Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 222601 times)

Porter · « **Reply #825 on:** November 01, 2008, 09:01:33 PM »

And don't you forget it. You scumhooks!

Jonathon · « **Reply #826 on:** November 20, 2008, 01:45:28 PM »

In my Middle English reader the other day I came across the word ræveres, which gives us the modern-day word reavers. In this instance it was used to refer to Viking raiders who had pillaged and burned parts of northwest England. Reave is also the source of bereaved/bereft, and it's apparently related to rob, which comes from Old High German by way of French.

pooka · « **Reply #827 on:** November 20, 2008, 07:39:22 PM »

Is reavers a proper modern day word?

Jonathon · « **Reply #828 on:** November 20, 2008, 07:41:11 PM »

Proper? Absolutely. Common? Probably not terribly.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #829 on:** November 20, 2008, 08:44:12 PM »

I put my car in reavers to back out of the driveway.

pooka · « **Reply #830 on:** November 20, 2008, 09:41:41 PM »

Bill reavers his loyalty to his wife.

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #831 on:** November 21, 2008, 09:20:52 AM »

You're bereaved? I'ma reave you and then you'll really be reaved.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #832 on:** November 21, 2008, 11:08:50 AM »

Ol' man reaver, dat ol' man reaver, he don't say nuttin', he must know sumtin'. He jus' keep rollin', he keep on rollin' along.

Farmgirl · « **Reply #833 on:** December 29, 2008, 01:16:33 PM »

We were wondering, the other day, how the word "rest" came to be used as a meaning of "all the others" -- as in "you go on ahead, and the rest of us will follow later" or "eat that one piece of cake and leave the rest for me."

Since that meaning of "rest" is so much different than the rest that is sleep or relaxing, or even different from the meaning of "wrest".

Noemon · « **Reply #834 on:** December 29, 2008, 01:24:02 PM »

The meaning of the word that you're thinking of ultimately comes from the Latin verb restare, which means "stand back" or "be left". The word "rest" used to indicate sleep or whathaveyou comes from Old English. They aren't related, despite having the same spelling.

Jonathon · « **Reply #835 on:** December 29, 2008, 02:09:09 PM »

Cool. I didn't know that.

The Genuine · « **Reply #836 on:** December 29, 2008, 02:12:44 PM »

Sure, Noemon's post is "cool," but your eyes just glazed over at my linguistic post on Sake.

Jonathon · « **Reply #837 on:** December 29, 2008, 02:28:07 PM »

It's just because I like Noemon better than you.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #838 on:** December 29, 2008, 02:37:18 PM »

I got a bit glazy myself. Sorry.

The Genuine · « **Reply #839 on:** December 29, 2008, 02:44:39 PM »

Go slurp yourself.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #840 on:** December 29, 2008, 02:56:14 PM »

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #841 on:** January 02, 2009, 12:08:14 AM »

"Noodle" and "canoodle" -- I can't figure out how they came about. Well, "noodle", from what I can tell, came straight over from Germany, but how the Germans got it, I can't tell.

Jonathon · « **Reply #842 on:** January 02, 2009, 08:14:19 AM »

The OED says that both of them have obscure origins. Noodle might be knödel, which means "dumpling", but it doesn't give any possible origins for canoodle.

The Genuine · « **Reply #843 on:** January 12, 2009, 08:02:25 AM »

Can a man be a virgin, or is that a term that really should apply only to women?

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #844 on:** January 12, 2009, 08:07:43 AM »

The Genuine · « **Reply #845 on:** January 12, 2009, 08:29:35 AM »

You've posted that at Sake and now here. What does that mean?

rivka · « **Reply #846 on:** January 12, 2009, 08:35:23 AM »

That apparently movie honchos have an answer to your question.

Porter · « **Reply #847 on:** January 12, 2009, 09:24:30 AM »

Silly Rivka. Haven't you figured out by now that Jesse only asks rhetorical questions?

The Genuine · « **Reply #848 on:** January 12, 2009, 10:03:24 AM »

What do you mean, Porter?

rivka · « **Reply #849 on:** January 12, 2009, 10:55:37 AM »

Quote

Silly Rivka. Haven't you figured out by now that Jesse only asks rhetorical questions?

To quote saxon: Sometimes it's fun to respond as though you were serious.