll stop there.

[nairi]

A whole day later and still no sentence... I guess I should give up on this one.

 

Harut, I didn't forget. I think vrayov, because if you would want to use vrayits, it would be easier to simply use "shnits". But shnits means "from the dog", not "over the dog". Right? Or did I misunderstand your question?

[nairi]

Not really language, but still. A little lazy Sunday afternoon quiz on lit:

 

1. What is the name of the 14th Century English author/poet who, in the general prologue to his last (unfinished) ironical work about a pilgrimage, introduces a knight who has been to an Armenian city?

 

What is the name of this work?

 

What is the name of the Armenian city that this author mentioned?

 

2. What is the name of the oldest surviving authorless epic poem written in French vernacular, in which Armenian soldiers, among others, have been summoned to fight against Charlemagne in Spain?

 

What ordinal number do the Armenians belong to in this poem?

 

According to (French) tradition, in which century was this poem written?

 

3. What is the name of the Irish playwright who lived in exile in France, and whose (absurd) plays were later filmed by many directors, including an Armenian?

 

What is the name of the Armenian director who filmed one of his plays?

 

What is the name of that play?

 

Bonus: This same director also filmed a novel written in 1994 by an Irish author born in Mitchelstown, Ireland. What is the name of the author? And what is the name of the novel/film?

 

4. What is the name of the Armenian author who died on this day 80 years ago?

 

He also wrote these lines in one of his most famous works:

 

" -- Aghdji, ko yarn yekav, antsav,

Varvats, tarvats ko sirov,

Ervats djigyarn yekav antsav,

Chhovatsav pagh djrov:"

 

What is the title of this work?

 

What is the name of the main work this is a part of?

 

Edit: Re-reading these questions hours later made me realize that some of them were probably too general. I therefore changed a few by adding a bit more info in the hope of making them less general, but still challenging enough.

 

[ March 23, 2003, 05:45 PM: Message edited by: nairi ]

[nairi]

Time for the answers

 

1. What is the name of the 14th Century English author/poet who, in the general prologue to his last (unfinished) ironical work about a pilgrimage, introduces a knight who has been to an Armenian city?

 

Geoffrey Chaucer

 

What is the name of this work?

 

The Canterbury Tales

 

What is the name of the Armenian city that this author mentioned?

 

Lyeys

 

"At Lyeys was he and at Satalye"

 

Harvard translation: He was at Ayash and at Atalia

 

For the full prologue in original and translation, see:

 

http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/gp-par.htm

 

Line 58

 

2. What is the name of the oldest surviving authorless epic poem written in French vernacular, in which Armenian soldiers, among others, have been summoned to fight against Charlemagne in Spain?

 

La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland)

 

What ordinal number do the Armenians belong to in this poem?

 

Sixth

 

"E la siste est d'Ermines e de Mors"

 

Roughly translated: And the sixth is of Armenians and of Moors

 

For English translation see:

 

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Roland/r162-233.html

 

CCXXXII (232), line 3226

 

For the original version see:

 

http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/gallica/...d/rol_ch05.html

 

CCXXXII, line 3227

 

According to (French) tradition, in which century was this poem written?

 

This was a bit trickier. Anywhere between 10th and 12th Century would have been correct. Mostly it is dated to the 11th Century.

 

3. What is the name of the Irish playwright who lived in exile in France, and whose (absurd) plays were later filmed by many directors, including an Armenian?

 

This part should have been a piece of cake for our resident Canadians. If not, tap on your fingers

 

Samuel Beckett

 

What is the name of the Armenian director who filmed one of his plays?

 

Atom Egoyan

 

What is the name of that play?

 

Krapp's Last Tape

 

Bonus: This same director also filmed a novel written in 1994 by an Irish author born in Mitchelstown, Ireland. What is the name of the author?

 

William Trevor

 

And what is the name of the novel/film?

 

Felicia's Journey

 

4. What is the name of the Armenian author who died on this day 80 years ago?

 

There is no way I would have known this one if I hadn't been told a few days before: Hovhannes Toumanian

 

He also wrote these lines in one of his most famous works:

 

" -- Aghdji, ko yarn yekav, antsav,

Varvats, tarvats ko sirov,

Ervats djigyarn yekav antsav,

Chhovatsav pagh djrov:"

 

What is the title of this work?

