|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
This is a repeat, but may interest newcomers:
Pen and Feather are varieties of the same word, the root being the Sanskrit pat, to fly. (We have the
Sanskrit pattra, a wing or instrument for flying; Latin, petna or, penna, pen; Greek, pteron; Teutonic,
phathra; Anglo-Saxon, fether; our “feather.”)
Analogous examples are TEAR and LARME, NAG and EQUUS, WIG and PERUKE, HEART and COEUR,
etc.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
From Brewer:
Prevarication The Latin word varico is to straddle, and prævanicor to go zigzag or crooked. The verb,
says Pliny, was first applied to men who ploughed crooked ridges, and afterwards to men who gave
crooked answers in the law courts, or deviated from the straight line of truth.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Not the way I learned it. From Brewer:
Prodigal Festus says the Romans called victims wholly consumed by fire prodigæ hostiæ (victims
prodigalised), and adds that those who waste their substance are therefore called prodigals. This derivation
can hardly be considered correct. Prodigal is pro-ago or prod-igo (to drive forth), and persons who had
spent all their patrimony were “driven forth” to be sold as slaves to their creditors.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Profane means literally before the temple (Latin, pro fanum). Those persons who came to the temple and
were not initiated were called profane by the Romans.
Profile (2 syl.) means shown by a thread. (Italian, profilo; Latin, filum, a thread.) A profile is an outline.
In sculpture or painting it means to give the contour or side-face.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
From Brewer:
Prussia means near Russia, the country bordering on Russia. In Neo-Latin, Borussia; in Slavonic,
Porussia; po in Slavonic signifying “near.”
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I never thought about derivation of word "quaint"
quaint
adj.
5ME cointe < OFr < L cognitus, known: see COGNITION6
1 orig., clever or skilled
2 [Now Rare] wrought with skill; ingenious
3 unusual or old-fashioned in a pleasing way
4 singular; unusual; curious
5 fanciful; whimsical
quaint$ly
adv.
quaint4ness
n.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Another surprise:
qualm
n.
5ME qualme < OE cwealm, death, disaster (akin to Ger qual, pain, Swed kvalm, nausea) < base of cwellan, to kill (see QUELL): all extant senses show melioration of the orig. meaning6
1 a sudden, brief feeling of sickness, faintness, or nausea
2 a sudden feeling of uneasiness or doubt; misgiving
3 a twinge of conscience; scruple
SYN.—qualm implies a painful feeling of uneasiness arising from a consciousness that one is or may be acting wrongly [he had qualms about having cheated on the test]; scruple implies doubt or hesitation arising from difficulty in deciding what is right, proper, just, etc. [to break a promise without scruple]; compunction implies a twinge of conscience for wrongdoing, now often for a slight offense [to have no compunctions about telling a white lie]; misgiving implies a disturbed state of mind resulting from a loss of confidence as to whether one is doing what is right [misgivings of conscience]
Now I shall have qualms about using the word.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Quarry Prey. This is a term in falconry. When a hawk struck the object of pursuit and clung to it, she was said to “bind;” but
when she flew off with it, she was said to “carry.” The “carry” or “quarry,” therefore, means the prey carried off by the hawk.
It is an error to derive this word from the Latin quaero (to seek).
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
From Brewer:
Rama-Yana The history of Rama, the best great epic poem of ancient India, and worthy to be
ranked with the Iliad of Homer.
I wonder if "Yama" is the source of suffix of so many modern coinages ending in "iana".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Regale (2 syl.). To entertain like a king. (Latin, regalis, like a king, kingly.)
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,651
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
158
guests, and
3
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
