Pura Vida
03/01/25 02:14
For millennia, our people have been telling a story about how humans came to have so many languages. There are thousands of languages spoken on the earth, but researchers tell us that even though new languages are still being discovered, over 3,000 languages are now endangered and at risk of disappearing. Some of the newly discovered languages are ones that have already fallen out of use. Scripts from ancient languages are occasionally found by archaeologists, who strive to understand the symbols recorded in stone carvings, and other ancient forms of writing. Our people’s story is fairly simple:
Once there was a united human community where everyone spoke the same language. One presumes that the language might have been Hebrew since that is the language of the story. Some people migrated to Babylon and there they decide to build a tower that reaches to the heavens. God is displeased with the construction and confuses the language of the workers. Since the workers can no longer understand each other, the tower cannot be completed. The city in which it was located is abandoned and the speakers of the various languages are dispersed across the world.
The story that is recorded at the beginning of the 11th chapter of Genesis is one version of what is likely a much older origin myth. The Bible, and especially the book of Genesis, has many different stories of Creation that seek to explain the experiences of the people. It is easy to imagine how folk who have encountered different cultures with different languages might seek stories about why different languages exist. The book of Genesis is a collection of ancient stories that were brought together for the express purpose of preserving the stories. Those who collected them weren’t overly concerned with discrepancies between the various stories. Their purpose was not to create a definitive scientific textbook, but rather to preserve the faith of the people. It is possible that these ancient stories were collected and began to circulate together around the time of the Babylonian exile. The exiles feared that their faith and their language might disappear as they were disbursed among other populations and their children met and learned the languages of the places to which they were taken. The story of the Tower of Babel is very likely to have been popular among those who were exiled. It contains a pun in Hebrew which doesn’t exist in English that provides insight into how it functioned in the community of exiles. In Hebrew the pronunciation of Babel is very similar to that of balal. The first is the name of a country, the second means “to confuse.”
The exile was a confusing time for both those who were carried away and for those who remained in Jerusalem. When the exiles were finally allowed to return there was additional confusion among the Hebrew people because the experience of the exiles was very different from that of the survivors who remained. Even the language had shifted in subtle ways. The exiles returned with vocabulary borrowed from their captors. Words and phrases from other languages creep into everyday conversations and eventually become part of the vocabulary of languages that are different from the original. We regularly use word from Spanish, French, German, and other languages when we use conversational English.
Another example from the stories that our people tell that is much more recent is told to explain the difference between various dialects of English. It is believed that the Pilgrims traveling on the Mayflower, developed a few phrases and lingo of their own during the passage and the months of isolation after they arrived in Plymouth. Although the voyage wasn’t that long, only 66 days, the community continued to be isolated from other English speakers for many months. One small example of the language change is the name of the baby that was born on the Mayflower. “Oceanus” was not a common name, but was given to the child. Another baby was born on board the ship while it lay at anchor upon arriving was named “Peregrine.”
These days we have a lot of fun with the various dialects of English, especially when talking with our dear friends from Australia. We can easily learn that what we call the “trunk” of a car, they call the “boot.” Other phrases can bring us giggles. For example “Knock up” simply means to awaken in the morning to our Australian friends. It has none of the sexual overtones we attach to the phrase.
One of the phrases that has entered our vocabulary from another language comes from a variation of Spanish. The version of the language spoken in Central America has several variations from formal Castilian Spanish spoken in Spain. One phrase that seems unique to Costa Rica is “Pura vida.” Literally translated as “pure life,” the phrase contains more subtle meanings including a feeling of optimism and a positive outlook on life. It also conveys a sense of gratitude for the gifts of life and it is used by our Costa Rican friends to encourage those who are feeling down. It seems to mean “even if you are having troubles, you are still alive - look on the bright side.”
Another word that has is origins in isolation is “firkle.” It means to mess around or fiddle. The word apparently was originally used by Antarctic researchers who spent months in isolation conducting research in the frozen continent. Linguistic researchers have been studying the speech of those researchers as a way of understanding the subtle evolution of language. It helps them understand how various dialects evolve. Because the people in Antarctic research stations are isolated from other languages, they tend to make up new words more often than adopting words from other languages. It may be due to the work of the linguists that the word has escaped its original setting. It seems to be a good description of the behavior of our 13-year-old grandson which is quite similar to the behavior of his father. There is a fair amount of firkle going on at our house these days.
