#42072
09/17/2001 7:35 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Posts: 1,819 |
As the topic this week is Latin words and phrases, I would like to share one of my favorite Latin etymologies. The word is "companion." See if you can deduce the etymology if you don't already know. The answer is in white, below. What's your favorite etymology?
The word comes from the Latin for "with" [com] and "bread" [pani], literally, someone with whom you share bread. I learned this from Carol Fields' book "The Italian Baker," which I read when I was working as a baker.
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#42073
09/17/2001 9:23 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't have a favorite etymology, but enjoy learning the etymology of words because doing so often provides mnemonics not only for a given word, but frequently for several others as well. I wish we saw a lot more etymology here.
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#42074
09/18/2001 1:01 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 3,409 |
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#42075
09/18/2001 1:25 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
stand in the spray from the Pierian spring
Is that anything like pissinginto the wind?
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#42076
09/18/2001 1:34 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 3,409 |
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#42077
09/18/2001 5:43 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Not an etymology as such, but I've never happened to have occasion to utter it, so it only occurred to me in the shower this morning that the Indonesian for "my nails" (finger or toe) is kuku-kukuku.
Bingley
Bingley
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#42078
09/18/2001 10:59 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
here's another favorite word of mine: "pathognomonic "
ADJECTIVE: Characteristic or symptomatic of a particular disease or condition.
ETYMOLOGY: Greek pathognmonikos : patho-, patho- + gnmonikos, able to judge (from gnmn, interpreter; see gn- in Appendix I).
(from http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/P0111700.html )
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#42079
09/18/2001 1:31 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"thy micturations are to me,
As plurdled gabbleblotchits on
a lurgid bee."
© Douglas Adams 1979
I love it, Max. It counterpoints the surrealism of the underlying metaphor. Or something like that.
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#42080
09/18/2001 1:47 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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http://www.wordorigins.orgLord This word for master derives from the Old English hláford or literally bread (loaf)-ward. Originally, it is a reference to the head of a household; servants in the house would be entitled to be fed by the master. The general sense of master, as opposed to the specific sense of a provider of bread, is well established by c. 950. This site didn't give etymology of "lady" which comes from roots about kneading bread.
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#42081
09/18/2001 1:57 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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lady This word originally denoted a "kneader of bread" from the OE http://latin.about.com/library/wordstories/bllady.htm HLÆFDIGE, a compound of HLÆF (bread, and hence the word "loaf") and the OE root DIG- (hence, the word "dough"). John Ayto tells us that this word, as "LORD" (see below), is symbolic in medieval lifestyles of the importance that bread played in people's lives. Thus, a "lady" was a "provider of bread" and hence a symbol of authority within a household.
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#42082
09/18/2001 2:07 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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At the second site, I ran into a new word:
fossicker
In Australia or New Zealand especially, one who informally searches for
gold by "reworking" abandoned piles of earth which may have already
been depleted of the mineral. To ferret out; to rummage for something of
value with a goal of making a profit.
A fossicker is also a bothersome person, one who busies about and
creates trouble.
Fossicking is quite an enjoyable hobby in Australia and New Zealand,
parts of the world that are home to a wide range of fossils and minerals.
Origin is unknown.
So in hijacking words from tsuwm? wwftd, I have been fossicking. Sound a bit naughty.
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#42083
09/18/2001 2:41 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In another thread, "salt cellars" were mentioned. I did not realize that this is a tautology.
Furthermore, those who were wealthy enough to have saltcellars [small
dishes used for holding and dispensing salt] just as recently as 300 years
ago were deemed to have "status," and they were looked highly upon and
esteemed by their "underlings"! Contrary to frequent belief, a saltcellar is
not a location for storing salt but rather it is merely a "compound
redundancy," that is, tautology, for the word "salt":
Cellar (as in saltcellar) comes from the Anglo-Norman saler [and later
seler], another word for saltcellar, a word derived from the Latin sal and
the corresponding verb, salere, to add salt to.
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#42084
09/18/2001 4:33 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"thy micturations are to me,
As plurdled gabbleblotchits on
a lurgid bee."
As consuelo has already noted, the indicated word requies its own color.
