Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 237951 times)

Jonathon · « **Reply #375 on:** December 13, 2006, 07:45:34 PM »

Quote

But is not someone who is indecisive unready?

Possibly, from one point of view, but that doesn't make the words related.

rivka · « **Reply #376 on:** December 13, 2006, 07:49:05 PM »

Oh, I know.

It's like the story I know about the little girl whose name was Ahava and was nicknamed "Havie" -- until she got to nursery, where the teacher was horrified that a religious girl would be called that (she assumed it was a mispronunciation of the nickname Chavie, short for Chava).

It worked out ok, even though the teacher insisted on calling her "Chavie" and got all her classmates to do so too.

The little girl's given name was Ahava Chava.

Sometimes mistakes get you to the right place, somehow or other.

Jonathon · « **Reply #377 on:** December 13, 2006, 08:02:57 PM »

Quote

It's like the story I know about the little girl whose name was Ahava and was nicknamed "Havie" -- until she got to nursery, where the teacher was horrified that a religious girl would be called that . . .

I'm obviously missing something here.

rivka · « **Reply #378 on:** December 14, 2006, 08:35:17 AM »

The tendency to mispronounce the "ch" sound as "h" tends to be associated with the non-religious.

Jonathon · « **Reply #379 on:** December 14, 2006, 09:12:31 AM »

Ah. Interesting.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #380 on:** December 14, 2006, 02:53:25 PM »

It takes a powerful faith to be that guttural.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #381 on:** December 20, 2006, 05:11:12 PM »

"Prestige" is from the same root as "prestidigitator", the magician. My kid is a semi-pro magician. I never realized what a prestigious career that is.

Porter · « **Reply #382 on:** December 20, 2006, 05:20:52 PM »

That would have been nice to know while watching The Prestige.

Jonathon · « **Reply #383 on:** December 20, 2006, 05:47:05 PM »

That's interesting. Apparently prestigious originally meant "full of tricks" and prestige meant "an illusion." The movie title makes much more sense now.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #384 on:** January 14, 2007, 01:57:53 PM »

JB, you said upthread that "awning" was originally something that awned.

Is pudding something that puds?

Jonathon · « **Reply #385 on:** January 14, 2007, 02:22:57 PM »

The origin of pudding is uncertain. It could be from an old French word, boudin, meaning "sausage," but that's phonologically difficult. Borrowings from French that started with b did not suddenly change to p in English, with only a couple of exceptions. It's possible that this is one of those exceptions, though.

Porter · « **Reply #386 on:** January 20, 2007, 08:48:48 PM »

I assume that matrimony related to mater and matriarch. Why is it?

Etymology anecdote: I was listening to a program the other day which talked about the Otto engine, developed by Nicolaus Otto, which was used in the first automobiles. I heard it as Auto engine and Nicolaus Auto, and my folk etymology engine went into overdrive.

Jonathon · « **Reply #387 on:** January 21, 2007, 11:41:47 AM »

It is related, but the OED and Etymonline.com aren't very helpful in explaining the shift in senses. Mony is also found in testimony, acrimony, alimony, and sanctimony, and it basically just turns a regular noun into an abstract noun denoting state or condition. It sounds like it's roughly analogous to the English endings -hood and -ness.

All I can find about the sense is that it originally meant "property inherited from one's mother," according to the OED. I'm guessing it had to do with some custom involving getting stuff from your mother when you get married, and then the word shifted from the marriage-related custom to the marriage itself.

Porter · « **Reply #388 on:** January 22, 2007, 09:54:12 AM »

Why is it sequel and not postquel?

Jonathon · « **Reply #389 on:** January 22, 2007, 11:48:11 AM »

Because the root word is sequi, meaning "to follow." The se is not a prefix, but the word prequel treats it like it is and removes it.

Porter · « **Reply #390 on:** January 22, 2007, 11:54:53 AM »

Is sesquicentennial related to sequi? What other words are related to sequi? Sequential? Sequence?

Jonathon · « **Reply #391 on:** January 22, 2007, 12:12:40 PM »

Sesquicentennial is unrelated. The prefix ultimately comes from semisqui, meaning "half and." But some other sequi words are sequence, second, consequence, obsequious, seque, pursue, ensue, sect, persecute, and execute.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #392 on:** January 22, 2007, 12:27:21 PM »

And "sequins", because, you know, they are the next big thing.

Porter · « **Reply #393 on:** January 22, 2007, 12:29:05 PM »

Again?

rivka · « **Reply #394 on:** January 22, 2007, 12:36:43 PM »

Last time they were prequins.

Porter · « **Reply #395 on:** January 22, 2007, 12:39:44 PM »

I vaguely remember those.

Jonathon · « **Reply #396 on:** January 22, 2007, 02:12:21 PM »

The prequin trilogy will never be as good as the original trilogy, though.

rivka · « **Reply #397 on:** January 22, 2007, 02:18:09 PM »

It never is.

Porter · « **Reply #398 on:** January 23, 2007, 09:02:04 AM »

Why does kid refer to both humans and, of all things, goats?

sarcasticmuppet · « **Reply #399 on:** January 23, 2007, 09:42:50 AM »

because human kids are hairy and they smell?