Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2019 April 13

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April 13

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Kociątko Miauczenieński

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Is this an obviously fake name? What does it mean, if anything? Thanks. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 23:45, 13 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Why is it obviously fake? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots12:54, 14 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Kociątko means a small kitten in Polish, so it's clearly not a common given name. Miauczenieński is seemingly derived from "miauczenie" which means something like mouse-eating. So, yes, clearly it's a made up name for a cat. Xuxl (talk) 13:14, 14 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
No, miauczenie does not meen mouse-eating. It means, unsurprisingly, the action of miaowing. But yes, it's a name for a cat. HenryFlower 13:51, 14 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Seconded what User:Henry Flower said: 'miau' is an onomatopoeia for 'meow'; 'miauczeć' is a verb, equal to 'to meow'; 'miauczenie' is a noun made from a verb, like a gerund: 'a meowing'. Finally, 'Miauczenieński' is made as popular Polish posessive names in a form of an adjevtive: 'Opolski' is 'an owner of Opole' or 'coming from/belonging to Opole'; 'amerykański' is simply American; so Miauczenieński is something like 'the one immanently joined to meowing'. Which a kitten (kociątko) certainly is. --CiaPan (talk) 19:26, 14 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
This being the language desk, maybe it's not too out of place to mention that immanence is a notion I have only ever come across in relationship to God. I would have used maybe inherently, or perhaps essentially, using the philosophical meaning of essence. However, the links confirm that this sense of immanent, previously unknown to me, does exist, so thanks for that, CiaPan. --Trovatore (talk) 20:59, 14 April 2019 (UTC) [reply]
Thaks for all the translation work Xuxl, Henry and CiaPan. I would note that - if someone has named their cat this - that it may be made up but it is no longer fake. Splitting whisker hairs I admit but worth mentioning :-) MarnetteD|Talk 19:41, 14 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
And for that matter, if a word means a small kitten, it's entirely plausible as a nickname though perhaps not so likely as a given name. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 04:25, 15 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Kitty Carlisle and Pussy Galore agree. - Nunh-huh 19:05, 16 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]