|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
some resources now assign the rhetorical figure tmesis to this kind of affix.
But then we see from the Goldwyn quote* that, while tmesis may be necessary for infixing, infixing is not required for tmesis.
*"In two words, im possible." --Samuel Goldwyn
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
In reply to:
some resources now assign the rhetorical figure tmesis to this kind of affix
According to The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar it's the other way round. Tmesis is the older term and infix the more recent.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Good to know someone else is going through the same Quotation Mark Paranoia
"Pay" no "attention" to those "Nattering Nabobs of Negativism".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Then tsuwm's source seems a bit remiss. Why would you just split a word, and then leave it that way?
First you split, and then you insert. No ribaldry about it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
those Nattering Nabobs of Negativism
Thanks, Spiro T.!...the words of a true Vice President!  Well, with that kind of support I will no longer worry about erasing the miles of Quotations from my tapes! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Why would you just split a word, and then leave it that way? First you split, and then you insert.
Ah, but they are two separate processes and the Goldwyn quote given in tsuwm's link does only the former.
Not to mention that the original Greek means an "act of cutting".
Or, that is, to quote our own ledasdottir and an early document cited by David Crystal in his Encyclopedia of the English Language a nother*, close quote, issue.
*Once again Ænigma sides with you, so I rest my case.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Tmesis orignally refered to splitting preverbs (look like prepositions) from verbs. Greek, Sanskrit, and German do this. The split isn't really interesting on its own, but provides a slot for other words to interpose themselves. Tmesis comes from the same root as atom 'indivisible' (literally 'uncut').
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
my god. Dr. Bill was only a veteran... thanks for the update, jheemster!
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,810
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
458
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
