Literature Languages - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) French (L'Étranger). The 1942 novel by Albert Camus was first translated into English four years later, but additional translations were done in 1982 and 1989.
• A2) German (Der Process). Franz Kafka's 1925 novel was one of several unfinished works that the author asked to be destroyed when he died. His friend Max Brod had other plans, however, and edited the notes for publication the following year.
• A3) Russian ([I won't even try to print the Russian name here]). Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1868 novel about Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin has been translated into English many times since the first attempt almost two decades after publication.
• A4) Spanish (Cien Años de Soledad). Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 1967 story about a century of generations in the town of Macondo was translated into English three years later. Marquez would go on to win a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.
• A5) German (Die Blechtrommel). Gunter Grass's 1959 novel about Oskar Matzerath penning his autobiography in a sanatorium was a major contributor to Grass's Nobel Prize in Literature a full four decades later.
• A6) French (Á la recherche du temps perdu; the title is also translated as In Search of Lost Time). Marcel Proust's magnum opus was published in seven volumes from 1913 to 1927 and translated into English from 1922 to 1931.
• A7) Japanese (Noruwei no Mori). Haruki Murakami's 1987 novel was indeed inspired by the Beatles song of the same name, which is referenced throughout, and is set in the late 1960s. The first English translation appeared in 1989.
• A8) French (L'Innomable). The last of Samuel Beckett's trilogy, with Molloy and Malone Dies, appeared in French in 1953 and English in 1958.
• A9) Italian (ll Barone Rampante). Italo Calvino's 1957 novel (1959 English translation) was named the winner of the Viareggio Prize, but the author declined the award because he did not believe in the entire institution of literary prizes.
• A10) Turkish (Benim Adım Kırmızı). Orhan Pamuk's 1998 historical novel, set during the Ottoman Empire, helped him win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006.
• A11) German (Die Ringe des Saturn). W.G. Sebald's 1995 novel takes place in England but wasn't translated into English until 1998.
• A12) Czech (Kniha smíchu a zapomnĕní). Milan Kundera's 1979 novel about Mirek, who attempts to forget things such as his former love Zdena, was published in English the following year.

Literature Languages - Random Trivia Questions

Since only about five percent of the world speaking English as their primary language, it's not surprising that many of the most highly regarded works of literature were originally published in other languages. How many of these novels can you place? Give yourself one point for the original language and a second point for the author (which will usually help you identify the language).

Literature Languages Questions

• Q1) The Stranger
• Q2) The Trial
• Q3) The Idiot
• Q4) One Hundred Years of Solitude
• Q5) The Tin Drum
• Q6) Remembrance of Things Past
• Q7) Norwegian Wood
• Q8) The Unnamable
• Q9) The Baron in the Trees
• Q10) My Name is Red
• Q11) The Rings of Saturn
• Q12) The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

