Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5
#194148 11/18/10 03:30 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
OP Offline
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
From online article "Nighttime lights linked to depression"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40242387/ns/health-mental_health

"In people, loss of enjoyment is known as anhedonia and is a major symptom of depression."

From http://www.etymonline.com/, the 3 parts of "anhedonia" are Greek.
an- without
hedone pleasure
-ia to form an abstract feminine gender noun

They have the actual word at that site, but it doesn't break out the -ia.

Anyway, the article is intriguing, even if applying the results to humans seems a little premature.

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,916
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,916
Likes: 2

And our planet seen from space at night is well lit.
Curious thoughts result.


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #194153 11/18/10 07:06 PM
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
addict
Offline
addict
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
Uh why is the 'ia' bit added on the end?
Does that mean only those of the female persuasion can get it?


----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
bexter #194155 11/18/10 09:31 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
OP Offline
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
Originally Posted By: bexter

Does that mean only those of the female persuasion can get it?


I think the gender applies to the Greek grammar, not the English grammar. I don't think we have grammatical genders for English nouns.

I reckon "-ia" is common usage among sesquipedalians.
glossolalia (speaking in tongues)
anosmia (loss of sense of smell)
aphasia (loss of ability to speak)
coprophagia (eating feces)
dipsomania (alcoholism)
Utopia (nowhere)

Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
addict
Offline
addict
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
We do have a few I think?
-or on some words indicates masculine gender and -ress indicates feminine. And I think he/she/it are gendered personal pronouns...although not sure if that is on or off topic!


----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
OP Offline
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
I'm a little fuzzy on genders. I agree there are gendered pronouns in English. Not so sure with nouns. I've always inferred that the actual gender of the object isn't always indicative of the grammatical gender.

For example, the Latin word "hasta" (spear) is feminine, instead of neuter. The German word "Madchen" (maiden) is neuter, instead of feminine.

Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
addict
Offline
addict
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
The German word Mädchen ("girl") is treated grammatically as neuter because it was constructed as the diminutive of Magd (maidservant; archaic nowadays), and the diminutive suffix -chen conventionally places nouns in the "neuter" noun. But that I know is definately off topic!
I am also not so good with the english gendered words...we seem to have changed them all to neuter or gotten rid of the altogether.


----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
bexter #194165 11/19/10 01:01 PM
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
-or on some words indicates masculine gender and -ress indicates feminine.

The English suffixes for agentive nouns , -or and -ess come, via French, from Latin. They replaced the native (Old) English suffixes, the feminine of which was -ster (as in the names Baxter '(woman) baker' and Brewster '(woman) brewer'.

The abstract noun suffix -[i]ia
(from both Greek and Latin) is more like our -ness or -hood. The agentive noun suffixes mentioned as not really an example of gender in English. Except in the pronominal system, English has lost gender marked by inflection or class. In many languages related to English, such as Russian, German, Latin, and Greek, grammatical gender is still very much a living part of the grammar. All nouns and adjectives have gender, etc.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
I've always inferred that the actual gender of the object isn't always indicative of the grammatical gender.

This is true, and I've mentioned it here and elsewhere. Gender was originally a grammatical term that became a sort of euphemism for biological sex. There are some languages, famously of the bantu family in Africa, that have upwards of 13 genders (though today they tend to be called noun classes because of the word gender's newer meanings).

the Latin word "hasta" (spear) is feminine, instead of neuter.

Yes, but it is good to remember that not all nouns that end in -a in Latin are of the feminine grammatical gender. Latin agricola 'farmer', nauta 'sailor', and poeta are all grammatically masculine. And, not all nouns which end in -us are masculine: e.g., corpus, corpora, 'body' and opus, opera, are neuter and manus 'hand' and foetus 'fetus' are feminine. This leads to some funny attempts (by folks with little Latin and less Greek) to replicate plurals in English with words borrowed from Latin, e.g., *opii as the plural of opus, virii as the plural of virus, etc. The last mentioned is particularly funny as virus 'poison' seems to have been a non-count noun in Latin and had no plural form.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #194168 11/19/10 01:41 PM
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
addict
Offline
addict
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 677
Also the ever brilliant 'octopi' rather than the correct 'octopuses'. So would you say then that we have no gendered grammer or just neuter grammer if gendered at all?


----The next sentence is true. The previous sentence is false----
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,283
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 442 guests, and 3 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,510
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5