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#42085
09/18/2001 7:25 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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work these days takes up more time.. i have much, much longer commute -- there is this distraction about town. and now i don't even have a simple dictionary about.. and connections are iffy, and i keep getting dumped..
i look up when i can.. my two favorite words..for etymology
kaliedoscope. which breaks out pretty easy into its roots..
and seat/chair/see (as in the Holy See).. very interesting.. a round robin collection.
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#42086
09/19/2001 2:21 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Related to this is the etymology of "steward" from stig = [pig]sty and wearden = watch, keep. A steward therefore was originally the guardian of the pigs.
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#42087
09/19/2001 2:33 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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#42088
09/19/2001 1:26 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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WORD HISTORY:
Hard-riding marshals of the Wild West in pursuit of criminals reemphasize the
relationship of the word marshal with horses. The Germanic ancestor of our
word marshal is a compound made up of *marhaz, horse (related to the
source of our word mare), and *skalkaz, servant, meaning as a whole
literally horse servant, hence groom. The Frankish descendant of this
Germanic word, *marahskalk, came to designate a high royal official and also
a high military commandernot surprising given the importance of the horse in
medieval warfare. Along with many other Frankish words, *marahskalk was
borrowed into Old French by about 800; some centuries later, when the
Normans established a French-speaking official class in England, the Old
French word came with them. In English, marshal is first recorded in 1218, as
a surname (still surviving in the spelling Marshall); its first appearance as a
common noun was in 1258, in the sense high officer of the royal court. The
word was also applied to this high royal official's deputies, who were officers
of courts of law, and it continued to designate various officials involved with
courts of law and law enforcement, including the horseback-riding marshals we
are familiar with in the United States.
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#42089
09/19/2001 1:43 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
I love it -- more bread etymology! Bakers unite! Dyslexics untie!
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#42090
09/19/2001 1:49 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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That's our roll in life, Alex. I sometimes think we have created a new social science on this board - I would like to christen it Eatermology 
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#42091
09/19/2001 2:01 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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#42092
09/19/2001 2:11 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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D'ough! now hunger has me in its pincers again, Bill 
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#42093
09/19/2001 3:21 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Man cannot live by bread alone, so et a mology.
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#42094
09/19/2001 3:37 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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no, Dr bill, not et a -- essa-- as in ess'a bagel.. (ny corruption of the yidish..eat a bagel..) but like colonnel, and coronel, (said kernal, no matter how its spelt) it should be essa' molgy!
PS. did you hear about the poor guy from (pick a county) who finally thought he had a grasp on english.. he finally figured out all the different words with gh, and could pronounce them all!
he was thrilled, untill he walked down Broadway, and saw Variety (movie/theater newspaper) headline -"Tempest pronounced Success!" at which point, he gave up, and never spoke english again!
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#42095
09/19/2001 3:38 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
I've mentioned this in the past, but one of my favorite etymologies is for a swahili word, kipalafuti. It means roundabout/rotary/traffic circle, depending where your English resides.
It comes from the time when much of East Africa was under British hegemony, and the road signs at rotaries said "Keep Left" (driving on the wrong side, ya know?). Swahili speakers are remarkable at their incorporation of English words, and Swahili words always end in a vowel, so with a little mucking about with the text of the sign, they arrived at kipalufuti.
While we're on the subject, another favorite is the swahili word for a common form of transit in East Africa - the pickup truck with metal poles and crossbars mounted on the back for passengers to hang on to as they stand in the bed of the truck. Such a truck is known as a "matatu," the Swahili for "three" - based on the idea that, whatever I might think in considering whether to board, there's always room for three more people.
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#42096
09/19/2001 3:47 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And, since the prefix ki- indicates language, kipalafuti would be the language spoken by the wapalafuti. A single individual would be mpalafuti. So, eventually wapalafuti would be motor vehicle drivers and an individual driver would be mpalafuti.
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#42097
09/19/2001 5:04 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544
addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
wapalafuti would be motor vehicle drivers and an individual driver would be mpalafuti.Would the poor souls only drive in circles? p.s. - looking up at my post on matatu - Swahili for "three" is tatu, so matatu is "three more" - kind of. For them what's interested, there's a cool Swahili-English dictionary at http://www.yale.edu/swahili/.
