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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Aha. Missed it the first time 'round. You're right - it's not a possessive. It's a contraction. And it is indeed important here. Once again proving that being correct does not necessarily eliminate ambiguity.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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since both parfit and perfect have an 'r' in them I don't quite get your point there?
Sorry, I wasn't referring to the r in parfit, but where the c /k/ came from. It's not there in parfit, though it was in the earlier Latin perfectus, and that's why the letter was inserted, silently at first, and subsequently modifying the pronunciation. There are two ways words come into a language: either they are inherited from the earlier version of the language, or they are borrowed from a different language. In the former case, sound changes tend mostly to be regular, but in the latter, anything may happen, and often does.
I was in a hurry to miss the brunt of commuter traffic this morning, and was a bit abrupt in my posting.
To try to get a handle on what happened, we'd probably have to do the following: (1) see what any earlier researchers had disclosed; (2) track down the early citations to determine the actual MS spellings (and not the sometimes corrected spelling of diplomatic texts); (3) determine whether it only came in through one source (sometimes these words come in through several, unrelated borrows); and (4) compare the sound change with other, similar, and contemporary borrowings. That would be a beginning anyway.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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YOU might understand Chaucer easily.
By you, I meant not ThePook (nand me), but scholars and others who read Middle English authors regularly.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Funny thing and a small hang up of mine is that Middle English stands relatively so close to modern Dutch, with the addition of the French words that are in the M.E., that in spite of missing some words, I can fairly well follow the whole story.
Example: 2 sentences from the Knight's Tale
Middle English : Ther was a duc that highte theseus;
Modern Dutch : Er was een hertog die heette Theseus
Modern english: There was a duke whose name was Theseus:
Middle English: And eek hir yonge suster emelye.
Modern Dutch: En ook haar jonge zuster Emilie
Modern English: And, too, her younger sister, Emily.
The modern Dutch is a correct translation of the modern english.
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old hand
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old hand
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Is hertog the same as the name Hartog?
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Middle English : Ther was a duc that highte theseus;
Modern Dutch : Er was een hertog die heette Theseus
Modern english: There was a duke whose name was Theseus:
Middle English: And eek hir yonge suster emelye.
Modern Dutch: En ook haar jonge zuster Emilie
Modern English: And, too, her younger sister, Emily.
Wow, that's really cool--thanks for the effort! :-)
Once again proving that being correct does not necessarily eliminate ambiguity. Indeed. I was wondering where I'd gone wrong.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Is hertog the same as the name Hartog?Probably, as it's a Dutch name. Cf. German Herzog is the same as Dutch hertog, both of which mean literally 'army-leader': Heer 'army' and ziehen 'to draw, pull': German Zug 'train', English tug, tow, Latin dux, ducis, 'leader' (whence English duke): all from PIE * deuk- 'to lead' ( link).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Once again proving that being correct does not necessarily eliminate ambiguity. Indeed. I was wondering where I'd gone wrong.
Nobody said anything about you being wrong. I think my English learning includes now learning that English learners shouldn't try little jokes here because they will be dissected and dessicated in the process.
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old hand
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old hand
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Nobody said anything about you being wrong. I think my English learning includes now learning that English learners shouldn't try little jokes here because they will be dissected and dessicated in the process. We might dissect you but I don't think we'll bother drying you out for later consumption...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Is hertog the same as the name Hartog?Probably, as it's a Dutch name. Cf. German Herzog is the same as Dutch hertog, both of which mean literally 'army-leader': Heer 'army' and ziehen 'to draw, pull': German Zug 'train', English tug, tow, Latin dux, ducis, 'leader' (whence English duke): all from PIE * deuk- 'to lead' ( link). A whole legion of Hartog, Hertog, Hertogs, Den Hertog / Hertogh, and more spelling variations . Maybe when Napoleon Bonaparte forced the population to choose a family name other than "son of "or "daughter of" ( Jan Pieter's zoon Coen) some people chose to promote themselves to Duke, (Hertog) or Count (De Graaf) or King( De Koning). Others took this new law as a joke and came out with ridiculous names , such as "Naaktgeboren" (born nude)"Nooitgedacht"(never thought of) and more nonsensical stuff; still in use till this day.
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