Comments on: Apartness vs. Aparthood?

Question: Apartness vs. Aparthood?

Captain_Tenille — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:21:02 -0800

Why is "apartheid" usually translated as "apartness" rather than "aparthood"?

By: deafweatherman

deafweatherman — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:28:24 -0800

Because aparthood isn't a word in English.

By: iamck

iamck — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:31:26 -0800

He's got a point.

By: iamck

iamck — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:31:41 -0800

Or she. Sorry.

By: Captain_Tenille

Captain_Tenille — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:35:11 -0800

"Aparthood" seems like it would be a perfectly valid word, though.

By: deafweatherman

deafweatherman — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:37:33 -0800

It seems like it, yet it isn't one.

By: lpctstr;

lpctstr; — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:42:27 -0800

Many english word adopt the form of already existing related english words. There are english words like 'togetherness' and 'closeness' and so it would only be natural that apartheid becomes apartness. This is a pretty common morphological change - the plural of 'cow' was 'kine' in Old English, but it is now 'cows' because the plural of other animals is formed like this.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:53:59 -0800

That's unpossible!

By: viewofdelft

viewofdelft — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:55:25 -0800

In Dutch to English translation, the suffix "-heid" can be translated as either "-ness" or "-hood" depending on the English analogue. For example, "eenzaamheid" is translated from Dutch into "loneliness" while "volwassenheid" is the English word, "adulthood."

Would "adultness" or "lonelihood" also make perfectly valid words? Maybe.

I do know that "Lonelihood" would certainly make a great band name.

By: Zetetics

Zetetics — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 13:42:04 -0800

Is it?
I thought it was usually translated as something like, " the South African policy of segregation". Probably because both "apartness" and "aparthood" sound rather awkward and neither has the same resonance in English.
And, of course, what deafweatherman said.

Come to think of it, isn't the proper word in English, "apartheid"

By: atrazine

atrazine — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 14:53:36 -0800

I've never heard it translated into a single word, certainly not into 'apartness'. If I had to pick a single word in American English it would be 'segregation' because that has similar connotations.
I've only ever heard English speakers refer to it as 'apartheid'

On preview: what Zetetics said

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:04:56 -0800

The English word is apartheid. You could look it up.

By: j.s.f.

j.s.f. — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:48:53 -0800

In all my years I have only heard "apartheid" in English. But there's a pronunciation difference. In the United States we normally pronounce the last syllable as TIDE, but South Africans will say it as TATE.

By: vkxmai

vkxmai — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 17:07:28 -0800

I think that trying to translate this word would be like saying something other than Glasnost or Detente. The original Dutch word is enough. As far as pronunciation goes, I think the dutch pronounce the diphthong "ei" as in "ay." The English pronunciation is closer to the German "ei" as in "eye."

By: dash_slot-

dash_slot- — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 17:53:27 -0800

The plural of 'cow' is also cattle, by the way. Are there any other words which have two completely separate plural formations?

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 19:04:59 -0800

Are there any other words which have two completely separate plural formations?

fish
n. pl. fish or fish·es

By: NortonDC

NortonDC — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:28:48 -0800

apar thood

By: kindall

kindall — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:04:09 -0800

I do know that "Lonelihood" would certainly make a great band name.

Clearlyan emo band.

By: altolinguistic

altolinguistic — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 02:13:05 -0800

Echo what was said above - aparthood just isn't an English word. No good reason, just like there's no good reason for not saying unpossible, ingrateful etc.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 09:14:10 -0800

languagehat is essentially right -- it's been accepted as a loan word. That said, sometimes there's a need to explain it, perhaps in textbooks. I found a good breakdown of the suffix usage question, though:

-ness is one of a number of noun suffixes. It is used to make nouns from adjectives, although not every adjective can be modified in this way.

more restrictive noun suffixes (nouns from nouns)

-ship (abstract nouns denoting different kinds of relationships)
[relationship friendship partnership membership]

-hood (abstract nouns denoting different kinds of 'families')
[childhood motherhood neighbourhood priesthood]

So -ness is preferred because it's the broader term, thus the more usual one. The -hood words are all older and you don't generally find it attached to Romance word forms, which apart actually is (I've just thought of some exceptions, of course, like adulthood).