Maarten Kossmann
@maartenkossmann.bsky.social
Berber linguistics // linguistique amazighe // ⵜⵎⵓⵙⵏⵉ ⵏ ⵜⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ
Universiteit Leiden
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/maarten-kossmann
Profile picture: RIL 176
Universiteit Leiden
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/maarten-kossmann
Profile picture: RIL 176
Pinned
It’s Tuesday, oral exams period coming up, so a (temporary?) end to this Libyco-Berber tombstones series.
But first: some really puzzling stuff.
A series of inscriptions was found in 1938 in Mechta el Maza close to Bouchegouf (ex-Duvivier), Guelma region, eastern Algeria (RIL 1076-1091)
🧵
But first: some really puzzling stuff.
A series of inscriptions was found in 1938 in Mechta el Maza close to Bouchegouf (ex-Duvivier), Guelma region, eastern Algeria (RIL 1076-1091)
🧵
Thread of threads on Libyco-Berber inscriptions:
bsky.app/profile/maar...
bsky.app/profile/maar...
post a banger, not in English (tbh I am not entirely sure what "banger" means)
youtu.be/ucxDo79SKBE?...
youtu.be/ucxDo79SKBE?...
February 9, 2026 at 7:55 PM
post a banger, not in English (tbh I am not entirely sure what "banger" means)
youtu.be/ucxDo79SKBE?...
youtu.be/ucxDo79SKBE?...
I fully agree with the latter point!
February 9, 2026 at 6:53 PM
I fully agree with the latter point!
Also attested in the slightly archaic reduplicated form *gVHgVH-le “to look up (esp. on the internet)”. A shortened form of lol can be recognized in the final part of the word. Many people reconstruct this as a compound *gVh₃.gVh₃-lol
No doubt "*gVH-" means "look, lol" in Nostratic
February 9, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Also attested in the slightly archaic reduplicated form *gVHgVH-le “to look up (esp. on the internet)”. A shortened form of lol can be recognized in the final part of the word. Many people reconstruct this as a compound *gVh₃.gVh₃-lol
NB In the olden times they didn't send us pdfs of handbook chapters. I was kind of surprised to find them through library catalogs
February 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
NB In the olden times they didn't send us pdfs of handbook chapters. I was kind of surprised to find them through library catalogs
I was thinking of this one. I don't know why they put 2020 as the date on their website, it was published in 2012.
www.cambridge.org/tj/universit...
www.cambridge.org/tj/universit...
The Afroasiatic Languages | Cambridge University Press & Assessment
www.cambridge.org
February 9, 2026 at 4:28 PM
I was thinking of this one. I don't know why they put 2020 as the date on their website, it was published in 2012.
www.cambridge.org/tj/universit...
www.cambridge.org/tj/universit...
February 9, 2026 at 4:25 PM
I don't know how it looks electronically, but the book version of the 2013 handbook only has a shared bibliography at the end of the volume, no bibliography followingcthe chapter
February 9, 2026 at 3:32 PM
I don't know how it looks electronically, but the book version of the 2013 handbook only has a shared bibliography at the end of the volume, no bibliography followingcthe chapter
But is this really new? I remember contributing to a handbook (CUP iirc) with a common bibliography at least 10 years ago. It can be a way of ousting double references (I found it unpleasant, but didn't think of it in the sense of citation scores)
February 9, 2026 at 9:51 AM
But is this really new? I remember contributing to a handbook (CUP iirc) with a common bibliography at least 10 years ago. It can be a way of ousting double references (I found it unpleasant, but didn't think of it in the sense of citation scores)
I think I agree with everything you say
February 9, 2026 at 8:36 AM
I think I agree with everything you say
Ik denk niet dat croissants en chocoladebroodjes voor mij onder "gebak" vallen
February 9, 2026 at 8:08 AM
Ik denk niet dat croissants en chocoladebroodjes voor mij onder "gebak" vallen
Koffiebroodjes is surely a thing here, but for me chocoladebroodjes en croissants [kwarsant] don't fall into thst category. More something that you would construct with the adjectives "Deens" or "Zweeds"
February 9, 2026 at 8:02 AM
Koffiebroodjes is surely a thing here, but for me chocoladebroodjes en croissants [kwarsant] don't fall into thst category. More something that you would construct with the adjectives "Deens" or "Zweeds"
But then, what is the diff. with synchronic modelling, which also seems to be a kind of free exercise in intelligently playing around with the data without any necessary implications for understanding (synchronic or diachronic) reality?
