Regarding the name of the Guugu Yimithirr language: *guugu* just means "language" or "speech", and *yimi* means "this". In that area (North Queensland, Australia), languages often get their traditional names from the exact word they use for some key concept, like "this". The suffix *-thirr* just means "having" or "possessing", so the overall sense is "Language that has * yimi* [for 'this']". An exactly similar case pertains in France, where two medieval varieties of French were called "Langue d'oc" and "Langue d'oïl" after their words for "yes". On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 7:59 AM, Veit Elser <ve10@cornell.edu> wrote:
On Aug 30, 2010, at 12:10 AM, Dan Asimov wrote:
Apparently the presence of magnetite has recently been confirmed in human brains.
References? I found a paper reporting magnetite in sinus bones -- not within the actual brain. It's not clear how magnetic torques would be detected by neurons or glial cells.
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