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November 8 Information
"Toissa"
Finnish has a word "toissa", meaning specifically "the one before the previous one", which can be used for anything that can be counted and ordered. For example, "toissa vuonna" means "in the year before the previous year". Finnish doesn't have any words for previousness beyond that. I have found this to be a rather unique word in Finnish. Does a similar word exist in any other language? Or even better, does some other language have words for further previousness?
JIP |
Talk00:08, 8 November 2020 (UTC)reply
Looking at the
Jisho entry for 一昨 (issaku), this appears to be the word to use for "one previous". You can even do something like 一昨昨日 to mean "two days before yesterday". —
Tenryuu 🐲 (
💬 •
📝 )
00:45, 8 November 2020 (UTC)reply
German has also vorvergangen and vorletzt, e.g.: Im vorvergangenen Jahr (alternatively: im vorletzten Jahr) betrug der Steuersatz x%: In the year before last, the tax rate was x%. --
Morinox (
talk)
10:12, 8 November 2020 (UTC)reply
An example of this usage used productively:
Mireille Mathieu’s song “Paris vor hundert Jahren” with the lines Denn alle deine Sorgen haben Zeit bis morgen, Haben Zeit bis über- über- übermorgen (Approx: Then all your worries can wait until the day after the day after the day after tomorrow).
70.67.193.176 (
talk)
16:14, 9 November 2020 (UTC)reply
Dutch has a prefix eer-, similar to English ere- as in ereyesterday, but slightly more general. For example, verleden jaar is the past year; then eerverleden jaar is the year before that. It can also be repeated: eereergisteren is the day before the day before yesterday. It is not fully general, though; you cannot say that Ivana was Donald's eereer-wife. --
Lambiam19:46, 8 November 2020 (UTC)reply
Yes, I had a look at them, and some obviously have a duplicated "ere" prefix, whereas some literally, word-for-word, say "three days ago". There might be some languages that actually have a separate word for "three days ago" but as I don't understand all the languages on the page, I don't know which ones they are, if any.
JIP |
Talk22:26, 9 November 2020 (UTC)reply
I can vouch for the Chinese 大前天 to an extent (the extent being that I know the equivalent 大后天 -- "the day after the day after tomorrow" -- is in real, widespread use).
HenryFlower19:36, 10 November 2020 (UTC)reply
This Endris Night, although "endris" appears only in chronological senses, and has a sense of "recent" rather than "penultimate". (You could also use "penultimate", however.) "Endris" makes sense with "night" and "year", but it wouldn't make sense if you were talking about people in a lineup. Also, OED lists it as
obsolete.
Nyttend backup (
talk)
15:35, 12 November 2020 (UTC)reply
Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a
transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the
current reference desk pages.
November 8 Information
"Toissa"
Finnish has a word "toissa", meaning specifically "the one before the previous one", which can be used for anything that can be counted and ordered. For example, "toissa vuonna" means "in the year before the previous year". Finnish doesn't have any words for previousness beyond that. I have found this to be a rather unique word in Finnish. Does a similar word exist in any other language? Or even better, does some other language have words for further previousness?
JIP |
Talk00:08, 8 November 2020 (UTC)reply
Looking at the
Jisho entry for 一昨 (issaku), this appears to be the word to use for "one previous". You can even do something like 一昨昨日 to mean "two days before yesterday". —
Tenryuu 🐲 (
💬 •
📝 )
00:45, 8 November 2020 (UTC)reply
German has also vorvergangen and vorletzt, e.g.: Im vorvergangenen Jahr (alternatively: im vorletzten Jahr) betrug der Steuersatz x%: In the year before last, the tax rate was x%. --
Morinox (
talk)
10:12, 8 November 2020 (UTC)reply
An example of this usage used productively:
Mireille Mathieu’s song “Paris vor hundert Jahren” with the lines Denn alle deine Sorgen haben Zeit bis morgen, Haben Zeit bis über- über- übermorgen (Approx: Then all your worries can wait until the day after the day after the day after tomorrow).
70.67.193.176 (
talk)
16:14, 9 November 2020 (UTC)reply
Dutch has a prefix eer-, similar to English ere- as in ereyesterday, but slightly more general. For example, verleden jaar is the past year; then eerverleden jaar is the year before that. It can also be repeated: eereergisteren is the day before the day before yesterday. It is not fully general, though; you cannot say that Ivana was Donald's eereer-wife. --
Lambiam19:46, 8 November 2020 (UTC)reply
Yes, I had a look at them, and some obviously have a duplicated "ere" prefix, whereas some literally, word-for-word, say "three days ago". There might be some languages that actually have a separate word for "three days ago" but as I don't understand all the languages on the page, I don't know which ones they are, if any.
JIP |
Talk22:26, 9 November 2020 (UTC)reply
I can vouch for the Chinese 大前天 to an extent (the extent being that I know the equivalent 大后天 -- "the day after the day after tomorrow" -- is in real, widespread use).
HenryFlower19:36, 10 November 2020 (UTC)reply
This Endris Night, although "endris" appears only in chronological senses, and has a sense of "recent" rather than "penultimate". (You could also use "penultimate", however.) "Endris" makes sense with "night" and "year", but it wouldn't make sense if you were talking about people in a lineup. Also, OED lists it as
obsolete.
Nyttend backup (
talk)
15:35, 12 November 2020 (UTC)reply