Numbers for Zompist: Sm'algyax

Some of you may know that my buddy zompist maintains his own site with a list of numbers in over 5,000 languages. As you can imagine, it's a rare day when I can contribute a set he doesn't already have, and I was both surprised and tickled to find him lacking Sm'algyax (Coast Tsimshian).

1. k'üül ['kˀɯːl]
2. gu'pḻ ['guʔpl̩]
3. k'wili [kʷˀɩ'li]
4. txaalpx ['tx̣aːlpx̣]
5. kwstuns ['kʷʰstuns] (cf. kwsḵ'a̱y "little finger")
6. k'oolt [qˀɔːld]
7. t'apxoolt [tˀʌ'x̣ɔːld]
8. yukwdeelt [jukʷ'deːlt]
9. ksta̱moos [kstʌ'mɔːs] (cf. moos "thumb"; kwstuns appears in the reduced form kws- before certain counters)
10. kpiil ['kʰpiːl]

Source: Dunn, John A. Sm'algyax: a reference dictionary and grammar for the Coast Tsimshian language. (Seattle, 1995)

Notes: I've followed Dunn's orthography exactly, including the use of optional underline diacritics (i.e. <ḻ> and <a̱>), as given on page 38. Certain numbers have variant forms in the body of the lexicon: "Six" and "seven" are given with final d rather than final t (i.e. k'oold and t'apxoolt) and so transcribed. "Ten" has the variant form k'yep ['kʲˀɛpʰ]. With the phonetic transcription, I've made a few modifications in the direction of more standard IPA (e.g. [j] for [y], [ː] for his middle dot, [ɯ] for [ï], etc.).

Like Japanese, Sm'algyax has different sets of numbers depending on the item being counted. "Two", for instance, takes the form gu'pḻon before most measures and gulapdaat when counting humans in a conveyance (such as a canoe or an airplane). Otherwise, the form used for people is t'apxaduul and empty vehicles are counted with g̱albeeltx. Two animals, animal products (such as hides) or flat things are counted with t'apxaat. The numbers given here are used for "round [and] abstract" things, and I assume from the presentation that they are the forms that would be used when simply counting off.

If I were a gay Asian kitten

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/asian_teen_has_sweaty_middle_aged

Frazilled

Just as we can't be assured of a constant power supply up here in the wild north, we can't depend on a consistent supply of fresh water either. This morning, we were informed of a request on behalf of the municipal authorities to reduce our water consumption, followed by an explanatory e-mail which contained this paragraph:

The Water Treatment Facility is experiencing a problem with the formation of frazil / anchor ice on the intake pipelines in Lake Michigan. The formation of anchor ice is limiting the amount of water that can be drawn from the Lake into the treatment plant. As a result, there is decreased water flow into the community.

"Frazil"? You know I love a new word, so I first turned to Wikipedia for an explanation:

Frazil ice is a collection of loose, randomly oriented needle-shaped ice crystals in water. It resembles slush and has the appearance of being slightly oily when seen on the surface of water. It sporadically forms in open, turbulent, supercooled water, which means that it usually forms in rivers, lakes and oceans, on clear nights when the weather is colder, and air temperature reaches –6°C or lower. Frazil ice is the first stage in the formation of sea ice.

Later on, the article states that what makes it troublesome is that "due to frazil ice’s ineffective buoyancy, it can be carried to the bottom very easily". Thus the designation "anchor ice" for frazil which has begun to adhere. So pipes that are normally located far below the lowest depths of surface-ice formation are still susceptible to being clogged by frazil.

It would've been fun to make this into an extremely obscure Word of the Day, but of course tracking down translations for such a specialised technical term is difficult at best. A little more Googling turns up this bit from the dusty old EB:

Besides ground-ice and anchor-ice this formation is called also bottom-ice, ground-gru and lappered ice, the two last names being Scottish. In France it is called glace du fond, in Germany Grundeis, and in French Canada moutonne from the appearance of sheep at rest, since the ice formed at the bottom grows in woolly, spongy masses upon boulders or other projections.

Dutch equivalents include grondijs and ankerijs. Corresponding to the French is Spanish hielo de fondo and Catalan *gel de fons, but I can't find any attestations of the latter.

But although frazil also becomes anchored, it's not precisely the same thing as anchor ice. Focal.ie, to my amazement comes through with not only oighear grinnill "ground ice" but also snáthaidí oighir "frazil ice" (lit. "ice needles"). Searching for a Chinese translation of "frazil" turns up an embarrassment of options--片冰, 屑冰, 結冰, 潜冰, 冰片, 冰針, and more. Of these, 結冰 jiébīng would correspond to 결빙, which is what my most reliable online Korean dictionaries give.

Oh, and despite the cutesy title of this post, "frazil" actually rhymes with "hazel". The OED, which gives the Montreal Gazette as the source for the first attested citation, speculates that it is "a Canadian use of F. fraisil, coal-dust, cinders".)