Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 3 1 2 3
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
it's one of those words that Pete defines, and then gives examples of the trope, rather than citations for the word itself

It's one of the things that separates the cream from the chaff, lexicographically speaking.

For what it's worth, I took a quick spin through oneof the editions of Du Cange's Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis, digitized by and online at the National French Library, but found nothing under soeresmus or soresmus.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
tsuwm Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
here's the totality of Pete's entry(s), with Spanish, French, and Latin examples:

SOERESMUS trope/spanish The mierda, as the saying in bastardized local lingo went, had really hit the abanico. Nichols, The Magic Journey, p. 56.

SOERESMUS trope/french the use of foreign words and phrases mixed with your own language's text. Also called "macaronics" and "mingle mangle" which is often a more apt phrase "Dieu caillou les corbeaux!" he cried aghast "Regardez sa chevelure! She 'as flipped 'er wig! What do I see, me? Un moment, ma belle brun, le next une bébé peroxide! C'est trop fort!* * fractured French for God stone the crows, Look at her hair, my beautiful brunette, It's too much. Fraser, The Pyrates, p. 238.

SOERESMUS trope/Latin see quotation The Boss knew all about the so-called fallacy of the argumentum ad hominem. "It may be a fallacy," he said, "but it is shore-God useful. If you use the right kind of argumentum you can always scare the hominem into a laundry bill he didn't expect." Warren, Robert Penn, All the King's Men, p. 248.

I'll ask if these got into the published version intact.

tsuwm #186050 07/25/09 04:15 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Spanish, French, and Latin examples

I see. So he does not give examples of the word *soeresmus being used, but examples in various languages.

The first poetry to be called macaonic was written by Teofilo Folengo in the first have of the 16th century. The language was Latin, but with nonce words from Italian but with Latin morphological affixes. The content tended to the mock-epic, and the meter was usually hexameters.

The word has since come to be used for other kinds of language mixture, e.g., code-switching as in the Saussy examples, poetry in which ever other line is in one of several languages (this was big in England where Middle English, Latin, and French were used. A fourth century grammarian, Ausonius, is famous for using many Greek words in his otherwise Latin poetry. Another famous example is Hisperic latin from the Hisperica Famina. It was written by Irish monks and used Hebrew and Greek nonce words.

Last edited by zmjezhd; 07/25/09 04:31 PM.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #186063 07/25/09 10:27 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
tsuwm Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
I've seen macaronic used in another sense; i.e., etymologically speaking, words such as television are macaronic. would you consider this to be correct usage?

tsuwm #186067 07/25/09 11:21 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
etymologically speaking, words such as television are macaronic. would you consider this to be correct usage?

I understand what is meant, though I myself wouldn't use it.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #186069 07/25/09 11:27 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
tsuwm Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
how would you, yourself, refer to such (mixed origin) words?
-joe (asking the unanswered) friday

Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
how would you, yourself, refer to such (mixed origin) words?

Because the notion of using both a Greek-origin and a Latin-origin ISV root in the same word does not bother me, I don't need a single word to describe it. If I wanted to refer to the phenomenon jocularly, I might say that the word television was etymological hybrid. After all, the Greek didn't think it a problem when they coined words like φιλόκαισαρ (philokaisar, with kaisar < Caesar) 'loyal to the emperor' (even when they had a perfectly good all Greek version φιλοσέβαστος (philosebastos, with sebastos as a calque for Augustus).

Last edited by zmjezhd; 07/26/09 03:07 PM.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
So, macaronic is used to describe different languages used in groups of words (a sentence, a verse, etc.) but not for a single word that combines different etymologies?

Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
So, macaronic is used to describe different languages used in groups of words (a sentence, a verse, etc.) but not for a single word that combines different etymologies?

I said I wouldn't use it. You, of course, are free to use words in any which way you would. wink


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
tsuwm Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
""homophobia" seems as badly cast as the so-called "scientific" word "homosexual" itself, except that "homophobia" does not have a macaronic etymology..."
- Lawrence R. Schehr, Figures of Alterity (2003)

"Macaronic words are formed by the addition of terminations of one language to roots of another language. Macaronic compositions, written in burlesque, contain, generally, genuine words from both languages, interspersed among the hybrid compounds."
- Hubert M. Skinner, The Schoolmaster in Comedy and Satire (1894)

edit: I'm going to send these to Jesse S.!

editorial comment

Last edited by tsuwm; 07/27/09 05:01 AM.
Page 2 of 3 1 2 3

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,580
Members9,187
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Karin, JeffMackwood, artguitar, Jim_W, Rdbuffalo
9,187 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 332 guests, and 0 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
wofahulicodoc 10,713
tsuwm 10,542
LukeJavan8 9,931
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5