The random etymology of the day

[Jonathon]

I assume that this is the same homos from which we get homo sapiens and homosexual?

No and yes. The homo in homo sapiens comes from a Latin word meaning "man." The homo in homosexual is from the Greek word meaning "same."

which is actually cognate with the English word same, believe it or not

What does it mean for same and homos to be cognates with each other?

Words are cognates when they come from the same root. Both of these words trace all the way back to the Proto-Indo-European word *somo.

[Porter]

The homo in homo sapiens comes from a Latin word meaning "man." The homo in homosexual is from the Greek word meaning "same."

Woah.

*head a-splode*

[Jonathon]

Why is that a-splode worthy?

[Porter]

Because I've had it wrong for almost twenty years.

So, from the Greek we've got words like homogeneous, and from Latin we've got words like homunculus, right?

I really should have realized those were different words a long time ago.

*watches entire world-view shift around him*

[Jonathon]

So, from the Greek we've got words like homogeneous, and from Latin we've got words like homunculus, right?

Bingo. Homogeneous means "same kind," and homunculus means "little man."

I really should have realized those were different words a long time ago.

*shrug* It's not like word origins are always transparent.

[skillery]

Mansion-

We've got scriptures that say "in my Father's house are many mansions" and "mansions of my Father."

Every time we sing Have I Done Any Good in church, I notice that a lot of people put an (s) at the end of the word mansion in the chorus:  "Then wake up and do something more than dream of your mansion(s) above.."  I wonder if people singing this song have in mind a heaven filled with marble-columned manor houses, and perhaps hope for more than one.

I think it might help us understand the scriptural meaning of the word if we knew its etymology.

Anyway, I don't think we're talking about large manor houses, but rather a number of separate dwellings or apartments within a large structure.  Knowing that, maybe folks wouldn't hiss that ess so enthusiastically when they sing.

[/rant]

[Jonathon]

Mansion just comes from the French word for "house" (the word in modern French is maison). It's probably more helpful to look at the original Greek. Apparently the Greek word was mone, meaning "a staying, i.e. residence (the act or the place):--abode, mansion."

 

[skillery]

So the scripture might read:  "in my Father's house are many residences?"

I guess that precludes blasting the stereo at all hours.

[Jonathon]

That's probably a pretty good reading, from what I know.

Let's just hope that heaven has soundproof walls.

[Brinestone]

Especially if it's the Mormon heaven where all the women will spend eternity having babies. Without soundproof walls, you get to hear your neighbor's baby crying at all hours. Not my idea of heaven.

[skillery]

I'm not so worried about the sound...

Have you ever walked into a ward house that had five nurseries?

But maybe celestial poopies smell like roses.

[pooka]

Only if you're in the heaven where people get to eat as much as they want of whatever they want.  

[Brinestone]

Clearly you have never lived in an apartment where your downstairs neighbors with a baby who would scream bloody murder at least once per night and much of the day.

[Tante Shvester]

I don't understand "private".  How does the army rank below non-com = private?  Do they get extra privacy?  Like, you know, their own homes?

And how did the spelling of "Colonel" get to be so disconnected from the pronunciation of "Colonel"?

[Porter]

Do you take foreign language requests?  Is the Brazilian pork sasuase linguica related to the word for tongue?

[Jonathon]

Unfortunately, I don't really have the ability to search for the origins of foreign phrases. My only real tools are www.etymonline.com and The Oxford English Dictionary. Anytime I've been able to provide an explanation of a foreign phrase, it's been a result of at least a passing familiarity with the language.

[Porter]

Darn.

[Jonathon]

I don't understand "private".  How does the army rank below non-com = private?  Do they get extra privacy?  Like, you know, their own homes?

The OED says that the Latin word privatus originally means "withdrawn from public life, deprived of office, peculiar to oneself, private." One of the first meanings in English was "not holding public office or official position." Soon after that came the meaning "an ordinary soldier without rank or distinction of any kind."

And how did the spelling of "Colonel" get to be so disconnected from the pronunciation of "Colonel"?

It's not so disconnected. In French, the /l/ became an /r/ due to dissimilation; sometimes similar or identical sounds close together end up pushing apart. But the French kept the <l> spelling from the Italian colonnello, which is where they got the word. The English borrowed it from the French, so we got stuck with the French spelling and pronunciation.

[Porter]

The English borrowed it from the French, so we got stuck with the French spelling and pronunciation.

This is the cause of so many  English bizarrities.

[Tante Shvester]

Weren't the Bizarrites one of those really weird tribes from the Bible?  Or was it the Book of Mormon?

[Porter]

Nope.

[Porter]

Does the word bonnie as in "bonnie wee lass" have any connection with the romantic words for good such as bonne, [/i]bom[/i], or bueno?

[Jonathon]

The OED says, "Of uncertain origin: presumably to be referred in some way to [Old French] bon, bone ‘good’, or its [Middle English] naturalized form bon, bone, boone (see BOON a.); but no satisfactory account of the formation can be offered."

[sarcasticmuppet]

I remember hearing once that "bonnie" meant blue -- that's why Scarlet's baby was named Bonnie, because she had blue eyes.  And there was a confederate flag that was solid blue with a silver star on it, and it was called the Bonnie Blue Flag.

[rivka]

I think you have that a bit mixed up. I have no idea why it's the Bonnie Blue Flag (I assume because of the usual use of the word), but the baby's name is Bonnie Blue after the flag, not because bonnie means blue.