Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 July 2

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July 2[edit]

Hard and soft C[edit]

According to Hard and soft C, All modern Romance languages make the hard/soft distinction with ⟨c⟩,[1] except a few that have undergone spelling reforms. But are there any languages other than English that make this distinction across different words with the same root, like English romantic, romanticism and plastic, plasticity? Loraof (talk) 20:07, 2 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

In Italian, the plural of greco /'greko/ ("Greek") is greci /'gretʃi/. --Trovatore (talk) 20:12, 2 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
(But the plural of turco /'turko/ ("Turk, Turkish") is turchi /'turki/. So there's no completely reliable rule. The general rule you're taught, IIRC, is that two-syllable adjectives like turco add the h and keep the /k/ sound, whereas if there are three or more (e.g. fantastico, fantastici) you keep the bare c and change the sound. But greco is an exception to that rule.) --Trovatore (talk) 20:19, 2 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Amici, greci, porci — friends, Greeks, pigs, lend me your ears! —Tamfang (talk) 04:59, 3 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Oh please let me help you. You can put them all in this lovely green silk purse. Have a nice day. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 09:18, 3 July 2016 (UTC) [reply]
See wikt:mèdic#Catalan, wikt:médical#French, wikt:medico#Italian, wikt:médico#Portuguese, and wikt:médico#Spanish;
and http://forvo.com/search/medicina/ca/, wikt:médecine#French, wikt:medicina#Italian, wikt:medicina#Portuguese, and wikt:medicina#Spanish.Wavelength (talk) 13:53, 3 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Song lyrics transcription[edit]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiUPR4ckbSw

"I killed the devil I took his soul I took his skin to my ??? throne"

157.157.90.195 (talk) 21:15, 2 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

According to various non-reliable sites, it's "I took his kingdom, I took his throne." Tevildo (talk) 21:31, 2 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]
That's what it sounds like to me, pretty distinctly considering. —Tamfang (talk) 05:01, 3 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! 157.157.90.195 (talk) 07:12, 3 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]