Register Log In Wordsmith Talk Forums General Topics Q&A about words A direct question Search Advanced Forum Search Forums Calendar Active Threads

Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread A direct question #116810 11/28/2003 8:08 PM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Jackie Carpal Tunnel Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Dody's thread over in I&A got me to thinking about this. For governments that have established empires, why don't we say they're empirical? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: A direct question #116811 11/28/2003 10:05 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Because they have different roots. Empire is from the Latin imperare, to rule; empirical is through Latin from the Greek empeirikos, experienced. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: A direct question #116812 11/29/2003 2:42 AM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Jackie Carpal Tunnel Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Thank you, Mr. F. I had a feeling it would be something like that. Although I am too familiar with the "real" meaning of empirical to be able to seriously ascribe it as I said above, it still makes grammatical "sense" to me; I guess in the same way that toddlers say, "I tooked a piece of candy". Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: A direct question #116813 11/29/2003 4:49 AM Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,624 Utter Placebo, Planet Reebok Capfka Pooh-Bah Capfka Pooh-Bah Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,624 Utter Placebo, Planet Reebok You could say, I suppose and at the risk of being laughed at, that the government was empireical. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

Default Style BlackNTan Drab eBay GooG v2 infopop new dark new light original dark original stock rounded corners Slate snow sunny dropshadow theblues Touch Of Grey UBB.threads UBB.threads - Dark UBB.threads - Light UBBCentral UBBCentral - Crimson UBBCentral - Lime UBBCentral - Marshmallow UBBCentral - Mocha UBBCentral - Zen UBBT77 UBBT77 - Dark ubbthreads ubbthreads-dark Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith Talk