|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
you got yourselves two distinct words with unique spellings there folks!
ferrule \fer-ul\ noun [alter. of ME virole, fr. MF, fr. L viriola, dim. of viria bracelet, of Celtic origin; akin to OIr fiar oblique] (1611)
1 : a ring or cap usu. of metal put around a slender shaft (as a cane or a tool handle) to strengthen it or prevent splitting
2 : a usu. metal sleeve used esp. for joining or binding one part to another (as pipe sections or the bristles and handle of a brush)
ferruled adjective
ferule \fer-ul\ also ferula \fer-(y)e-le\ noun [L ferula giant fennel, ferule] (1580)
1 : an instrument (as a flat piece of wood like a ruler) used to punish children
2 : school discipline
(C) 1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
very clever pun
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Nag, n' ag -- let him alone, will ya?  Thank you very much, tsuwm; I was so puzzled, reading Dave's post: I knew that what I was thinking of couldn't possibly be the end of a shoelace (my knowledge of the word coming from having read about a child in school being hit with a ferule). I hadn't known there were two different words. I wonder if ferrule \fer-ul\ noun [alter. of ME virole, fr. MF, fr. L viriola, dim. of viria bracelet, of Celtic origin; akin to OIr fiar oblique] is related to iron? That is, it strikes me (no, not with a hot iron, golf or other type!) that the first ones of these securing bands or even bracelets might have been made of iron.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
no, etaoin, it wasn't n'aglet--it was fresh eggs!
and dr bill pointed out in a PM, that realy fresh eggs, when hardboiled, show the concentric rings of the ablumin that was layed down.. (but the chelaza disappears as the egg is cooked..)
--------------------------------
that's tsuwm, for the info on ferrule/ferule..
given that, a tip of shoe lace could be bound with a ferrule or an aglet..
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
I knew the word ferrule from pool cues, where they are used to strengthen the tips. hi musick!http://www.netpath.net/heads/faq/cueparts.htmlI don't think I'd use it to refer to an aglet though.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261 |
I think the link's between ferrule and aglet, through their similar use as "a metal ring or cap placed around a pole or shaft for reinforcement or to prevent splitting" (definition for ferrule) and "a tag or sheath, as of plastic, on the end of a lace, cord, or ribbon to facilitate its passing through eyelet holes" (aglet). The only difference seems to be in the material and the exact function, but the idea's roughly the same.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133
member
|
|
member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133 |
Ooh, tswum--filet and fillet and now ferule and ferrule!
Will I ever get them right?
Especially when the confused spellcheck told me the word I wanted was "fervent"!!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133
member
|
|
member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133 |
So is that metal edge on a ruler a ferrule on a ferule?
Almost enough to make me go feral!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
all for one and one feral...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I kinda like this one; it's cute. There are three in the previous sentence.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Anna, and must tell you that I liked his title. So ppphhhbbbtttt!  Good one!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
jot and tittle to me are like sugar and cream, salt and pepper. i always think of the two paired.
(and i'll leave it to Fr Steve or other to cite chapter and verse!)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
three in the previous sentence
Which one doesn't count?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
oops... Four. I suffer from dyscalculia.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
jot and tittle to me are like sugar and cream, salt and pepper. i always think of the two paired. This is one I'm not familiar with. Is a jot what the cross of a t is called? (As in "dot your i's and cross your t's".) Or does the phrase refer to something else altogether?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Are jot and iota related?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Are jot and iota related?
Yes, both via Latin from Greek from the Hebrew letter name yodh 'hand'.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
Jot or tittle is an idiom which means any small thing. Curiously, it is close in origin to the idiom which commands attention to every small detail: dot the is and cross the ts. (That is one place where the urge to use an inappropriate apostrophe is almost irresistible). Jot is a variant of iota, the Greek name for the letter i. Iota is still used alone to mean something small, generally by negation: there is not one iota of evidence …; in exactly the same way it might be said there is not a jot of evidence … The meanings are identical.
The ambivalence between jot and iota is not surprising: until early in the nineteenth century, i and j were facets of the same letter. In the first edition of Johnson’s Dictionary (1755), the entry next after hystericks is I, and it contains a discussion of that letter, followed by its meaning as the first person singular pronoun. The next entry is jabber, followed by other words beginning ja-. After jazel comes ice; after idyl comes jealous, and so on. So it remained in all the editions in Johnson’s lifetime. However the 8th edition, edited by Dr Todd (1818) recognizes that i and j have ceased to be facets of the same thing, and have separated into 2 different letters. Iota and jot are small reminders of the way it was.
