In what language does the lotrik say Haf! Haf!?
June 20, 2022 4:03 PM Subscribe
A childs book in a foreign language was recently left behind by customers at the place I work. It is adorable, with baby animals introducing themselves and saying what sound they make. Lotrik is dog, clearly, with a sort of crescent accent of some kind over the "r". Kata is cat, also with some accents. "Hello" seems to be ""ahoj". Can anyone tell me what language this is?
Chudmonkey, are you a speaker of Slovak? I am not but I specialize in finding answers to language-related questions. I agree that "ahoj" is used for "hello" in Slovak and Czech (pronounced similarly to the English "ahoy").
But I'm not seeing "kata" or "lotrik" in any of my dozens of dictionaries for either language with or without diacritics to refer to a dog or cat, nor does a reverse translation from cat or dog into those languages result in "kata" or "lotrik," neither using manual dictionaries or digital ones. The closest Czech word is "kočka" for cat (pronounced something like /COACH-kuh/).
Perhaps the words in the book are baby talk, the kind not always included in mainstream dictionaries?
I find "lotřík" in one source but it is glossed as Czech for "thief" or "villain," which I suppose could be a slangy term for a dog. Here's another source that includes it: https://vokabular.ujc.cas.cz/hledani.aspx?hw=lot%C5%99%C3%ADk
I also looked in Polish, Ukranian, Romanian, and Hungarian, but not as thoroughly.
posted by Mo Nickels at 5:15 PM on June 20, 2022
But I'm not seeing "kata" or "lotrik" in any of my dozens of dictionaries for either language with or without diacritics to refer to a dog or cat, nor does a reverse translation from cat or dog into those languages result in "kata" or "lotrik," neither using manual dictionaries or digital ones. The closest Czech word is "kočka" for cat (pronounced something like /COACH-kuh/).
Perhaps the words in the book are baby talk, the kind not always included in mainstream dictionaries?
I find "lotřík" in one source but it is glossed as Czech for "thief" or "villain," which I suppose could be a slangy term for a dog. Here's another source that includes it: https://vokabular.ujc.cas.cz/hledani.aspx?hw=lot%C5%99%C3%ADk
I also looked in Polish, Ukranian, Romanian, and Hungarian, but not as thoroughly.
posted by Mo Nickels at 5:15 PM on June 20, 2022
But I'm not seeing "kata" or "lotrik" in any of my dozens of dictionaries for either language with or without diacritics to refer to a dog or cat
Dictionaries can’t keep up with language usage. Search “lotrik” as a tag in Instagram if you’re curious who’s using it for what (spoiler: it’s Slovaks posting about their doggos).
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:00 PM on June 20, 2022 [6 favorites]
Dictionaries can’t keep up with language usage. Search “lotrik” as a tag in Instagram if you’re curious who’s using it for what (spoiler: it’s Slovaks posting about their doggos).
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:00 PM on June 20, 2022 [6 favorites]
After a bit more googling: looks like lotřík is Czech for lottery. I’m guessing it’s sort of like “Bingo” as a dog name in English?
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:23 PM on June 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 6:23 PM on June 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Search “lotrik” as a tag in Instagram if you’re curious who’s using it for what (spoiler: it’s Slovaks posting about their doggos).
Well... it's one Slovak posting about their singular doggo. Which makes me think the dog may just be named Lotrik.
posted by babelfish at 7:26 PM on June 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
Well... it's one Slovak posting about their singular doggo. Which makes me think the dog may just be named Lotrik.
posted by babelfish at 7:26 PM on June 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
Lotřík or Lotrík means “little rascal” in Czech and Slovak, respectively. “Haf haf” is what dogs say in Czechia. “Hav hav” is for Slovak dogs. Source: am native speaker, interacted with dogs of both nationalities.
posted by Atrahasis at 7:43 PM on June 20, 2022 [70 favorites]
posted by Atrahasis at 7:43 PM on June 20, 2022 [70 favorites]
"Interacted with dogs of both nationalities" is sending me! Atrahasis, can you clear up "kata"? It looks like cat in Czech is kočka. (I'm invested now.)
posted by babelfish at 6:05 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by babelfish at 6:05 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Babelfish, Káťa just means Kate or Katie in Czech. So it’s Katie the Cat.
posted by Atrahasis at 6:29 AM on June 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Atrahasis at 6:29 AM on June 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
wiktionary lists Czech, Polish, Slovak and Slovene as languages using "ahoj". ř is used in Czech, this diacritic (called a háček or more generically a caron) is pointed; the actually curved ȓ seems to be used only in phonology, rather than in standard texts. Those seem to be the only accents placed with "r" that potentially match up with your description, per wikipedia.
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 8:46 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 8:46 AM on June 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by chudmonkey at 4:10 PM on June 20, 2022 [8 favorites]