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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 4
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 4 |
Hello
I'm a new subscriber. I teach English in NZ. Do you know where that is? (Just checking he he!)
My question:
do you think these words are related:
generation
gene etc
genocide
genetic
generator
Genesis
genital
??
Also, for people who read French: a very interesting book about "the love affair between the English & French languages" : Honni soit qui mal y pense.
Written by a very nice French lady, Henriette Walters.
Jeanette
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Welcome, Nettie! In reply to:
do you think these words are related
Yes. 
Best regards,
WW, who usually doesn't give smart-A answers to questions, but I couldn't resist this time!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome aBoard, Jeanette. I am delighted that another Zilder has joined us (no, I'm not one, but I sure have a high opinion of the ones I've come to know here)! I'd like to try reading that book some time, though I expect I've forgotten too much French to really take it in.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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Welcome nettie01. I found a good link on the Indo-European roots of words containing gen. http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE143.htmlThe entry itself doesn't copy and paste well, but here's the meat and potatoes of it: ENTRY:gen DEFINITION:Also gen-. To give birth, beget; with derivatives referring to aspects and results of procreation and to familial and tribal groups. Oldest form *gen 1-, becoming *gen 1- in centum languages. Reading about the etymology of words always makes me wonder about the early people that first came up with these sounds to denote things. Did they evolve from grunts and hoots, or was there some divine intervention? If those early people could see us now, would they be amazed at how some arbitrary choice for a word is still in use in some form today? Ah, but I ramble. It's late. Time for bed...
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Alex, you've never heard of the Ding Dong Theory and the Bow Wow Theory of language? As is obvious from the names, these related theories posit that many words (or nouns, at least) came into being from the sounds which things make. Of course, this doesn't account for hippopotamus  .
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Oct 2002
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
And a nonsequitur:
"Gen - Gen means information. If you have the gen then you know what is going on. "
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
Kia ora, Nettie, kei te pehea koe? It's lovely to have another person from the non-penal side of the Tasman join us. My presence here is somewhat illusory at present, so until I'm back for real, enjoy yourself, and stick around. Noho ora mai.
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Hi Nettie01 (there are more of you?). I, too, hail from Helengrad. Welcome to our somewhat battered sanctuary. What part of the country do you inhabit?
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Oct 2000
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Gen means informationIsn't that from " General Knowledge", Bill? In which case it would be a sequitur. Welcome to Godzone's fourth* island, nettie! (I knew we shouldn't have left those two together.  ) * I'm including Stewart Island, but discounting anything smaller.
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