February 22, 2017

BINDE - "troop" (Military Vocabulary Words)

I was recently reading part of a book that had a lot of military action vocabulary words. They seemed like a good subject for a new lesson. Certainly, these words can be very helpful if you are reading about history.

De binde
The troop, company, band, or gang.
[DUH BIHN-duh]

Hy foarme in eigen binde. 
He formed his own band of troops.
[HIGH FWAWR-muh uhn IGH-guhn BIHN-duh.]

De manskippen
The troops
[DUH mawn-SKIHP-pun]

It leger is ree om mear manskippen te stjoeren.
The army is ready to send more troops.
[UHT LEY-khur ihs REY AWM MEER mawn-SKIHP-puhn tuh STYOO-ruhn.]

The -g- in leger, meaning "army" or "military," sounds much like the harsh consonant in the German word "Bach" or the Hebrew word "l'chaim."

Kwytrekke
Lost
[kvee-TREH-kuh]

Yn de 3e iuw binne de Romeinen hieltyd mear gebiet kwytrekke.
In the third century, the Romans lost more and more territory.
[EEN duh TREH-duh EE-yoo BIHN-nuh duh roh-MIGH-nuhn HEEL-teed MEER guh-BEET kvee-TREH-kuh.]

Mûklaach/mûklagen
Ambush/ambushes
[mook-LAHKH]

This word also takes the harsh consonant in leger above. The stress is on the second syllable and the first syllable is pronounced with the long -oo- in the English "moon."

Hy wurdt yn in mûklaach lokke en ferslein.
He was ambushed and defeated.
[HIGH vuht EEn uhn mook-LAHKH LOHK-kuh ehn fuh-SHLIGHN.]

With all these military words, it would be handy to know how to say "war" or "battle" in Frisian:

Oarloch
War
[OR-lawkh]

Kriich
War
[KREEkh]

Both take that harsh, throat-clearing consonant again. The word krigers, meaning "warriors," has a visible connection to kriich.

We'll end here with slach, the word for battle (as a verb, it means "to strike," "to hit, or "to beat"). Say it with, yet again, that harsh -kh- sound we don't have in English. [SLAHkh]