So a jot is simply the letter i.[e.a.] A tittle is any diacritic mark in text, such as an accent, a cedilla or a tilde. Nowadays, it refers specifically to the dot above the letter i. So reference to every jot and tittle is a reminder of the importance of dotting the i.
-Julian Burnside
[my reading: jot and tittle is a pleonasm]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Well, Mr. B. may be correct in saying that Nowadays, it refers specifically to the dot above the letter i. However, none of the listings in Onelook say anything about that. The ones that have the diacritic def. all simply say cedilla, dot, etc. This makes me think of comparing tittle to whiskey and bourbon: all bourbons are whiskies but not all whiskies are bourbons. The dictionaries seem to say that tittle is whiskey. But acc'g. to Mr. Burnside it's a bourbon! (Yeah, well, I haven't been awake very long.) As to those "inappropriate apostrophes": all I can say is that I still think that i's gets the meaning across quicker than is does. [defiant head toss e] Now: y'all take a look at a couple of things I found at Onelook: 1.) Go to http://poets.notredame.ac.jp/cgi-bin/wn?cmd=wn&word=tittle and take a gander at the section called "Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun tittle". I've never seen any other place that includes a list like that. 2.) Surprise!
Date: Mon Jan 3 00:19:30 EST 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--tittle
X-Bonus: The truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind. -Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
tittle (TIT-l) noun
1. A small diacritic mark, such as an accent, a vowel mark, or a dot
over an i.
2. The tiniest bit; an iota.
[Middle English titil, from Medieval Latin titulus, diacritical mark,
from Latin, title, superscription.]
"Reporters and editors crave detail, down to the dot and tittle, and
assume as much about the reader, listener or viewer."
Deborah Mathis, Clinton: The Arkansas view, USA Today, 17 Jan 1994.
Ever wondered if there is a word for that dot over the letter i, or what to
call that fleshy fold of skin hanging from the throat of a rooster? Ever spent
a weekend trying to find out what to call those vertical grooves on the side
of a coin, or if there is a term for the big toe? Relax, help is at hand. This
week's AWAD answers these and a few other questions that may be keeping you up
at night. (-: -Anu
http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives/0100
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
there is, too, a NT biblical proverb about 'every jot and tittle'
in hebrew, (or is it old aramaic?) vowels were not always included in the text. the equivient of H had a H(a) sound, so the name hannah, was written hnnh. --and 'everyone' understood it to be Hannah--but as we have seen with the 'mispelled words' thread (some months ago, human minds tend to 'fill in' and read things. so we ]unerdsantnd the word in blue to be be understand. --BUT there were words that we all 'misread'--and once we did, it was hard to read it correctly.
you can see how this kind of mistake, over time, could play havoc with a text!
Jots and tittles are used in hewbrew(armamic?) to make clear the 'correct' word-- by indicating the correct place to put the vowels, and which vowel to use.
and i agree, i's and t's is clearer than is and ts!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
If I remember my Vos Savant aright the dot over the i is but one version of a tittle. Using Jackie's analogy, the tittle is the whisky. The question was "If the double dots are called a dieresis, what is the single dot over an i called?" Marilyn said it was a tittle and said the the dieresis was also a tittle, as were accents of both stripes, macrons, and circumflexes. She did not offer a term unique to the dot over the i.
Edit: Thanks again to Dr Bill for catching, in this case, a flat out misspelling. Can't plead typo on this one. It's dieresis or diæresis, not diaresis.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
in hebrew, (or is it old aramaic?) vowels were not always included in the text.
Actually, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic do not normally indicate vowels, unless, as you say for clarity (e.g., in the Tanakh, or Old Testament) or for pedagogy (children's books, dictionaries). The term in Hebrew is niqodah 'point, prick' (plural niqodot). (Also, Hieroglyphic Egyptian did not indicate vowels.)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
She did not offer a term unique to the dot over the i.
I thought the dot over the i was called a dot. BTW, Turkish has both dotted and dotless is. The capital dotted i is cute.
|
|
|
|
|
