FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[alfredo]

Jordi, a suggestion: Leave the current labels as they are; don't bother to rewrite them.
Future labels: When the mineral name is very similar in both languages (only terminal a/e difference), use english. When the names are different, like gypsum/yeso or phosphophyllite/fosfofilita, make a bilingual label with both names on it. I do it this way when I'm selling minerals in Japan, but I have to confess that I'm not consistent about it.

By the way, just for curiosity, do any dealers in Spain write labels in catalan? Do you ever see "atzurita" on a label, or is it always "azurita" at spanish shows? (I hope this question doesn't incite a civil war.)

Alfredo

[Jesse Fisher]

Hello Jordi,

You are in the business of selling mineral specimens for a living, so you must decide what works best for your customer base, which I am sure is quite international. One of the things I personally enjoy about the international nature of the mineral collector community is being able to learn something about other cultures and languages through our shared interests. While it is doubtful that I will become highly fluent in too many languages during my time, I enjoy learning things like the fact that in French "fluorine" means the mineral, not the element, and that the German name is "flusspat." In both cases the modern name "fluorite/fluorit" has superseded these traditional names but that doesn't look to have driven them from common usage.

I can see the need for some sort of standard language now that the whole world is potentially connected via the internet. Unfortunately for many, English seems to have become the "default" language. English is, however, quite a "mongrel" in that it is made up of bits and pieces of a number of other languages, without much apparent reason behind how it was done. I have no idea why we need "ph" to make the sound of an "f" and would happily vote to do away with it. After all, we've successfully changed "sulphur" to "sulfur," so why not the rest of it? Unfortunately, us English speakers do not have L'Acadamie to tell us how the language should be spoken and written, just the OED to record it. On the bright side, anyone unfamiliar with English will at least not be faced with knowing whether phosphophyllite is masculine of feminine.

All languages (at least those in common usage) are dynamic and changes in usage occur constantly, based on the current needs of those using it. Perhaps the fact that you feel the need to adopt a hybrid spelling on your labels so to make them more understandable to your non-Spanish customers is just another example of the sort of thing that causes languages to change.

Cheers,
Jesse

[Jordi Fabre]

Alfredo wrote:
>By the way, just for curiosity, do any dealers in Spain write labels in catalan? Do you ever see "atzurita" on a label, or is it always "azurita" at spanish shows? (I hope this question doesn't incite a civil war.)

Alfredo,

The Catalan-Spanish language's relationship is something very delicate and complex. As you can read so well Spanish language, I suggest to you to read this recent topic in the Spanish Forum: https://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2323 and you will have a very clear idea about how is the situation currently.

Jordi

[Konstantinos Ch.]

Hi all!

Sorry,I couldn't resist :)

Baryte is Latin.Comes from Greek .Baros in Greek means weight.Barys is male for heavy.

When a composite word (a word that consists of more than one words) is composed we use a term-element for the first word(s).

Respectively,Bar- is the term-element for Baros (weight) and Bary- is the term-element for Barys (heavy).

Bar-ium, a chemistry element that has high weight.

Bary-te,a mineral species that is heavy.

Why the confusion with Baryte?Just my opinion:

Y (called Ygrek in Latin or Greek "Y") and I are two letters that sound exactly the same in Greek language and in many other languages.

In Greek,the multiple different letter sharing the same sound help the reader understand which word a given word derives from and that's etymology. It's the way Greek has economy.

I feel the correct is Baryte.

All the best!
-Kostas.

[Gail]

My British friends spell it Baryte, my American friends spell it Baryte. Bottom line is that I know what they are referring to. Communication is complete, no further action necessary.

[Carles Millan]

[alfredo]

Bolivians call it "baritina" too.

[Carles Millan]

[Jesse Fisher]

In French, it is "barytine."

[Tobi]