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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Jackie,
I decided to do a little search on equus, and found this curiosity on OneLook:
E"quus (?), n. [L., horse.] (Zoöl.) A genus of mammals, including the horse, ass, etc.
Not much on this 1913 Webster's site of use, but what's interesting in the above paste is the question mark. Why is that question mark embedded in the entry? Beats me.
Equably yours,
WordWrestler
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Carpal Tunnel
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In trying to find something about origin of "Antipodes='feet opposite' ". I found a third name for place now called Sri Lanka. Older names were: Lanka, Serendib, or Taprobane. I never heard the last one before.
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Carpal Tunnel
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wasn't Ceylon the name of the island just before it was sri lanka? and i didn't know Taprobane. but Serendib, gave rise to serendipity, from a story of princes of serendib, who found wonderful things, just as they needed them.
the real land of sri lanka is not the land of the story, the name was used to express a far, far away place.
when i was a kid, far away places were china, and Timbuctu.(any one not here, or reachable might as well be in Timbuctu, for all we can get hold of him!)
and wasn't i surprized as i got older, and discovered that the "black hole of calcutta" existed, and what a real 'den of iniquity' was! both of this terms were used to describe my bedroom when it was in need of tidying up and general cleaning.
and no one every looked disshevled.. they looked like the the wreck of the hesperis!
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Carpal Tunnel
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This reminds me of the time I ran into an old friend who was with a friend of hers. The friend's friend was wearing a T shirt with the picture of a waterfall and the words VERNAL FALLS. I asked him if that was anywhere near Autumnal Springs. He didn't have the foggiest idea what I was talking about but my friend still laughs about it.
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Dr. Bill, it wasn't easy for me to get much from it, but after comparing the graphs of the different solstices, I at least got some idea. At the fall and spring solstices, the sun rises and sets exactly on the imaginary east-west line running through the earth. At the winter solstice, it rises and sets a litle south of this line, making its orbit somewhat like a squashed circle. At the summer solstice, it rises and sets a little north of this line, making its orbit stretch towards being elliptical. I think. Again--this was a drawing for the Northern Hemisphere. At this time of night, I can't make my mind see it all in reverse for the Southern.
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Carpal Tunnel
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It's a little too geocentric to provide a real understanding of what's going on. It's OK for a limited understanding at one point on the earth. To see it for the southern hemisphere picture the little stick figure hanging by his feet from the bottom of the disk. There's also no squashed circles or ellipses involved, just more or less than half a circle for the sun's path.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Helen,
You wrote: wasn't Ceylon the name of the island just before it was sri lanka? .
Yep. I do know that. I don't understand the tilt of the earth and how the days are the same all over the world--and most of this discussion, but I do know that Ceylon was the name of the island prior to its becoming recognized as Sri Lanka by the world and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in particular, since I've had a pretty hefty correspondece with that board during one part of my life.
Now who's going to break down the historical etymology of equus for Jackie--and let us all know how the word equus came to be? In other words, where is tsuwm on his might charger known as Mr. Ed? or Mr. Oed?
Best regards,
WhirlingWorld
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Equus, horse from IE ekwo-, horse.
Equi, equal from Latin aequi, from aequus, equal.
AHD doesn't carry (a)equi back any farther than Latin, but suggests that ekwo- comes ultimately from kwon-, dog.
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Thanks, Faldage. What's IE, please?
I knew that "squashed circle" and ellipse were not good examples, but at the time I couldn't think of a better way to say it in short form as relating to a fixed reference point on the earth. I esp. didn't like squashed, as to me that would imply an irregular line. 'Tis more like an arc of a circle, there, rather than 50%.
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