Talk:lime

Latest comment: 6 years ago by Spreaderofwords in topic RFC discussion: November 2012–November 2017

RFC discussion: November 2012–November 2017 edit

 

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lime#Etymology 3 (Translations)

This can be very confusing, since there are two trees with the same name (but very different etymologies) in English: the flowering tree in the genus Tilia, which is also known as linden, and the fruit tree in the genus Citrus. As an IP noted, Serbo-Croatian lipa can be found in both the Tilia and the Citrus (tree) translation tables, and the Citrus (tree) table also includes Polish lipa and Icelandic lind. Following the link back to the Polish and Serbo-Croatian entries (both Cyrillic and Roman), they have separate senses for "linden tree" and "lime tree". I don't speak Polish or Serbo-Croatian, but I sincerely doubt that they both have the same accidental pairing of the inherited Tilia name and the introduced Citrus name that English has.

It looks to me like we need to check not just the translations in the table, but also the non-English entries themselves. We should change all definitions in every language we know that consist of the single word lime or the two-word phrase lime tree to either linden/linden tree or something like lime (citrus)/lime tree (citrus) (assuming they're not using one of the other senses of lime.

I'm not sure how we can keep this error from creeping back, because I'm sure there are lots of bilingual dictionaries out there that don't distinguish between the Tilia and Citrus senses of lime in their definitions.

Thanks, Chuck Entz (talk) 04:37, 4 November 2012 (UTC)Reply

For some languages, we can see what the corresponding language's Wikipedia says. w:pl:Lipa, w:hr:Lipa (biljka), and w:sr:Липа are all about Tilia, and w:is:Linditré is about Tilia cordata. —Angr 19:04, 4 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
I saw that, but if there were a minor secondary sense, it might not show up in an article devoted to the primary sense. It really needs reference to a very good bilingual dictionary or to a monolingual one to be sure- something that's fairly comprehensive with secondary senses. Or the knowledge of someone familiar with the usage would be good, as well. I have little doubt that lipa refers only to Tilia, but I don't want to mess with a language I don't know unless I'm 100-percent sure. Chuck Entz (talk) 19:15, 4 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
If there are minor secondary senses, they can still be added by someone who knows the language. Better to have accurate but incomplete information than inaccurate or misleading information. —Angr 23:15, 4 November 2012 (UTC)Reply
Wikipedia could be a good starting source. --WikiTiki89 07:52, 5 November 2012 (UTC)Reply


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