Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 222296 times)

Jonathon · « **Reply #75 on:** January 19, 2006, 08:38:07 PM »

Maybe I should finally get around to reading it, too. I didn't realize it dealt with linguistics at all.

Porter · « **Reply #76 on:** January 19, 2006, 08:43:40 PM »

I loved the small parts about antropological linguistics. I didn't know anything about it beforehand. I want to learn more.

For example, almost all Indo-European languages have similar words for sheep. (The English word that's similar is ewe.) This means that the proto-Indo-European culture probably had the technology of sheepherding, or the word wouldn't have been in their language.

On the other hand, the word for gun is completely different in the Indo-european lanaguages. This isn't surprising, since the gun was invented a long time after the different langauges broke away from each other.

Jonathon · « **Reply #77 on:** January 19, 2006, 09:03:31 PM »

That is really interesting stuff. It's clues like that that help linguists narrow down the places were the Proto-Indo-Europeans came from and get an idea of what their culture might have been like.

Porter · « **Reply #78 on:** January 19, 2006, 09:07:23 PM »

Yup. It's awesome.

There's a word for this kind of anthropological linguistics, but I can't remember what it is.

Jonathon · « **Reply #79 on:** January 19, 2006, 09:13:38 PM »

I think that is the word for it. Or words, I suppose. Linky.

Porter · « **Reply #80 on:** January 19, 2006, 09:15:53 PM »

None of those are the word that Diamond used (just once, IIRC) in his book.

Jonathon · « **Reply #81 on:** January 19, 2006, 09:43:08 PM »

Now I've definitely got to read it to see if he used the right term.

And now I also feel like reading more stuff on historical linguistics. Too bad the public library doesn't have any good books on the subject. Maybe I'll just flip through my textbooks.

Porter · « **Reply #82 on:** January 19, 2006, 10:13:01 PM »

It might not be the word they taught you in college

After all, this book was probably published while you were in Junior High.

Jonathon · « **Reply #83 on:** January 19, 2006, 10:28:50 PM »

High school.

Porter · « **Reply #84 on:** January 19, 2006, 10:36:29 PM »

Really? When did you graduate?

Jonathon · « **Reply #85 on:** January 19, 2006, 10:52:46 PM »

'99.

Porter · « **Reply #86 on:** January 20, 2006, 08:16:15 AM »

OK then.

Noemon · « **Reply #87 on:** January 20, 2006, 01:50:38 PM »

Quote

So would anyone like me to keep doing this? I felt like no one was really reading it, so I stopped.

For what it's worth, it was this very thread that prompted me to visit here today. I haven't been here in a while (not because of any problem with the forum or anything; I just haven't been in as forum-y of a mood just lately as I have been in the past), and 10 minutes or so ago I started thinking about what a great thread this was, and how I'd been away long enough for lots of interesting bits of information to have had time to build up.

Noemon · « **Reply #88 on:** January 20, 2006, 01:53:22 PM »

And may I just say "good lord, you graduated from high school in 1999?"

I was aware that you were 9 or 10 years younger than me, but somehow having it expressed in terms of the year you graduated high school threw it into stark relief.

Porter · « **Reply #89 on:** January 20, 2006, 01:55:29 PM »

My son was born in 1999.

sarcasticmuppet · « **Reply #90 on:** January 20, 2006, 02:47:08 PM »

In 1999 I was fourteen.

Brinestone · « **Reply #91 on:** January 20, 2006, 02:52:43 PM »

In 1999 I was a nerd.

Porter · « **Reply #92 on:** January 20, 2006, 02:53:48 PM »

Yeah, like that's helpful information.

Brinestone · « **Reply #93 on:** January 20, 2006, 02:55:12 PM »

Just sayin'.

Jonathon · « **Reply #94 on:** January 20, 2006, 02:59:30 PM »

Some one words in English:

only

From the Germanic base of one a. + the Germanic base of -ly (ultimately from the Germanic base of like).

alone

Originally a phraseological combination of all adv. ‘wholly, quite,’ + one; emphasizing oneness essential or temporary, ‘wholly one, one without any companions, one by himself.’ Appeared not earlier than end of 13th century, and long treated as two words. Aphetized in northern dialect to lone.

any

From Old English ænig, from án 'one' (in umlaut æn) + -ig, adjectival ending (see -y), here perhaps diminutive.

The vowel in the suffix caused the vowel in the stem to move forward, and the n caused it to move up to its present short e sound. The same thing should have happened in only, but apparently it regularized to sound more like the contemporary pronunciation of one.

Jonathon · « **Reply #95 on:** January 22, 2006, 02:55:01 PM »

first, a. (n.) and adv.

From Old English fyrst, fyrest, from common Germanic *furisto-, a superlative formation on the stem *fur-, for- (see FORE adv., FOR prep.).

From the same stem, with different superlative suffix, is formed Old English forma 'first,' whence the double superlative form fyrmest: see FORMER, FOREMOST.

The Proto-Germanic fur-, for-, represents Proto-Indo-European pr-, whence in most of the Indo-European languages words meaning ‘first’ are derived, chiefly with superlative suffixes. Compare Sanskrit prathama, Old Slavonic privu, Greek protos, proistos, Latin primus.

pooka · « **Reply #96 on:** January 22, 2006, 10:24:24 PM »

So where do you stand on "hellbent for leather"? I've seen various mentions of dying with your boots on, dying in the saddle, or doing something with the reigns to make the horse go faster. Does it mean reckless, tenacious, or just very fast?

Jonathon · « **Reply #97 on:** January 22, 2006, 10:39:06 PM »

I have no idea. Phrases like that are particularly hard to track down because they're typically used in speech for quite a while before they're recorded in writing. During that time, the phrase may become corrupted, which obscures the etymology. This is the best I can find.

rivka · « **Reply #98 on:** January 22, 2006, 11:59:58 PM »

I adore TOWFI.

Oooh, a new issue!

pooka · « **Reply #99 on:** January 23, 2006, 07:15:00 AM »

One of the sources I was looking at yesterday listed "hellbent for election" as the first published semi-similar use. Don't have time to find it at the moment...