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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I also recall an Irish legend of a young man whose patience is severely tried by an old crone. He passes the test, and the crone reveals herself as a beautiful goddess.Yes, there are many such stories which I am sure Of Troy will be able to recall in a trice. I think they are parables for men : look beyond the facade to the woman beneath. Never lose your gentlemanly demeanor regardless of her whims and your rewards -- well! And why, do you think, that Anu made a woman of Irish descent his High Priestess? Hmmmmm?  
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The only unforced diminutive of "man" I can think of is "mannikin", derived presumably from the French "mannequin". It is not very commonly used. It is also probably derogative, since it would describe a small man, a dwarf/"little person".
- Pfranz
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Etain comes to mind.. as i recall she is daughter to Rhiannon, who's earthy form is represented by the horse.
Rhiannon, is the protector of the O'Connor's, and i am of that house.
Rhiannon was a very powerful god, and to this day, celts, and even most anglo saxons, refrain from eating horse meat.
Rhiannon, of course was a mare, not a stallion-- all of the most powerful god were female, and gave birth.. giving birth is the most god like thing humans can do. it is a powerful act of creations, and it is entrusted to woman.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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mannikin...also spelled manikin, which makes the little man even more diminutive. And, in checking the spelling of "diminutive," I read the definition and found that it means sortof its own opposite (and I know tsuwm's got at least two terms for that kind of word): Main Entry: 2diminutive
Function: adjective
Date: 14th century
1 : indicating small size and sometimes the state or quality of being familiarly known, lovable, pitiable, or contemptible -- used of affixes (as -ette, -kin, -ling) and of words formed with them (as kitchenette, manikin, duckling), of clipped forms (as Jim), and of altered forms (as Peggy); compare AUGMENTATIVEhttp://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary...so diminutive can mean small with a state of being both lovable and contemptible. So my little manikin: Am him lovable or am him contemptible? But in the first sentence on this post, I used "diminutive" to mean the second definition: 2 : exceptionally or notably small : TINYEnough said about that, WW
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Homunculus. Lilliputian. Munchkin.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Abuelito is absolutely used and often. It is almost considered an insult or a lack of love to call your grandparents Abuelo and Abuela.
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old hand
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old hand
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the crone reveals herself as a beautiful goddess.I usually go around as a beautiful goddess all the time. I turn into the crone after....  not true really - honest! only when the bloke makes me do it....cf Cyril Connolly on what turns good women bad - thoughtless menLet us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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Dotterel or Dottrel. A doting old fool; an old man easily cajoled.
Old, but perhaps worth reviving.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
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<<abuelo, abuela>>
These Spanish words appear to derive from Arabic ("abu," for "father"). There are more examples of such words, but my heat-fatigued head can't come up with them. Presumably, these words were acquired by Spanish after the Moorish invasion. Anyone know more about it--or am I completely off track?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
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we have been doing word from arabic into english on an off now for a while.. sugar and its distant cousin crocodile, a slew of al (alcohol, algebra, albacore (as in tuna), safari, (coming into english from swahili, which has rich borrowings from arabic)
some came through spain, and others i suspect from the crusades... the 13th and 14th centuries were rich ones for the the muslums, and many words for ideas, and things came into english from them..
Anu did a theme of yiddish, but hebrew has also enriched language.. "the land of... arret(sp?) in hebrew, got read backwards (as might happen, since hebrew is read from right to left,) and gave latin and later english terra.. (earth)
in the colonial days, several sects started an effort to revive hebrew.. since they wanted a sacred language for scripture, and rejected latin. The Bowne family (currently most well known as Bowne printers, a major print house for financial papers (prospectus, annual reports, etc) has live in NY since the late 1640's. in there house in queens, (bowne house, on bown street) the pewter cups and plates are engraved in hebrew, with word of thanks. (thanking the lord for his bounty and grace.)
with hebrew being learned, i can't help but think other words have entered english, too.
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