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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A precocious 5 year old told me, yesterday that there would be ‘precipitation tomorrow' (today} (it is raining now, and expected to rain heavily at times!) when asked, she state precipitation is another way to say ‘rain’-- but I got to thinking.. why is rain something that has a pre? What is ‘before?” so off to one look-- and here is one opinion. http://www.bartleby.com/61/12/P0511200.html
Precipitate
VERB: inflected forms: pre·cip·i·tat·ed, pre·cip·i·tat·ing, pre·cip·i·tates
TRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To throw from or as if from a great height; hurl downward: “The finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below” (Thornton Wilder). 2. To cause to happen, especially suddenly or prematurely. See synonyms at speed. 3. Meteorology To cause (water vapor) to condense and fall from the air as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. 4. Chemistry To cause (a solid substance) to be separated from a solution.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
1. Meteorology To condense and fall from the air as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. 2. Chemistry To be separated from a solution as a solid. 3. To fall or be thrown headlong: an ailing economy that precipitated into ruin despite foreign intervention.
ADJECTIVE:
1. Moving rapidly and heedlessly; speeding headlong. 2. Acting with or marked by excessive haste and lack of due deliberation. See synonyms at impetuous. , reckless. 3. Occurring suddenly or unexpectedly.
NOUN:
1. Chemistry A solid or solid phase separated from a solution. 2. A product resulting from a process, event, or course of action.
ETYMOLOGY:Latin praecipitre, praecipitt-, to throw headlong, from praeceps, praecipit-, headlong : prae-, pre- + caput, capit-, head; see kaput- in Appendix I.
Mmm, now I am wondering how is headfirst different from headlong? (and why is rain hurled from the sky headlong...)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The words headlong and headfirst were, I think, at one time, quite distinct, but in typical sloppy American usage, the distinction between them has blurred, as do all subtle distinctions, when subjected to mindless and uncorrected use. (Heh, heh, heh.)
Headlong carries/carried two senses: one was fast and the other was rash. The first had to do with speed, often excessive speed, and sometimes carried a whiff of negative judgement (as in "too fast") in its usage. The second had to do with the lack of adequate consideration before an action and this, also, carried with it a just a hint of negative judgement (as in "poorly considered") in its usage.
Headfirst was/is used entirely posturally, I think. One dives headfirst into the pool. The car plunges headfirst off the cliff. If this is correct, then a thing without a head (literally or figuratively) cannot do anything headfirst.
I have no authority whatsoever for any of these assertions and am going to take my lady love to the movies rather than spend time looking any up.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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typical sloppy American usage, Hey--we're not sloppy; we're just practical.  Helen--I put precip* into the Onelook search box, and was astonished to find 95 listings! One sort-of clue came up as I went fishing around. I looked up precipe in M-W, and found it is a variant of PRAECIPE:
Main Entry: prae·ci·pe
Pronunciation: 'pre-s&-"pE, 'prE-
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English presepe, from Medieval Latin praecipe, from Latin, imperative of praecipere to instruct -- more at PRECEPT
1 : any of various legal writs commanding a person to do something or to appear and show cause why he or she should not
2 : a written order requesting a clerk or prothonotary of a court to issue a writ and specifying the contents of the writ So then I looked up precept and found the clue, which I'll ...um... embolden.
Main Entry: pre·cept
Pronunciation: 'prE-"sept
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin praeceptum, from neuter of praeceptus, past participle of praecipere to take beforehand, instruct, from prae- + capere to take -- more at HEAVE
1 : a command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action
2 : an order issued by legally constituted authority to a subordinate official
synonym see LAW I'd been thinking that in precipitate, the pre wasn't exactly a real "pre"fix, but. Searching for cipitate yielded no results found.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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in precipitate, the pre wasn't exactly a real "pre"fix, but. Searching for cipitate yielded no results found.
That's kind of like saying in- isn't a real prefix in inept because there is no ept.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>there is no ept
except, of course, as a back-formation.
1938 E. B. WHITE Let. Oct. (1976) 183, I am much obliged.. to you for your warm, courteous, and ept treatment of a rather weak, skinny subject. 1966 Time 30 Sept. 7/1 With the exception of one or two semantic twisters, I think it is a first-rate job--definitely ept, ane and ert. 1976 N.Y. Times Mag. 6 June 15 The obvious answer is summed up by a White House official's sardonic crack: ‘Politically, we're not very ept.’ [OED2]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Precipitate in all, this sinner
Took action first, and then his dinner."
~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
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