WotD: arsonists

[muckefuck]

1. die Brandstifter
2. de brandstichters
3. los incendiarios
4. los incendiaris
5. les incendiaires
6. y llosgwyr
7. na coirloisceoirí
8. 방화범 (放火犯)
9. 縱火犯 zònghuǒfàn

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

For 1, 8, and 9, the singular is identical to the plural.
For 2-5, remove the s; for 7, drop the í.
The singular of Welsh llosgwyr is llosgwr.

(In 1-7, the unmarked singular is grammatically masculine. Specifically feminine forms would be die Brandstifterin, de brandstichster [rare], la incendiaria, l'incendiària, and *y losgwraig [unattested]. The French is invariable and 7-9 would affix a morpheme meaning "woman" or "female".)

[aadroma.livejournal.com]

Interesting how in Korean you "release" the fire, whereas in Chinese you "gather" it. No surprise that the Japanese and Korean words are the same (in Japanese pronounced "houkahan", which can also refer to a pyromaniac.

Hebrew gets מצית, matsit, which can also mean "a lighter" (as in, for cigarettes), as its root is הצת, "to light on fire".

I'm just going to guess on the Cherokee, as none of the sources I have cite "arson", but very frequently words like this are simply complete verbs (beloved ="I love him/her"), so I'm guessing an arsonist is ᏕᎪᎲᏍᏗᎭ, degohvsdiha, "He does repeated acts of burning things".

[gorkabear.livejournal.com]

Remarkably, due to the fragility of mediterranian forests, we don't use those words. We just use pirómano/piròman, although it's estimated that 75% of fires here are just made to build houses on natural places, or requalify terrains.