[said anxiety going up...]
[said anxiety going up...]
February 9, 2026 at 7:59 AM
But then, what is the diff. with synchronic modelling, which also seems to be a kind of free exercise in intelligently playing around with the data without any necessary implications for understanding (synchronic or diachronic) reality?
[said anxiety going up...]
[said anxiety going up...]
I read this as "free to abuse my time travel" and was very exited about the prospect
February 9, 2026 at 7:56 AM
I read this as "free to abuse my time travel" and was very exited about the prospect
Yes, chocoladebroodje is the term I use (NL speaker pf Dutch). I wasn't aware of the existence of chocoladekoek in this meaning - for me that is rather sth like chocolate cake
February 9, 2026 at 7:55 AM
Yes, chocoladebroodje is the term I use (NL speaker pf Dutch). I wasn't aware of the existence of chocoladekoek in this meaning - for me that is rather sth like chocolate cake
But the idea that the minimal reasonable pathway / reconstruction is "best" does not necessarily mean it is what really happened in the past.
And the latter is the raison d'être of comp-hist linguistics - even if we know our reconstructions will be schematic and imperfect.
And the latter is the raison d'être of comp-hist linguistics - even if we know our reconstructions will be schematic and imperfect.
February 9, 2026 at 7:52 AM
But the idea that the minimal reasonable pathway / reconstruction is "best" does not necessarily mean it is what really happened in the past.
And the latter is the raison d'être of comp-hist linguistics - even if we know our reconstructions will be schematic and imperfect.
And the latter is the raison d'être of comp-hist linguistics - even if we know our reconstructions will be schematic and imperfect.
This kind of strengthens my anxiety that what we comp-hist people are doing is just one big fantasy game. I don’t believe in Occam for historical things, so if we depend on it…
February 9, 2026 at 7:17 AM
This kind of strengthens my anxiety that what we comp-hist people are doing is just one big fantasy game. I don’t believe in Occam for historical things, so if we depend on it…
You get voiced back-velars in rural Zuid-Holland (well, the Zuid-Holland version of “voiced” fricatives that is)
February 9, 2026 at 7:14 AM
You get voiced back-velars in rural Zuid-Holland (well, the Zuid-Holland version of “voiced” fricatives that is)
To cite Bertolt Brecht:
Oh show us the way to the next whisky bar
Oh don’t ask why
Oh don’t ask why
Oh show us the way to the next whisky bar
Oh don’t ask why
Oh don’t ask why
February 8, 2026 at 6:48 PM
To cite Bertolt Brecht:
Oh show us the way to the next whisky bar
Oh don’t ask why
Oh don’t ask why
Oh show us the way to the next whisky bar
Oh don’t ask why
Oh don’t ask why
The Strassen instead of Straßen gives it away :)
February 8, 2026 at 6:38 PM
The Strassen instead of Straßen gives it away :)
Gedanken eines Strassenwischers sounds great!
February 8, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Gedanken eines Strassenwischers sounds great!
I learn a lot from those posts. I never realized bowls could be that flat (so they can be both like a schaal and like a kom).
I still don’t get how this relates to bowling, though 🎳
I still don’t get how this relates to bowling, though 🎳
February 8, 2026 at 6:15 PM
I learn a lot from those posts. I never realized bowls could be that flat (so they can be both like a schaal and like a kom).
I still don’t get how this relates to bowling, though 🎳
I still don’t get how this relates to bowling, though 🎳
In my times it was mostly about lack of oxigen during birth or sth
February 8, 2026 at 5:40 PM
In my times it was mostly about lack of oxigen during birth or sth
Tšinṣar would be perfect Timia dialect. But I guess it is unlikely that they should have had any influence on the name
February 8, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Tšinṣar would be perfect Timia dialect. But I guess it is unlikely that they should have had any influence on the name
Could some Tayert intermediary have played a role here?
February 8, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Could some Tayert intermediary have played a role here?
Although I remember the term as Minimal Brain Damage
February 8, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Although I remember the term as Minimal Brain Damage