Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 238553 times)

dkw · « **Reply #1025 on:** February 26, 2010, 12:35:59 PM »

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And I honestly don't understand at all what it means "G'd is love". I mean, it sounds nice and all, but does it mean something?

Beauty is Truth; Truth Beauty.

Which means as long as it sounds good it doesn't need any propositional content, right?

Somebody send me to bed. But not without my supper.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1026 on:** February 28, 2010, 01:45:10 PM »

This is interesting because there aren't a whole lot of words of Semitic origin in English or other Indo-European languages: the word sack ultimately comes from Hebrew or Phoenician saq, which was borrowed into Greek, then Latin, then Old English. The word satchel comes from a Latin diminutive form saccellus, which became sachel in Old French and was then borrowed into Middle English.

rivka · « **Reply #1027 on:** February 28, 2010, 09:08:33 PM »

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the word sack ultimately comes from Hebrew or Phoenician saq

I had no idea! I thought it was the other way around!

Jonathon · « **Reply #1028 on:** March 08, 2010, 02:54:10 PM »

The word ridge comes from an Old English word meaning 'back' or 'spine'. This became metaphorically extended to crests of hills or waves or to the peaks of roofs. The 'back' meaning became lost, and the 'long, raised line' meaning is now the primary one today. Ridge is cognate with the modern German rücke, which still means 'back'. Rucksack is a borrowing from German meaning 'back sack' or 'backpack'.

The Genuine · « **Reply #1029 on:** March 08, 2010, 02:59:20 PM »

How is that early form of "ridge" pronounced?

EtA: I can't read IPA.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1030 on:** March 08, 2010, 03:11:00 PM »

Which early form are you talking about? I didn't actually show the Old English form of the word or use any IPA.

In Old English the word was typically spelled hrycg, and it was pronounced /hr?d?/—that is, just like the modern word, but with a /h/ at the beginning. The modern German word is pronounced like /'rYk?/—like "RICK-uh", but with the lips rounded during the first vowel.

The Genuine · « **Reply #1031 on:** March 08, 2010, 03:24:41 PM »

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Which early form are you talking about? I didn't actually show the Old English form of the word or use any IPA.

In Old English the word was typically spelled hrycg, and it was pronounced /hr?d?/—that is, just like the modern word, but with a /h/ at the beginning.

This one. Thanks!

Jonathon · « **Reply #1032 on:** March 08, 2010, 04:39:07 PM »

De nada.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1033 on:** March 08, 2010, 06:34:16 PM »

I just came across a really weird set of related words while looking up hippopotamus on etymonline.com. Potamus comes from the Greek word meaning 'river' or 'rushing water'. It ultimately comes from a Proto-Indo-European word *pet-/pte- meaning 'to rush, to fly'. This also yielded the Greek root pter-, 'wing', as in pterodactyl and helicopter. In English this PIE root gave us feather and fern.

In Latin *pet-/pte- became petna and then penna, meaning 'wing' or 'feather'. Penna gives us the word pen, pinion (meaning 'wing joint' or 'to disable the arms by binding', not as in 'rack and pinion'), and pennant. Latin also had a verb form petere, meaning 'to rush at, attack' or 'to require, seek, go forward', which gave us the word petition.

dkw · « **Reply #1034 on:** March 08, 2010, 07:54:56 PM »

Speaking of Latin . . . we were speculating in class last week on how the word "sucundus" came to mean both "second" and "favored." Our speculation ran along the lines of a commander's second-in-command being his favorite officer, but can you find anything more credible than our not-particularly-educated guessing?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1035 on:** March 08, 2010, 08:05:39 PM »

I assume you mean secundus, right?

They come from the Latin root sequi, meaning 'to follow'. Unfortunately the OED and etymonline.com are not very helpful; the Latin secundus could mean 'assisting, favorable, following, second', and they don't provide any explanation of the differentiation of senses in Latin. I'd have to guess something along the lines of what you've said—that a second is someone who follows and assists, which makes them favored or favorable. Other than that, I got nothin'.

The Genuine · « **Reply #1036 on:** March 08, 2010, 08:21:19 PM »

And yet secundarius has a negative connotation.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1037 on:** March 08, 2010, 08:47:02 PM »

Why is that so surprising? Related and derived forms can have widely divergent or even contradictory meanings. Just look at awful and awesome.

The Genuine · « **Reply #1038 on:** March 08, 2010, 09:23:35 PM »

You make an awfully good point.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1039 on:** March 08, 2010, 11:03:53 PM »

He makes a terribly good point.

Scott R · « **Reply #1040 on:** March 09, 2010, 05:26:07 AM »

Jonathon and the awful, terrible, so good, very awesome word.

dkw · « **Reply #1041 on:** March 09, 2010, 06:04:01 AM »

Yeah, I meant with the "e". My fingers are lousy spellers -- I looked at your post thinking "that's what I wrote, wasn't it?"

Thanks.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1042 on:** March 22, 2010, 09:59:45 PM »

The word tremendous derives from a gerund form of the Latin verb tremere, which means "to tremble". This root also gives us (surprise) tremble, tremor, tremulous, and Annie's favorite journalistic synonym for "earthquake", temblor.

Tremble and temblor have a somewhat convoluted history. From the verb tremere an adjective tremulous was formed, and this adjective was reverbed as tremulare, which eventually became tremble in French (and temblar in Spanish) before being borrowed into English.

The Genuine · « **Reply #1043 on:** March 23, 2010, 08:22:21 AM »

Why don't the Portuguese have the same embarrassing false cognate for "pregnant" that the Spanish do?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1044 on:** March 23, 2010, 09:13:20 AM »

Um . . . because it doesn't? Why does any language have or not have a particular word?

And it is actually cognate. It just doesn't mean what English speakers expect it to.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1045 on:** March 23, 2010, 09:25:19 AM »

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The word tremendous derives from a gerund form of the Latin verb tremere, which means "to tremble". This root also gives us (surprise) tremble, tremor, tremulous, and Annie's favorite journalistic synonym for "earthquake", temblor.

Tremble and temblor have a somewhat convoluted history. From the verb tremere an adjective tremulous was formed, and this adjective was reverbed as tremulare, which eventually became tremble in French (and temblar in Spanish) before being borrowed into English.

I love you and I hate you.

Scott R · « **Reply #1046 on:** March 23, 2010, 09:28:51 AM »

Are you Katie Perry? Or Miley Cyrus?

Porter · « **Reply #1047 on:** April 06, 2010, 08:29:34 AM »

Somebody told me the other that that mischievous is a cognate with chiva, meaning goat. From what meager resources I have, this seems to be false. Can you confirm or deny?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1048 on:** April 06, 2010, 10:01:58 AM »

The OED and etymonline.com both say that the chief part is simply the French chief, which can mean "head" but in this case means "end or extremity". It ultimately goes back to the Latin caput, meaning "head".

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #1049 on:** April 06, 2010, 10:19:46 AM »

Can we have another thread and call it the "erroneous etymology smackdown?" That would be awesome.