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Joined: Mar 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
at least one other word ending in “~begone”, but I can’t capture it
On my way in this morning I decided that to get it off my mind I should agree with myself that the word I was trying to recall was “begirt” – nothing like a “~begone” ending at all really – but still! I have only a concise Oxford here, but it tells me that begirt, although meaning encircle, does not share the “bego” root as its stem is the same as for girth, being mediæval English from Old Norse gjörth.
The above led to the following simple thoughts on etymology for my simple mind.
Successive waves of settlers from Europe arrived in the British Isles bringing their language with them. Their entry point dictated the spread of their culture and each wave pushed back the existing residents. The entry point for a culture was usually (but not always) that closest to its home country, so the language mix varied regionally leading to bilingualism at the population overlaps followed by the absorption of words and terms from one language into the other. Eventually the whole mess was seasoned with French which in its turn was bastardised and partially absorbed.
The end result of all this is a fascinatingly varied etymology and a number of different words popular in different regions that all mean more or less the same, some (like begirt) eventually falling out of common use and others (like woebegone) proving robust survivors.
This combining of tongues has been followed by a period of exploration, expansion and imperialism resulting in the spread of the language around the globe but with divergent evolution taking place.
Perhaps eventually we wont understand each again. What was that about two great countries separated by a common language - why stop at two?
dxb
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
It even easier.. Let yeast do the work of malting..
take grain, grind, ferment (ie, let yeast go to work) bake, and get bread.. bread gets stale, soak it in water, to make a kind of soup, soup ferments again, beer!
the honey and flavors could be added to the bread..
eventually some smart guy figures out how to bypass the bread making bit, and learns to malt.. i bet it was after so natural disaster, and the wife was saying 'the hell, you will! i keeping the good grain and the good bread for the kids!' and he went and found some almost ruined, wet, almost sprouted grain.. and beer as we know it was born..
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear of troy: When I searched, I found a site that supports your theory. Say earlliest record of beer making is 6000 years old: http://www.alabev.com/history.htm
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
NOt my theory, Dr bill, just a pargraph or two in the science section of the NYtimes, that caught my eye, and my fancy...
how much easier to understand, women finding huge fields of wheat, and then figuring out a way to trick the men into remaining there cultivating the crop.. What could they use to induce them? sex? well for a while, but then the women would get pregnant, and have kids.. no, a steady supply of wheat, to feed woman and growing children would be no great inducement to give up their rambling days.. but beer.. if women and there wheat, could be made into bread, and then beer... there was an eternal, unwavering attaction!
(12 oz of beer has same nutrictional value as 2 slices of bread.. about the same calories too. )
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear of troy: there were tribes and clans and domesticity long before beer was invented.
Just about all primates are gregarious.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
And according to what I've recently read, there are researchers who believe that language was by far more developed advanced long before the cave dwelling pictures.
And what was the motivation for talking? Give you one big guess. And if you cannot guess, consider why the birdies really sing.
I am in a bad mood today, by the way, so don't give me no grief. Give me a beer instead.
Beer regards,
WildWords
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
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Got a couple of cold ones in the fridge, WW, come on over.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
12 oz of beer has same nutritional value as 2 slices of bread.. about the same calories tooYeah, but you still want to eat the 2 slices of bread, preferably with cheese (and pickle) after drinking the beer. Why's that, then?  Sure I must have mentioned the theory that we could live off nothing but Guinness and tomato juice.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Sure I must have mentioned the theory that we could live off nothing but Guinness and tomato juice.why not, eh? since the Masai live off nothing but blood and milk and it don't seem to have done 'em any harm.... (think I am getting that right - or is it another African tribe that does that?) but give me Guinness and tommy juice over blood and milk any day o' the week - or better still, Guinness and milk....drunk separately, of course  Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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