Animal Etymology - Random Trivia Answers

• A6. Algonquian (American Indian) - chipmunk & muskrat. The chipmunk is a squirrel-like rodent whose name means "one who descends trees headfirst". The muskrat is a large, aquatic rodent named for its red color.
• B1. Arabic - albatross & gazelle. The albatross is a large diving bird known as the "sea eagle". The gazelle is an antelope with less speed but more endurance than a cheetah.
• C18. Australian Aboriginal - taipan & wombat. The taipan is a highly venomous snake that can reach lengths of nine feet. The wombat is a short, three-foot-long marsupial.
• D7. Chinese - chow chow & shar pei. The chow chow is a small, "puffy-lion" dog whose name means either "mixed" or "food". The shar pei is a blue-black tongued "sand skin" dog.
• E3. Congolese - basenji & zebra. The basenji is a barkless hunting dog. The zebra is the horse's black and white relative (white stripes on black, if you were wondering).
• F17. Dutch - meerkat & walrus. The meerkat is a small mongoose made famous by Timon in The Lion King movies (from the word for "monkey", although it looks like "lake cat"). The walrus is a semi-aquatic mammal that was either a "whale horse" or a "shore giant".
• G5. French - caterpillar & porpoise. The caterpillar is a "hairy cat" butterfly or moth larva. The porpoise is a large dolphin-like "pork fish" named for its piglike nose.
• H10. German - dachshund & rottweiler. The dachshund is a short-legged badger-hunting dog. The rottweiler is a large working dog named for a town in southern Germany.
• I11. Greek - dinosaur & rhinoceros. The dinosaur is a "terrible lizard" that did not coexist with cavemen. The rhinoceros is a large "horn-nosed" ungulate.
• J4. Indonesian - cassowary & komodo dragon. The cassowary is a large, flightless bird that lives in tropical forests. The komodo dragon is the largest lizard, named for the Indonesian island that it is native to.
• K12. Malay - gecko & orangutan. The gecko is a small to medium-sized lizard named for its chirps. The orangutan is a reddish-brown great ape "man of the woods".
• L14. Maori (New Zealander) - kiwi & moa. The kiwi is a small, flightless bird that gave its name to a similar looking fruit. The moa is a large, extinct, flightless bird native to New Zealand.
• M9. Nahuatl (Mexican Indian) - coyote & ocelot. The coyote is a prairie wolf whose scientific name Canis latrans means "barking dog". The ocelot is a painted leopard or McNenney's wildcat ("jaguar").
• N15. Old Norse - lemming & skate. The lemming is a vole and muskrat relative, falsely believed to regularly commit mass suicide by a staged scene in Walt Disney's 1958 documentary White Wilderness. The skate is a flat, carnivorous, bottom-dwelling fish.
• O13. Sanskrit - jackal & mynah. The jackal is a scavenging "howler" related to the dog. The mynah is a starling relative known for its ability to imitate sounds.
• P8. Spanish - cockroach & mosquito. The cockroach is a extremely adaptable insect whose Spanish name is well known from the song "La Cucaracha". The mosquito is a "little fly" whose female feasts on human and other mammal blood.
• Q2. Telugu (Indian [state of Andhra Pradesh]) - bandicoot & mongoose. The bandicoot is a omnivorous, marsupial "pig-rat", made famous by the video game character Crash Bandicoot. The mongoose is a small, cat-like carnivore, heroically represented by Rudyard Kipling's snake-fighting Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
• R16. Tupi-Guarani (South American Indian) - macaw & piranha. The macaw is a colorful parrot, possibly named for the tree whose fruit it eats. The piranha is a carnivorous fish named for its scissor-like teeth.

You can look up your other favorite animals at the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Animal Etymology - Random Trivia Questions

When my nephew was single, he used to joke about borrowing his friend's pet dog to help him attract women. This week's themed quiz features a different kind of lending; all of these animal names have been imported into English from a foreign language. Your task is to match the animal pairs in the second column with their originating languages in the first column. (I've tried hard to avoid multiple possibilities, but when in doubt go with the oldest source.)

Animal Etymology Questions

Language	Animals
A. Algonquian (American Indian)	1. albatross & gazelle
B. Arabic	2. bandicoot & mongoose
C. Australian Aboriginal	3. basenji & zebra
D. Chinese	4. cassowary & komodo dragon
E. Congolese	5. caterpillar & porpoise
F. Dutch	6. chipmunk & muskrat
G. French	7. chow chow & shar pei
H. German	8. cockroach & mosquito
I. Greek	9. coyote & ocelot
J. Indonesian	10. dachshund & rottweiler
K. Malay	11. dinosaur & rhinoceros
L. Maori (New Zealander)	12. gecko & orangutan
M. Nahuatl (Mexican Indian)	13. jackal & mynah
N. Old Norse	14. kiwi & moa
O. Sanskrit	15. lemming & skate
P. Spanish	16. macaw & piranha
Q. Telugu (Indian [state of Andhra Pradesh])	17. meerkat & walrus
R. Tupi-Guarani (South American Indian)	18. taipan & wombat