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zmjezhd #177637 06/20/08 11:53 PM
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this one troubled me for a long while, until I finally discovered this:

the [truly] worthless [or not] word for the day is: tarassis

[fr. Gk tarasso(?), to trouble the mind, confound,
agitate, disturb, disquiet] /tuh RASS iss/

male hysteria (?)

""Hysteria" (hustera, womb) is a form of neurosis which,
strictly speaking, ought to apply to women only. But males
suffer from the malady, too, and the same term is used to
designate it. In 1886 Sanoaville de Lachèse proposed that
the word "tarassis" (tarasso, to agitate, disturb, trouble)
be used to designate hysteria in the male, but in
spite of its appropriateness the term has not received general
acceptance. It is not always the superior scientific term
that succeeds in winning approval
." [EA]
- Oscar Nybakken,
Greek and Latin in Scientific Terminology (1959)

-tsuwm


zmjezhd #177652 06/21/08 07:26 PM
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Jackie Offline OP
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uterus envy


=============================================================

this one troubled me for a long while To the point of tarassis? ;-)

twosleepy #177675 06/22/08 11:10 PM
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 Originally Posted By: twosleepy
 Originally Posted By: Myridon
it seems the place might be named for the fish, so it's an ichthonym. (^_^)

so the fish are named after the place, not the reverse.

From etymonline:
 Quote:
c.1430, from L. sardina, from Gk. sardine, sardinos, often said to be from Sardo "Sardinia" (see Sardinia), the Mediterranean island, near which the fish were probably caught and from which they were exported. But cf. Klein: "It is hardly probable that the Greeks would have obtained fish from so far as Sardinia at a time relatively so early as that of Aristotle, from whom Athenaios quotes a passage in which the fish sardinos is mentioned." Colloquial phrase packed like sardines (in a tin) is recorded from 1911.


BTW, the plural of fish is fish. The fish plural who are collectively known today as sardines - better?

It's also doubtful that the ancient Greeks practiced modern taxonomy.

Last edited by Myridon; 06/22/08 11:17 PM.
Myridon #177677 06/23/08 12:46 AM
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 Originally Posted By: Myridon
BTW, the plural of fish is fish.

"fishes" used at etymonline

 Originally Posted By: Myridon
The fish plural who are collectively known today as sardines - better?

Not really. Just using "sardines" is fine. :0)

Myridon #177678 06/23/08 02:11 AM
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 Originally Posted By: Myridon
BTW, the plural of fish is fish.

...or fishes. ...or fishies. Especially with the adjective 'little' in front of it.

The Pook #177681 06/23/08 10:02 AM
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If you have two gouramis in your home aquarium you have two fish. If you have two gouramis, six cardinal tetras, and one plecostomus you have three fishes

The Pook #177682 06/23/08 11:13 AM
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>fishes..fishies...fisheses.

Note on usage: fish vs. fishes


Fishes is the English plural form of fish that biologists use when speaking about two or more fish species, as in "There are over 25,000 fishes in the world" (meaning that there are over 25,000 fish species in the world). When speaking of many fish that all are part of the same species, then the word "fish" is used, as in "There are several million fish in the species Gadus morhua."

Prediction:
By the entrails of fishes, Ichthyomancy; by sacrificial fire, Pyromancy; by red-hot iron, Sideromancy; by smoke from the altar, Capnomancy; by mice, Myomancy; by birds, Ornithomancy; by a cock picking up grains, Alectryomancy (or Alectromancy); by herbs, Botanomancy; by water, Hydromancy; by fountains, Pegomancy; by a wand, Rhabdomancy; by dough of cakes, Crithomancy; by meal, Aleuromancy, Alphitomancy; by salt, Halomancy; by dice, Cleromancy

\:\) Your post came in in my editing time,Faldage, so doubles.

Last edited by BranShea; 06/23/08 12:44 PM. Reason: tworeply for twosleepy
Faldage #177683 06/23/08 12:05 PM
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So then I'm understanding that the correct way to refer to sardines is as "fishes" because the term "sardine" denotes more than one species. Is this correct? :0)

twosleepy #177684 06/23/08 12:17 PM
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Correct or incorrect, I like them fried or grilled.

Hmm...
"Six species of sardine are generally recognized: five in the Pacific and Indian Oceans (Sardinops species) and Sardinia pilchardus in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. In 1998 US researchers announced, following analysis of mitochondrial DNA from the Sardinops species, that they were in fact probably widely dispersed regional populations of the same species, rather than different species." + _ =)

Last edited by BranShea; 06/23/08 12:26 PM.
BranShea #177688 06/23/08 04:13 PM
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"Taxonomically different" species are often indistinguishable to the naked eye (or differ by some small feature like the number of teeth or number of rays in a fin) and are often mis-identified. I believe I just recently mentioned that I have fish in my home that have been moved into a different taxonomic genus within the last year which is not an unusual occurence for aquarium fishes.

Last edited by Myridon; 06/23/08 04:14 PM.
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