Climbing the Tower of Babel, 1st Floor Quiz

Answer: Butterfly

Papillon means butterfly in French, as does borboleta in Portuguese, mariposa in Spanish, schmetterling in German, farfalla in Italian and sommerfugl in Danish. The English word butterfly derives from the Old English buttorfleoge but the connection between the insect and butter is obscure. The term "butterfly stroke" in swimming appeared in about 1935; "butterflies in the stomach" from about 1908.

Answer: Fourteen

Veertien means fourteen in Dutch, as does quatorze in French, quattordici in Italian, paisprezece in Romanian and labing-apat in Filipino. The English word fourteen (or a version of it) has been part of the language since the beginning of the 14th Century. It derives from the Old English feowertyne which suggests the combination of four and ten. Compare this with the Old High German fiorzehan and the modern German vierzehn.

Answer: Chimney

Dimnjak means chimney in Croatian, as does komín in Czech, schoorsteen in Dutch, chaminé in Portuguese, baca in Turkish and fumario in Latin. Chimney entered English from the Old French cheminee meaning fireplace and, more broadly, a room with a fireplace. The French word derived from Latin and Greek words meaning furnace, hearth and oven.

Answer: Yellow

Amarillo means yellow in Spanish, as does rumena in Slovenian, gul in Norwegian, isfar in Maltese, buí in Irish, jaune in French and horia in Basque. The English word yellow derived from Old English, Middle Dutch and Old High German words (such as gelwaz, geolu and geolwe) which described the colour. The oldest use of the word in writing is in the poem "Beowulf" (written sometime between the 8th and 11th Centuries). The author uses it to describe the colour of a shield made from yew.

Answer: Sugar

Sukker is the Danish word for sugar. Sucre is the French word. Zucker is the German word. Zucchero is the Italian word. Azúcar is the Spanish word. Socker is the Swedish word. The English word sugar descends from an earlier form sugre which derived from the Old French sucre.

The French word derived, in turn, from the Latin succarum which was borrowed from the Arabic sukkar. The "a" in the Spanish azúcar is the Arabic indefinite article.

Answer: Bathtub

Baignoire means bathtub in French, as does wanna in Polish, badkar in Swedish, cada in Romanian, vonia in Lithuanian and ubhavu in Zulu. Bathtub is a combination of two English words: bath and tub. Bath derives from the Old English baed which meant to immerse or water for immersing. It is similar to the Old Norse bad, the Middle Dutch bat and the German Bad. Somerset in England was known as Badun in Old English with reference to its hot springs for bathing. The first recorded uses of the word bathtub were in about 1825.

Answer: Kite

Estel is the Catalan word for kite, as is glente in Danish, vlieger in Dutch, cerf-volant in French, aquilone in Italian, aitvaras in Lithuanian, pipa in Portuguese and cometa in Spanish. The English word kite originally referred to a European bird of prey. It was applied by analogy to a paper or cloth framed flying toy from about 1660 on.

Answer: Apple

Sagar means apple in Basque, as does jabuka in Bosnian, pomme in French, alma in Hungarian, mela in Italian and pupillam in Latin. (Alma means soul in Spanish.) The Modern English word apple descends from the Old English aeppel which referred to any sort of fruit (excepting berries) through about the 17th Century. There is a link with the Old Saxon, the Old Frisian, the Old Dutch and the Old High German, all of which had words which looked and sounded like eppel or apfel.

Answer: Mountain

Planina means mountain in Croatian, as does bjerg in Danish, vuori in Finnish, montagne in French, sliabh in Irish and hegy in Hungarian. The term entered English from the Old French montaigne sometime around 1200. The French term derived from the Latin montanea.

Answer: Towel

Toalha (pronounced toe-ALL-yuh) is Portuguese for towel, as is handdoek in Dutch, tovallola in Catalan, Handtuch in German, asciugamano in Italian, prosop in Romanian and kitambaa in Swahili. First used in the 13th Century, the English word towel descended from the Middle English towaille which evolved from the Anglo-French tuaille, which probably found its way from Old High German.