Author Topic: The random etymology of the day (Read 238342 times)

Jonathon · « **Reply #550 on:** August 08, 2007, 03:22:34 PM »

I don't know what you mean.

Porter · « **Reply #551 on:** August 08, 2007, 03:33:10 PM »

They wouldn't print it if it weren't true.

Jonathon · « **Reply #552 on:** August 08, 2007, 03:38:43 PM »

Need I remind you of that letter to the editor you linked to earlier?

Porter · « **Reply #553 on:** August 08, 2007, 03:40:51 PM »

Porter · « **Reply #554 on:** August 08, 2007, 03:44:16 PM »

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It's worth remembering that acronyms are a 20th century phenomenon and researchers are hard pressed to find any examples before the 1920s.

Interesting. I did not know that.

Jonathon · « **Reply #555 on:** August 08, 2007, 03:47:17 PM »

I thought I said something similar earlier. Maybe I didn't word it strongly enough.

Porter · « **Reply #556 on:** August 08, 2007, 04:05:00 PM »

Yup. You said they weren't common until WWII, but the fact that there are none that can be confirmed before the 1920s is much more convincing.

rivka · « **Reply #557 on:** August 08, 2007, 06:37:46 PM »

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[T]he fact that there are none that can be confirmed before the 1920s is much more convincing.

I don't think he quite said that. I believe there are one or two. (Such as "OK.")

One link of many.

sarcasticmuppet · « **Reply #558 on:** August 13, 2007, 10:51:52 AM »

I'm curious to know if anyone has enough French background to know what the etymological root of the city name "Flanders" is, and if it has any connection with the french word "filandrier", which as far as I can tell is an occupational byname for one who spins fiber.

Jonathon · « **Reply #559 on:** August 13, 2007, 11:01:18 AM »

As far as I can tell, the name of the area comes from Dutch, not French. Wikipedia says the name means "flooded land," but someone flagged that with "citation needed," so don't count on that. But Ruth's parents served missions in the Dutch-speaking areas of Belgium and still speak Dutch, so I could ask them if you want.

pooka · « **Reply #560 on:** August 13, 2007, 11:06:19 AM »

SPQR was around since the literal 20's.

Jonathon · « **Reply #561 on:** August 13, 2007, 11:09:15 AM »

*snort*

I do have to point out that that's an initialism and not an acronym, though.

pooka · « **Reply #562 on:** August 13, 2007, 11:21:16 AM »

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It's worth remembering that acronyms are a 20th century phenomenon and researchers are hard pressed to find any examples before the 1920s. The word acronym itself wasn't coined until the 1940s.

Hmmm. I'm wondering about W.O.P. here. I think acronyms might be an American phenomenon insofar as this is a place where people come who are learning the language that may mistakenly read something that isn't meant to be.

There was a proliferation of initialisms along with the New Deal.

pooka · « **Reply #563 on:** August 13, 2007, 11:23:57 AM »

According to wikipedia, For what it's worth:

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Contrary to popular belief, it is not an acronym for "With Out Papers" or "Working On Pavement", but was derived from an Italian word "guappo", meaning dude or thug.

But if Italian folks get tatoos that say W.O.P. and insist it means "without papers", do you argue with them?

Jonathon · « **Reply #564 on:** August 13, 2007, 11:27:02 AM »

Do Italian folks actually do that?

pooka · « **Reply #565 on:** August 13, 2007, 11:39:37 AM »

My husband saw a lot of people's tatoos in the massage business.

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In Hebrew

People
Acronyms have been widely used in Hebrew since at least the Middle Ages. Several important rabbis are referred to with acronyms of their names. For example, Baal Shem Tov is called the Besht, Rav Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides) is commonly known as Rambam, and Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman (Nahmanides) likewise known as the Ramban.

Text
The usage of Hebrew acronyms extends to liturgical groupings: the word Tanakh is an acronym for Torah (Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im (Book of Prophets), and Ketuvim (Hagiographa).

I always wondered why Maimonides was called Rambam. I had to assume it didn't sound humorous to the people doing it.

Wikipedia goes on to discuss "Jehovah".

rivka · « **Reply #566 on:** August 13, 2007, 05:49:01 PM »

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I always wondered why Maimonides was called Rambam. I had to assume it didn't sound humorous to the people doing it.

No, just confusing. His approximate contemporary, with whom he has some fairly distinct philosophical and other disagreements, is Nachmanides. AKA the Ramban. (Emphasis is on different syllables, though.)

And the usage of Hebrew acronyms is not limited to names. Like shezazkil -- shemen zayis zach, kasis la'meor (pure olive oil, squeezed for [the purpose of] lighting [the candelabrum]).

pooka · « **Reply #567 on:** August 14, 2007, 03:37:28 AM »

It seems the list of true acronyms, as Jon has them, is pretty short. Laser, scuba, AIDS, NASA...

What most people think of as acronyms have to do with Government Agencies that proliferate in the new deal, though I guess the military uses a lot of them. Well, actually, they use a lot of quasi acronyms like SEATAC and DEFCON.

sarcasticmuppet · « **Reply #568 on:** August 14, 2007, 02:39:46 PM »

After working for the government for two summers, I became acquainted with far more acronyms than I care to acknowledge.

rivka · « **Reply #569 on:** August 14, 2007, 08:14:11 PM »

Tell me about it. Since I've been doing college admin, I've had to deal with ridiculous numbers of acronyms. And then I started doing financial aid . . .

FERPA, FAFSA, ACG, SMART, HERA, FAA, FAO, IPA (which actually can mean two different things, depending on context), EFC, COA . . . >.<

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #570 on:** August 15, 2007, 06:57:42 AM »

About 30 or 35 years ago, when my mother was active in the International Reading Association (IRA), someone got their wires crossed and she got put on the mailing list for the Irish Republican Army (also IRA). Since they were a terrorist organization, Ma was worried about that.

Noemon · « **Reply #571 on:** August 15, 2007, 08:18:36 AM »

Something that I've been wondering about this morning--is there any kind of an etymological relationship between the English suffix "-let" and the Spanish suffix "ito/a"? I think that I dreamed that there was, but I'm a bit skeptical upon having been awake for a few hours.

Jonathon · « **Reply #572 on:** August 15, 2007, 08:32:27 AM »

Well, this is interesting. Apparently -let is not native English; it's a misanalyzed form of the French suffix -et. People saw words like bracelet, gauntlet, and hamlet and assumed the suffix was -let. In some of these words, the l actually came from another Latin diminutive, -ellum (which I believe is -illo/a in modern Spanish). Anyway, the -et is indeed related to the Spanish -ito/a. It seems your etymological dreams are prophetic.

Noemon · « **Reply #573 on:** August 15, 2007, 09:19:29 AM »

Very interesting!

JT · « **Reply #574 on:** August 15, 2007, 11:58:29 AM »

The force is strong with Noemon's subconscious.