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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 July 9

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July 9

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her can be used on him and his and here's why

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"...non-Muslim husband is Islamically dissolved on her fleeing." excerpt from wikipedia article named polygyny on islam section from religion area ...the word her between on and fleeing... refers to him or his male pronoun because someone has reverted my edit i don't know why the word her is tricky for sometimes because it is confusable to say that her singlely can be accusative and genitive respectively while the male pronoun use him and his separately for accusative and genitive respectively. why female pronoun use hers is only for possessive pronoun but underused? UrutoramanGuy66 (talk) 04:01, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Punctuation was invented for a purpose. If you are posting here, please take the courtesy to make your rants somewhat comprehensible. Also, the article in question is not Polygamy but Polygyny. Your edit was reverted because it turned a grammatically correct sentence into a grammatically incorrect one. The English pronouns mine, yours, hers, ours and theirs cannot be used as possessive determiners.
Are you the same person who asked before, Why the pronoun "Hers" is rarely used? and complained that Hers is severely underutilized? Please do not keep asking basically the same question while disregarding the previous efforts put into our responses.  --Lambiam 05:45, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

No lambiam i am a totally different person indeed. Please the problem is her fleeing or him fleeing it is tricky to see the word her. UrutoramanGuy66 (talk) 07:46, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The fuller quote is "as her marriage with non-Muslim husband is Islamically dissolved on her fleeing", and both the two instances of 'her' are pointing back to 'A non-Muslim woman' in the main clause. --T*U (talk) 08:01, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The phrasing of the sentence in question is correct with its use of her, for the reason Lambiam indicated above. Also, any comments about refactoring archived talk page content aside, per your edit here, that is hers home is grammatically incorrect, for the same reason. --Kinu t/c 08:07, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

information Administrator note I've blocked the OP as a likely sockpuppet of an indefinitely-blocked user. --Kinu t/c 08:31, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Medieval European traveler communication in China

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What language did Medieval European travelers who travelled to China speak if they did not know Chinese? How did they find translators for themselves? 68.4.99.100 (talk) 06:44, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I know that travel was considerably more difficult back then and hence the spread of information both being slower and also being much more difficult. 68.4.99.100 (talk) 07:34, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Many traveling merchants would have known more than one language. At one time, members of the Church of the East or "Nestorians" were present along most the route from Persia to China (though there were not always good relations between the "Latins" or Catholics of Western Europe and Nestorians). However, Latin and Western European languages would have had little or no usefelness... AnonMoos (talk) 13:46, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) The famous British researcher Yule Yule, who studied the travels of Marco Polo, concluded that Marco Polo probably used Persian, a common language among foreigners of the Yuan Dynasty, when communicating with these foreign guests. [1] Alansplodge (talk) 13:50, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Here is a link to an article about the use of the Persian and other languages in the Yuan dynasty, that is, Marco Polo's China: "The Persian Language in Yuan-Dynasty China: A Reappraisal".  --Lambiam 14:10, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. 68.4.99.100 (talk) 22:07, 9 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Did George Yule (linguist) really write about Marco Polo? Certainly Sir Henry Yule did, in addition to co-authoring Hobson-Jobson. The website cited just says "Yule", no first name, no link. --Carbon Caryatid (talk) 20:18, 10 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Quite right Carbon Caryatid, I stand corrected. Alansplodge (talk) 11:44, 11 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't it not at all that certain, that Marco Polo ever got to China?--Ralfdetlef (talk) 17:44, 10 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

It's not certain, but more likely than not. See Marco Polo#Authenticity and veracity, and the sections following. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.205.225.65 (talk) 19:36, 10 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]
A tangential question: the surname Yule is fairly uncommon in that spelling: it seems a remarkable coincidence that two unconnected notable Scottish linguists should share it, but there is no indication in either of their articles that they are related in any way.
One could guess that George (b. 1947) might be descended from Henry's brother George Udny Yule (1813–1886), but does anybody have definite information, and if so should it be mentioned in either or both articles? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.193.130.14 (talk) 17:58, 11 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]