Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 October 27

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 27

thank you in German

In German, what is the difference between Vielen Dank and Danke schön? 184.147.116.156 (talk) 14:49, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

"Danke schön" is more personal: you would use it in face to face interactions, like when the shop assistant hands you your change. "Vielen Dank" is used in more formal occasions, often in writing rather than in speech. Wymspen (talk) 15:04, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

Danke schön, that's very helpful. 184.147.116.156 (talk) 16:42, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

There are lots of other phrases with that meaning: danke, besten Dank, danke dir, danke Ihnen, danke schön, danke sehr, danke vielmals, die Firma dankt, heißen Dank, herzlichen Dank, ich habe zu danken, lieben Dank, man dankt, verbindlichsten Dank, vielen Dank, vielen lieben Dank, wir haben zu danken. There are still others that are more wordy, such as "jemandem auf Knien danken", and "jemandem von ganzem Herzen danken", but these require some additional editing for each particular case, such as "ich danke dir auf Knien". —Stephen (talk) 07:09, 28 October 2016 (UTC)

Origin of the name "Unthank"

There is an Unthank Road in Norwich, named after a local worthy. Norwich is a centre of Quakerism, and there is a Quaker family of this name in the U S. What is the origin of the surname? 86.148.115.186 (talk) 07:37, 28 October 2016 (UTC)

From a village place name in the north of England, derived from an Anglo-Saxon name meaning a place occupied without legal permission. https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/unthank Wymspen (talk) 08:17, 28 October 2016 (UTC)

C10 languages

What do the "C" numbers mean in the context of languages? What is a C10 language for instance? Or a C13? Here for instance. SpinningSpark 21:01, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

I can't view that page, but if you can go back to page 101 of the same book you'll see a tabulation of the 542 Bantu languages (or dialects; I'm not sure of the best translation of parlers) based on an earlier work by someone named Mann. Presumably this letter-number code is either Mann's way, or this author's way, of identifying which of the languages form related groups. --69.159.61.230 (talk) 21:14, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

Right, but that's not the only place I'm seeing this kind of notation. Here's another table, but this time saying it's after Guthrie (1967). Do we have an article on this notation? SpinningSpark 21:28, 27 October 2016 (UTC)

Never mind. Got it at Guthrie classification of Bantu languages. SpinningSpark 21:30, 27 October 2016 (UTC)