Re: Why Python When There Is Perl?

On 4/2/24 09:07, rbowman wrote:

On Tue, 2 Apr 2024 07:33:44 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
 

Semitic languages are part of the Indo-European family, too.

 Only in the minority view of some linguists. The majority view is Proto-
Afroasiatic and Proto-Indo-European are not related.

Arabic is fundamentally different from Persian. Arabic cannot create new single words. It does it by using two or more existing words instead of a single new word. This is its shortcoming. But in a pinch, its power as well.
In Persian (and all Indo-European languages), you can _correctly_ create new single words by combining different roots. But it takes time for the new word to get popular. So it is, just like Arabic, its power as well as its shortcoming.
That's why Iranians, 1000 years back, in a pinch to describe their scientific activities chose Arabic language because all the words were already in existence and by using different combinations of them you could describe new concepts with it, totally understood by other readers.
Iranians eventually when they got time began _creating_ new correct Persian words by combining roots of different words, not the words themselves.
Example:
In Arabic the word for temperature is "darajeye haraarat" which uses two existing words. One meaning "the degree of" and the other meaning "warmth giving".
In Persian the word for temperature is simply "damaa" which combines two different words at their _root_ levels.
And as you see (if you compare the English translation I provided), the Arabic word is already understood by reading the two words, while the Persian one has to get popular before the meaning of it is discerned.
This type of differences between languages point to sources quite different from each other. Because it has to do with very old structures first built into the language; i.e., features that developed as the ability to vocally express in words itself were developing. So Persian and Arabic have been different from the day human began speaking.