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#181766 01/16/09 07:22 AM
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A
adLib Offline OP
stranger
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A
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Does anyone know how you get from:

nubilous
to
nubile?

They look like they should be related, but the meanings are very dissimilar.

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Z
Zed Offline
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Z
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Hi adLib
Any list of "from which we also get" contains at least one that throws me off completely.

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Carpal Tunnel
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Originally Posted By: adLib
Does anyone know how you get from:

nubilous
to
nubile?

They look like they should be related, but the meanings are very dissimilar.


Only way I know is to go back a few entries in the OED. They don't seem to be related. Maybe Nuncle z knows something about it. AHD doesn't have nubilous and only takes nubile back to the Latin verb nubere, 'to marry'. OED takes nubilous back to the Latin noun nubes, 'clouds'.

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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Long story short, no, they are not related. Latin nebula 'cloud', nubes 'cloud', (related to German Nebel 'fog' and the source of English nebulous) < PIE *nebhes (A-H and IEW), and Latin nubilis 'of marriagible age', nubo 'marry', < PIE *sneubh- (IEW).


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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adLib Offline OP
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A
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Thanks everyone! Good to know all that.

(That was my first post, btw, so it was great to be welcomed with some juicy word info.)

Cheers!

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Carpal Tunnel
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Hello adLib
and be welcome here.


----please, draw me a sheep----

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