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#42098
09/19/2001 8:37 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Vocabulary note: forum, "the marketplace" or "the center of public life in a city or town" has come to mean any
public meeting place or medium for open discussion. The root of forum is FOR- meaning "door"; other words
from this root are: forest, foreign, foreclose, forfeit, and hors d'oeuvre (outside the chef's work). From forum
comes forensic, "pertaining to the lawcourts." For- is cognate to English door.
Vocabulary note: focus means "hearth" in Latin, as in the expression pro aris et focis, "for altars and hearths."
The English words focus and focal take their meaning from the centrality of the fireplace in the home. In the
Romance languages (the languages derived from the language of the Romans), the fire itself is still burning: feu
(French), fuego (Spanish), fuoco (Italian). Thus the English words curfew, fuel, foyer come from Latin through
French.
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#42099
09/19/2001 8:53 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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floccinaucinihilipilification
"The act of making something worthless" as in "I admired him for nothing so much as his floccinaucinihilipilification of
money."
Floccus "a tuft of wool" > floccose ("full of or containing tufts of wool") and flocculus ("a small tuft of wool") >
flocculent ("resembling a tuft of wool") and flocculate ("to gather into tufts of wool").
Nauci is related to nugae "trifles, trivial things" > nugacious, nugatory, nugilogue (trivial talk, small talk),
nugigerulous ("carrying toys"), but not nougat which comes from nux, nuc- "nut".
Nihil "nothing" > nil, null, nihilism, nihilist, nihility, annihilate.
Pilus "hair" > piliferous ("hirsute"), depilatory, plush, caterpillar ("hairy cat"), pileus ("cap") and by a connection
that remains obscure, possibly pillage.
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#42100
09/20/2001 12:44 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pilus = "hair" [examples follow]
also "pile", in the sense of the raised pile of a carpet.
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#42101
09/20/2001 12:49 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I love it -- more bread etymology!
Bethlehem:
In Hebrew, beit = house; lechem = bread
Arabic may well be similar.
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#42102
09/20/2001 12:55 AM
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Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Man cannot live by bread alone, so et a mology.You et 'em all? Oh gee! I'm on a roll. Someone stop me!  Surprised no one has mentioned the etymology of "bikini".
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#42103
09/20/2001 1:27 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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http://www.greatauk.com/wqetymology.htmlAt the above URL you can find etymology of "bikini" from name of atoll where atomic bomb was tested
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#42104
09/20/2001 1:57 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Your number 30 is open to some question, Dr. Bill. http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorj.htm and scroll down to jeep
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#42105
09/20/2001 3:28 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Long before the bikini became the style, I saw a babe with a strapless rubber bathing suit dive off a 17 foot diving board. When she hit the water close to me, the bra scooped up enough water to greatly dilate the suit, which was then left on the surface, where I was able to retrieve it. Was she upset. Though tempted, I did not hold it for ransom.
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#42106
09/20/2001 3:52 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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etymology of "bikini" from name of atoll where atomic bomb was tested
And why that atoll, at all?
Now Dr. Bill, don't reveal too much; let others have their fun!
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#42107
09/20/2001 3:56 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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a strapless rubber bathing suit ... was then left on the surface ... Though tempted, I did not hold it for ransom.
There once was a maid on the Corso
Who displayed rather much of her torso.
But I have to confess
No one cried out for less,
And some were in favor of morso.
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#42108
09/20/2001 5:04 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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She lost her Jantzen, but did not lose her furbelow.
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#42109
09/20/2001 8:17 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I was just browsing in Chaucer, and ran across this word:duszeyne . Reading it, it sounds like deuce- zehn - and it dawned on me it meant "dozen".
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#42110
09/21/2001 5:14 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Not etymology, but word history here... In my college Chaucer class, the professor pointed out that in The Cantebury Tales "to spew" as a slang term for vomiting has its first recorded use. Pretty funny considering that it's still popular today.
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#42111
09/21/2001 10:16 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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More Chaucer: And Emelye, hir yonge suster sheene,
And Emelye, her bright (beautiful) young sister,
"sheene" obviouly cognate with German "schöne"
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