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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread The Sword in the Stone? #194900 12/13/10 01:49 PM Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 1,526 Virginia, USA TheFallibleFiend OP veteran OP TheFallibleFiend veteran Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 1,526 Virginia, USA Funny thing. So for years I've been meaning to look up what certain math terms mean etymologically - and recently I've been doing this on occasion. It's just for fun and I'm not being systematic about it. Anyway, I was looking up the word "set" and it pointed to this Latin word "secta" and I thought, "Hey, that sounds like section," so I looked up section. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Soap-rock and while I never quite understand what these entries are telling me, section is somehow related to an OE word seax which means a short sword, but it looks like it derives from the Latin saxum which means stone. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: The Sword in the Stone? TheFallibleFiend #194901 12/13/10 02:05 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Makes sense to me. The PIE root means 'to cut' and the English seax became the thing doing the cutting and the Latin saxum the thing being cut (or, in this case, carved). Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: The Sword in the Stone? TheFallibleFiend #194902 12/13/10 02:49 PM Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 3,290 R'lyeh zmjezhd Carpal Tunnel zmjezhd Carpal Tunnel Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 3,290 R'lyeh and while I never quite understand what these entries are telling me, section is somehow related to an OE word seax which means a short sword, but it looks like it derives from the Latin saxum which means stone. Etymologies, especially the ones in dictionary entries, are greatly compressed histories of related words (and languages). The entry you were referring to (not to mantle Faldo's toes): Quote: 1550s, from M.Fr. section, from L. sectionem (nom. sectio) "a cutting, cutting off, division," from sectus, pp. of secare "to cut," from PIE base *sek- "cut" (cf. O.C.S. seko, sesti "to cut," secivo "ax, hatchet;" Lith. isekti "to engrave, carve;" Alb. sate "mattock;" O.S. segasna, O.E. sigðe "scythe;" O.E. secg "sword," seax "knife, short sword;" O.Ir. doescim "I cut;" L. saxum "rock, stone"). Posits a PIE root (base) *sek- 'to cut' from which are descended many cognate words in various daughter languages. Latin has two words: (1) seco, secare, sectus, 'to cut' (which has an abstract noun sectio from the past passive participle sectus and (2) a noun saxum meaning 'stone'. The noun saxum is not a descendant of seco, they are more like siblings or cousins, both of which descend from the PIE base. Same thing in Old English, except in that case, there are three nouns, i.e., sigðe 'scythe' secg 'sword' and seax 'knife, short sword'. The great thing about language is that you can take words or roots (bases) and by using affixes and other morphological processes derive whole families of semantically related words to use. Ceci n'est pas un seing. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: The Sword in the Stone? TheFallibleFiend #194947 12/14/10 03:50 AM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 No mantle taken, Nuncle. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,913 Posts229,328 Members9,182 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV 9,182 Registered Users Who's Online Now 0 members (), 703 guests, and 0 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 29 A C Bowden 15 ddrinnan 1 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 tsuwm 10,542 wofahulicodoc 10,539 LukeJavan8 9,916 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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