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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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And discussed in the oddly named book, "Dynamic Symmetry"
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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This all find and dandy but how on earth did thwart also come to mean to foil somebody`s plans, to oppose successfully? It is such an oddly spelled word, I can`t imagine two different cultures came up with the same spelling for two different things.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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two different thingsLike a lot of ‘thw~’ words, this came in to the melting pot of English from Scandinavia. In this case the root word thverr meant crossed or perverse, thence thvert, thence thwart. So the thing in common is that the bench is athwartships – across the width – whilst the verb form of thwarting an action is to place an obstacle across its path. Ain’t language wonderful? 
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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<<how on earth did thwart also come to mean to foil somebody`s plans, to oppose successfully?>>
Just a guess: to sit athwart -- across (in front of) -- in the way = to block
IP
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Mav's got it, (tho I was on the sniff)
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
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I recently read a geology book that mentioned the "Siberian traps" where massive volcanic outpourings millions of years ago produced successive higher but smaller huge circles. The word "traps" is said to be Norwegian, and is obviously related to German "Treppe" meaning stairs. In English "trip" can mean to dance as "trip the light fantastic". I should welcome seeing others post similar word comparisons.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Taken from Burnside URL given by inselpeter:
Take pedigree, for example. It is very far from obvious that it is
etymologically derived from the crane’s foot. In Middle French pié
(pied) de grue is the foot of the crane. In early manuscripts, lines of
descent were so drawn as to suggest the footprint of a crane, and the
resemblance provided a metaphor for the relations depicted in the
diagram. Introduced into English in the 15th century, the word was
originally spelled pee-de-grew, pedegru, or pedicru.
Mentioning "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" reminded me of GI who had been in France telling me how "cherry" came to mean virginity. He spoke French very well, so that he was accepted into nice families. A French WWI soldier in one of those families told him that when the "doughboys" tried to meet French girls from nice families, they were told "Elle est cherie." Meaning "cherished" = closely guarded by their parents. This got corrupted into meaning having intact hymen.
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Carpal Tunnel
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According to what I know, the guy's name was Fibonacci. But I've seen other references to Fabonacci. Since both names are eminently googlable™, which is correct and whence the confusion?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear AnnaStrophic:
Fibonacci Series, in mathematics, series of numbers in which each member is the sum of the two preceding numbers. For example, a series beginning 0, 1 … continues as 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so forth. The series was discovered by the Italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (circa 1170-c. 1240), also called Leonardo of Pisa. Fibonacci numbers have many interesting properties and are widely used in mathematics. Natural patterns, such as the spiral growth of leaves on some trees, often exhibit the Fibonacci series.
"Fibonacci Series," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
The funicular railroad up MtVesuvius was inspiration for a song "Funiculi, Funicula"
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thank you, Dr Bill. I am familiar with the Fibonacci series, and Helen of Troy described it several posts up. However, rodward called the man FAbonacci, and I was wondering why the mathematician's name is spelled both ways.
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