Know your Hrvatski from your Old Norse? Test your language skills – quiz

It’s never too late to brush up on your linguistic skills, n’est-ce pas? Certo. Language is fascinating, but our knowledge of it is beset by myths and fallacies. We’re here to clear some of those up – and allow you to impress your friends by whipping out facts about kennings, furry animals and proto-Indo-European (all will become clear). Enjoy!

The Guardian’s language quiz

1. Which of these languages is related to English?

   1. Basque

   2. Finnish

   3. Tamil

   4. Nepali

2. What is the meaning of the Old English expression hronrad (whale-road)?

   1. Ocean

   2. Waterslide

   3. Reef

   4. Beach

3. Which of these words is derived from the Greek for “wild animal”?

   1. Demon

   2. Treacle

   3. Banana

   4. Weasel

4. When was the word “doable” first recorded?

   1. 1947

   2. 1832

   3. 1765

   4. 1443

5. Which language is known as “Hrvatski” by its speakers?

   1. Hawaiian

   2. Hungarian

   3. Croatian

   4. Estonian

6. What is the meaning of the Old English expression heathoswat (battle-sweat)?

   1. Oil

   2. Blood

   3. Tears

   4. Wine

7. Which animal’s name derives from “one who licks” in Lithuanian, and “honey-eater” in Russian?

   1. Hedgehog

   2. Bear

   3. Pine Marten

   4. Dormouse

8. Whose last words were “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.”

   1. The Turing machine developed by computer scientist Alan Turing

   2. The last speaker of the Bo language of the Andaman Islands

   3. Alex, an African Grey parrot owned by psychologist Irene Pepperberg

   4. The father of modern linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure

9. When was the word “unfriend” first recorded?

   1. 2003

   2. 1659

   3. 1999

   4. 1022

10. What does the following sentence, in the gay slang Polari, mean? “Bona to vada your dolly eek”

    1. Pleased to meet your darling wife

    2. Good to have had your kind help

    3. He doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body

    4. Nice to see your pretty face

11. Which of the following languages has the most native speakers?

    1. Hindi

    2. English

    3. Portuguese

    4. German

12. What does gras bilong fes mean in Tok Pisin, the language of Papua New Guinea?

    1. Marijuana

    2. Wig

    3. Beard

    4. Palm tree

13. Which of the following languages can be found on the Rosetta Stone, the inscription that allowed scholars to decode hieroglyphics?

    1. Persian

    2. Ancient Greek

    3. Aramaic

    4. Hebrew

14. How do you say “Hello” in High Valyrian, a language in Game of Thrones?

    1. Rytsas

    2. Kytsas

    3. Athra’akia

    4. Haarc

15. What did the adjective “nice” mean in the 15th century?

    1. Foul-smelling

    2. The same as it does now

    3. Foolish

    4. Disappointing

16. When was the word podcast coined?

    1. 2007

    2. 1998

    3. 1589

    4. 2004

17. What does mausgras mean in Tok Pisin, the language of Papua New Guinea?

    1. Moustache

    2. Mousehole

    3. Mouse-dropping

    4. Mardi-gras

18. Which language is known as “Magyar” by its speakers?

    1. Maltese

    2. Hungarian

    3. Kyrgyz

    4. Georgian

19. Which of these languages is still spoken today?

    1. Ancient Egyptian

    2. Aztec

    3. Anglo-Saxon

    4. Minoan

20. What does the Yorkshire dialect word “snicket” mean?

    1. Hard-boiled sweet

    2. Tea-cake

    3. Alleyway

    4. Gutter

Solutions

1:D - Nepali and English belong to the Indo-European family, whose members descend from a common ancestor spoken around 6,000 years ago, 2:A - It is a kenning. Kennings are Old English words made of two nouns that have been mashed together to create a lovely metaphor, 3:B - The current sense of the word dates from the 17th century. It comes to English via Old French triacle, via Latin, from the Greek thēriakē meaning ‘antidote against venom’ which is ultimately derived from thērion ‘wild beast’, 4:D - For a word with a distinctly contemporary ring, it's surprisingly long in the tooth, 5:C - The country's official name is Republika Hrvatska, but in English we use the name derived from medieval Latin, 6:B - It's another kenning! Seems obvious once you know the answer. Especially if you weren't the best at battling, 7:B - Names for bears in many European languages are circumlocutions. It was taboo to refer to the animal directly, perhaps because it was so terrifying., 8:C - By the time Alex died, aged 31, his language abilities were said to equal those of a four-year-old child, 9:B - It pre-dates Instagram and Facebook trauma by a good few centuries, 10:D - Well, aren't you fantabulosa!, 11:B - English, with 379m (Hindi has 341m, Portuguese 220m, German 76m), 12:C - Yes, you guessed it. It basically means 'grass of the face', 13:B - Inscribed with three versions of a decree issued on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes, the Rosetta Stone's top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek, 14:A - There was nothing in the small print to stop us including fictional languages. Have you brushed up on your Klingon or the Middle-earth Elvish?, 15:C - It came to English via Old French, ultimately from the Latin nescius, meaning "ignorant", 16:D - It was coined by Ben Hammersley on this very website, in an article about the boom in online radio. He wrote: "MP3 players, like Apple's iPod, in many pockets, audio production software cheap or free, and weblogging an established part of the internet; all the ingredients are there for a new boom in amateur radio. But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?", 17:A - Yes, if a beard is the 'grass of the face', then it's pretty obvious how mausgras is derived, 18:B - Hungarian has no linguistic relatives in the immediate area – but it is related to Finnish and Estonian., 19:B - Around 1.7 million Nahua people, most of whom live in central Mexico, speak the Nahuatl language that was also spoken by the Aztec, Mexica, and Tlaxcalan peoples, 20:C - Yes, it's a narrow alleyway or passage between houses

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   That seems like a perfectly cromulent score on a language quiz to us, well done!

2. 20 and above.

   That seems like a perfectly cromulent score on a language quiz to us, well done!

• David Shariatmadari is the author of Don’t believe a word: from myths to misunderstandings – how language really works. We hope you enjoyed the quiz. Remember it is just for fun and there are no prizes. If you do think there is an egregious error that needs correcting, then you can email david.shariatmadari@theguardian.com