 

I considered writing the first few lines instead of the last ones, but that would have just given it away

 

Ampi Takits (djur e gali,

Dosh e tali, p@rp@rum,

En um yarn e n@stats lali?

Hongum-hongum en sarum:)

 

What is the name of the main work this is a part of?

 

Anush, or Anush Opera

[Harut]

how come i missed this quizz!?!

even though the only answer i would have known without research would have been the last one.

 

pealse, peasle, more quizzes like this.

[nairi]

Harutik jan, I seriously think you and I should exchange majors. You do language and lit, and I'll do math and comp science

 

Here's one for you until I come up with another quiz:

 

How would a West Armenian say: k@nstes k@lres?

[Sip]

[Harut]

i was just about to press Submit when i realized what i had written.

lol

[Harut]

spot mekkign fan off mi!!!

 

it was my duty to make fun of MosJan's spelling.

[Stormig]

Dude, you need to try a spelling bee. j/k

[nairi]

Back by popular demand

 

1. What is the (full) name of the 19th Century English Romantic poet and satirist who also created and published an Armenian dictionary?

 

One of his most famous works is a satirical epic poem, dedicated to Robert Southey, in which a historical Spanish womanizer is the hero. What is the name of this poem?

 

This is a passage taken from Canto the Second of the above-mentioned poem:

 

"Not so Haidée: she sadly toss'd and tumbled,

And started from her sleep, and, turning o'er

Dream'd of a thousand wrecks, o'er which she stumbled,

And handsome corpses strew'd upon the shore;

And woke her maid so early that she grumbled,

And call'd her father's old slaves up, who swore

In several oaths--Armenian, Turk, and Greek--

They knew not what to think of such a freak."

 

In what language does Haidée speak to the hero a little later in this Canto?

 

2. What is the name of the Columbian author born in Aracataca in 1928, who also won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982?

 

In one of his most famous novels, published in 1967, one of the main characters bumps into an Armenian in the first chapter. What is the name of this novel?

 

What is the Armenian described as doing?

 

3. What is the name of the Dutch author born in Friesland in 1907, who also wrote a novel about resistance fighter Hannie Schaft?

 

What is the name of that novel?

 

In 1981, this novel was also made into a film which was produced by a Dutch man and an Armenian. What is the name of the Armenian producer?

 

4. What is the name of the 10th Century Armenian author whose father was Bishop Khosrov Andzevatsi?

 

The following passage is taken from one of his most famous works:

 

"Ard, mati'r ar is, barutiun,

Vorpes yunkann bjshkutiun` hakarak qo hambardzeloyn,

Ba'rdz i meghutseloys zhoghm mahu khrovutean,

Zi hangitse yis amenakal hogid khaghaghutean,

Yev qez pa~rq yamenayni yaviteans yavitenits:"

 

(Ban JZ G)

 

Who is the addressee in this passage?

 

This passage ends with one word that I left out. Which word is it?

 

What is the name of the main work this passage belongs to?

 

5. What is the name of the contemporary Armenian author/poet/translator born in Beirut in 1953, whose father was also a writer?

 

He also wrote these lines in a poem:

 

"Can there be hope

When we accept

Five dimensions

of existence

And when we make

The compromise of living sane?"

 

What is the title of the poem these lines belong to?

 

When was it published?

[Harut]

Author - Grigor Narekatsi

addressee - God

end word - Amen

work - "Matyan Voghbergutyan"

 

btw, my book doesn't have "Ban HzG" and this passage either. where did you get this passage from?

[nairi]

JZ, Harut jan. Zh? As in the French /j/, not the /h/, /y/ or /dj/. Bloody hell! 16! The quote is under 3 or G in letters. Am I making sense?

 

Anyway, you got that question right. Apres!

[Harut]

hagarag

i'm starting believing you.

 

[Harut]

i know what you mean, "Zh" as in "zhamatsuyts". that's how i write "zh".

 

oops, i just noticed that i wrote "Hz" before. sorry.

 

i thought that it was "Ban ZhG". but i see it's "Ban Zh G".

ok, but i'm still missing that section. mine jumps from "Ban T" to "Ban ZhB".