Champers for Champollion
Champollion made his breakthrough thanks to the Rosetta Stone and the Philae obelisk, both of which have bilingual inscriptions in hieroglyphs and ancient Greek. He was able to use his knowledge of a name on the Rosetta Stone to deduce a name on the Philae obelisk. Can you do the same here?
The following cartouche from the Rosetta Stone shows the name PTOLMES (Ptolemy).
What is the name on the following cartouche from the Philae obelisk ?
Quiz
1. Which language is known for having no written alphabet?
a) Mandarin Chinese
b) Arabic
c) Inuktitut
d) English
c) Inuktitut
Inuktitut is an Inuit language spoken in the Arctic regions of Canada. It utilizes a writing system known as syllabics, where characters represent syllables rather than individual sounds or letters.
2. In what country can you find the only language with a complete set of hieroglyphs in regular use today?
a) Japan
b) Egypt
c) Mexico
d) China
d) China
Modern Chinese characters are logograms, where each character represents a word or a morpheme, making it a unique and continuous use of hieroglyphic writing.
3. What linguistic term refers to the study of the history and evolution of words?
a) Syntax
b) Etymology
c) Phonetics
d) Semantics
b) Etymology
Etymology is the study of the origin and historical development of words. It explores the changes in form and meaning over time.
The Knights who say Ni
Of all the national languages of Europe, Danish has surely the most bizarre vocabulary of number words.
Here are some numbers in Danish:
​
fire 4
nioghalvfjerds 79
toogtyve 22
seksogtres 66
ni 9
syvoghalvtreds 57
enogfirs 81
tre 3
fem 5
​
What are the following numbers? seks, nioghalvtreds, treogtyve, femoghalvfems, toogtres, halvfjerds
​
What are these numbers in Danish? 7, 54, 21, 85, 99
The Colour Purple
ColorADD is a labelling system for colour-blind people in which black and white symbols represent colours. It was devised by the Portuguese graphic designer Miguel Neiva, and has achieved success in Portugal, where you find the symbols on stationery, clothes and maps.
Here are four ColorADD symbols with the colours they represent.
a) Draw the symbols for red, yellow and brown.
b) The four colours below are dark purple, pink, silver and white. Match the colours to the symbols.
c) What are the two possible symbols for grey?
4. What linguistic phenomenon occurs when the order of words in a sentence is rearranged for emphasis or stylistic reasons?
a) Palindrome
b) Anagram
c) Hyperbaton
d) Oxymoron
c) Hyperbaton
Puzzles