May the new year that is unfolding afford you time to firkle and may you enjoy pura vida.
Once there was a united human community where everyone spoke the same language. One presumes that the language might have been Hebrew since that is the language of the story. Some people migrated to Babylon and there they decide to build a tower that reaches to the heavens. God is displeased with the construction and confuses the language of the workers. Since the workers can no longer understand each other, the tower cannot be completed. The city in which it was located is abandoned and the speakers of the various languages are dispersed across the world.
The story that is recorded at the beginning of the 11th chapter of Genesis is one version of what is likely a much older origin myth. The Bible, and especially the book of Genesis, has many different stories of Creation that seek to explain the experiences of the people. It is easy to imagine how folk who have encountered different cultures with different languages might seek stories about why different languages exist. The book of Genesis is a collection of ancient stories that were brought together for the express purpose of preserving the stories. Those who collected them weren’t overly concerned with discrepancies between the various stories. Their purpose was not to create a definitive scientific textbook, but rather to preserve the faith of the people. It is possible that these ancient stories were collected and began to circulate together around the time of the Babylonian exile. The exiles feared that their faith and their language might disappear as they were disbursed among other populations and their children met and learned the languages of the places to which they were taken. The story of the Tower of Babel is very likely to have been popular among those who were exiled. It contains a pun in Hebrew which doesn’t exist in English that provides insight into how it functioned in the community of exiles. In Hebrew the pronunciation of Babel is very similar to that of balal. The first is the name of a country, the second means “to confuse.”
The exile was a confusing time for both those who were carried away and for those who remained in Jerusalem. When the exiles were finally allowed to return there was additional confusion among the Hebrew people because the experience of the exiles was very different from that of the survivors who remained. Even the language had shifted in subtle ways. The exiles returned with vocabulary borrowed from their captors. Words and phrases from other languages creep into everyday conversations and eventually become part of the vocabulary of languages that are different from the original. We regularly use word from Spanish, French, German, and other languages when we use conversational English.
Another example from the stories that our people tell that is much more recent is told to explain the difference between various dialects of English. It is believed that the Pilgrims traveling on the Mayflower, developed a few phrases and lingo of their own during the passage and the months of isolation after they arrived in Plymouth. Although the voyage wasn’t that long, only 66 days, the community continued to be isolated from other English speakers for many months. One small example of the language change is the name of the baby that was born on the Mayflower. “Oceanus” was not a common name, but was given to the child. Another baby was born on board the ship while it lay at anchor upon arriving was named “Peregrine.”
These days we have a lot of fun with the various dialects of English, especially when talking with our dear friends from Australia. We can easily learn that what we call the “trunk” of a car, they call the “boot.” Other phrases can bring us giggles. For example “Knock up” simply means to awaken in the morning to our Australian friends. It has none of the sexual overtones we attach to the phrase.
One of the phrases that has entered our vocabulary from another language comes from a variation of Spanish. The version of the language spoken in Central America has several variations from formal Castilian Spanish spoken in Spain. One phrase that seems unique to Costa Rica is “Pura vida.” Literally translated as “pure life,” the phrase contains more subtle meanings including a feeling of optimism and a positive outlook on life. It also conveys a sense of gratitude for the gifts of life and it is used by our Costa Rican friends to encourage those who are feeling down. It seems to mean “even if you are having troubles, you are still alive - look on the bright side.”
Another word that has is origins in isolation is “firkle.” It means to mess around or fiddle. The word apparently was originally used by Antarctic researchers who spent months in isolation conducting research in the frozen continent. Linguistic researchers have been studying the speech of those researchers as a way of understanding the subtle evolution of language. It helps them understand how various dialects evolve. Because the people in Antarctic research stations are isolated from other languages, they tend to make up new words more often than adopting words from other languages. It may be due to the work of the linguists that the word has escaped its original setting. It seems to be a good description of the behavior of our 13-year-old grandson which is quite similar to the behavior of his father. There is a fair amount of firkle going on at our house these days.
May the new year that is unfolding afford you time to firkle and may you enjoy pura vida.
