Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 237868 times)

Jonathon · « **on:** December 16, 2005, 01:46:42 PM »

adult, a.

From Latin adultus, past participle of adolescere, "to grow up."

adolescent, n and a.

From Latin adolescentem, "growing up, a youth," properly present participle of adolescere, "to grow up."

In other words, adult is directly equivalent to the more colloquial "grown-up," while an adolescent is someone who is in the process of growing up.

Adultery, however, comes from an entirely different stem.

(OED Online, s.v. "adult," "adolescent.")

Porter · « **Reply #1 on:** December 16, 2005, 01:47:42 PM »

Brinestone · « **Reply #2 on:** December 16, 2005, 01:47:49 PM »

Do the yoga/yoke one.

Mr. Anderson · « **Reply #3 on:** December 16, 2005, 02:23:46 PM »

I'm excited about this new knowledge I've just acquired.

sarcasticmuppet · « **Reply #4 on:** December 16, 2005, 06:48:53 PM »

I love to learn!

Jonathon · « **Reply #5 on:** December 17, 2005, 11:09:52 AM »

Smart alecs.

Porter · « **Reply #6 on:** December 17, 2005, 11:47:25 AM »

Hey. It's a new day. Where's my new random etymology of the day?

Jonathon · « **Reply #7 on:** December 17, 2005, 12:18:01 PM »

yoga

From Hindi, Sanskrit yoga, literally "union": see YOKE.

From Hindi yoga, from Sanskrit yoga-s, literally "union, yoking" (with the Supreme Spirit), from Proto-Indo-European base *yeug- "to join" (see jugular).

yoke

Common Teutonic strong neuter: Old English. geoc = Old Saxon juc (Middle Low German juk, Middle Dutch juc, joc, Low German, Dutch juk, jok), Old High German juh, joch, (Middle High German, German joch), Old Norse ok (Swedish åka, Danish aag), Gothic juk, corresponding to Latin jugum, Greek zygan, Welsh iau, Old Slavonic igo, Sanskrit yugá-m:—Indo-european *jugóm.

Some cognates from Latin, French, and Spanish: jugum, jugular, junction, juncture, juxta-, join, joint, joinder, joust, junta.

From Greek: zygote, zeugma, syzygy.

The original sense of the Indo-European word was "union," and by extension came to mean "yoke" (something that joins two animals together), "jugular," (it originally meant "collarbone, throat, or neck," because that's where yokes go), and a host of other words relating to unions.

(OED Online, s.v. "yoga," "yoke," "jugular"; Etymonline.com, s.v. "jugular.")

Edited because Porter's a whiner.

pooka · « **Reply #8 on:** December 17, 2005, 02:50:21 PM »

So where does adultery come from?

Jonathon · « **Reply #9 on:** December 17, 2005, 02:55:15 PM »

From the Latin adulterare, "to corrupt."

pooka · « **Reply #10 on:** December 18, 2005, 08:17:56 AM »

But where did that come from?

Jonathon · « **Reply #11 on:** December 18, 2005, 10:04:14 AM »

It's turtles all the way down.

pooka · « **Reply #12 on:** December 18, 2005, 10:14:13 AM »

Jonathon · « **Reply #13 on:** December 18, 2005, 08:17:49 PM »

lord, n.

Old English hláford, once hláfweard (Ps. civ. 17), representing a prehistoric form *hlai?ward-, from *hlai? (Old English hláf) "bread, loaf" + *ward (Old English weard) "keeper" (see WARD n.).

In its primary sense the word (which is absent from the other Teutonic langs.) denotes the head of a household in his relation to the servants and dependents who ‘eat his bread’ (compare Old English hláf-æta, literally ‘bread-eater’, a servant); but it had already acquired a wider application before the literary period of Old English.

The development of sense has been largely influenced by the adoption of the word as the customary rendering of Latin dominus.

(OED Online, s.v. "lord.")

Porter · « **Reply #14 on:** December 18, 2005, 08:29:24 PM »

I'm still confused about yoga and yoke. Is the second line the description of where the sanscrit word "yoga" came from?

Jonathon · « **Reply #15 on:** December 18, 2005, 11:40:49 PM »

Yes. It comes from Hindi, which comes from Sanskrit. Then the paragraph below "yoke" describes where "yoke" comes from. Then I list some other cognates and stuff.

Porter · « **Reply #16 on:** December 19, 2005, 07:29:39 AM »

OK, I'm more confused now. Is there any connection between the word yoga and the word yoke?

pooka · « **Reply #17 on:** December 19, 2005, 07:35:52 AM »

It seems so to me. Then there's conjugal.

Brinestone · « **Reply #18 on:** December 19, 2005, 07:38:28 AM »

Yes. They both trace back to the Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to join."

Porter · « **Reply #19 on:** December 19, 2005, 07:54:03 AM »

OK. Am I missing something, or is that not explicitly stated earlier? For Yoga, it just says it comes from hindi and sanskrit, and that's it. Then for Yoke, it gives this whole list of things that it comes from, none of which are the same hindi or sanskir words we saw earlier.

pooka · « **Reply #20 on:** December 19, 2005, 07:54:07 AM »

Let us throw off the yoga of oppression!

Brinestone · « **Reply #21 on:** December 19, 2005, 08:13:59 AM »

The part where it says "See YOKE" means that the full etymology of yoga is in the entry for yoke.

There's also the Sanskrit word near the end of the list of etymologically related words. It's not yoga, but it looks to be a different form of the same word.

Porter · « **Reply #22 on:** December 19, 2005, 08:21:08 AM »

They sure do look to be different forms of the same word.

As do adult and adultery.

Jonathon · « **Reply #23 on:** December 19, 2005, 04:29:39 PM »

Except that adult and adultery don't have related meanings.

But you're right that it doesn't explicitly explain the origin of yoga. Sometimes the OED is bad that way, unless you're familiar enough with etymologies.

Porter · « **Reply #24 on:** December 19, 2005, 04:32:29 PM »

Which I ain't.