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Dear Faldage: TOWFI also nixes without wax. But the 'sinceros" or something like that they
postulate, surely was "sine" combined very early with a root that might have meant "crap"
or something, not necessarily wax. I just don't think it is possible to trace the etymology
back far enough. And the idea of concealing defects in a piece of marble makes a lot of
sense, even though it may not have been origin. Folk etymology seldom makes that much sense.
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Certainly the etymology of sincere doesn't rank with the correct pronunciation of nucular as a subject worthy of the concern of millions of conscientious word lovers.
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Certainly the etymology of sincere doesn't rank with the correct pronunciation of nucular as a subject worthy of the concern of millions of conscientious word lovers.
Are you being sincere about this, Faldie? If so, what, then, is the nuculous of your argument?
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Dubya said "nucular" what, six, eight times? He din't never said "I mean no wax when I say the we gone bomb the bahoovies outta Eye Rack."
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Dear Faldage: your AHD citation had an interesting word that has been mentioned before
a couple times, but never defined: hypocorism, hypocoristic
ypocoristic
adj.
< Gr hypokoristikos < hypokorizesthai, to call by endearing names < hypo3 (see HYPO3) + korizesthai, to pet < korc, girl < IE base *aer3, to grow > CEREAL6 of or being a pet name or a diminutive or term of endearment
hypocorism
n.
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Brewer:
Specie, Species means simply what is visible. As things are distinguished by their visible forms, it has
come to mean kind or class. As drugs and condiments at one time formed the most important articles of
merchandise, they were called species - still retained in the French épices, and English spices. Again, as
bank-notes represent money, money itself is called specie, the thing represented.
A word whose meaning has changed:
specie
n.
abl. of L species: used in E from occurrence in the phrase (paid) in specie6 coin, as distinguished from paper money; also, coin made of precious, as distinguished from base, metal
in specie
1 in kind
2 in coin
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Brewer:
Sporran (Gaelic). The heavy pouch worn in front of the philibeg of a Highlander's kilt.
I could find "philibeg" in many sites, but no clear definition. Some used it to mean "short kilt."
jmh, where are you when we need you?
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Brewer:
Stain A contraction of distam. (Latin, dis-tingere, to discolour.)
This was news to me. My dictionary calls it an aphetic.
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Brewer:
Stirrup (A). A rope to climb by. (Anglo-Saxon,. sti'g-ra'p, a climbing rope. The verb sti'g-an is to climb,
to mount.)
From what I have read, the stirrup is a surprisingly recent invention, without which knights could
never have used lance. It made cavalry far more effective.
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