Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Miscellany drivers
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Interesting observation. I have always wondered about English 'to drive' and its German counterparts treiben and fahren. Treiben and drive are cognates as are the less common English verb fare and fahren. There's also ride (and reiten). Like go (gehen) the various uses and meanings of these verbs is varied and irregular. Why do we, in American English, drive a car, but ride a bicycle / motorcycle / horse? In English, I can say I'm going to San Francisco and leave it up to the context whether I'm walking, driving, riding, flying, or going by public transportation. Drive has always, since Old English, had the extra meaning of to impel, and drive always reminds me, sooner or later, of Freud's sex drive (Geschlechtstrieb). There's also device drivers in computing terminology and a driver or driving wheels on locamotives. And what would golf be without drivers? Fare / fahren are related to the PIE *per / *por usually indicating forward; cf. Greek perao 'to drive right through', poros 'ford, ferry, means of passing a river', and Latin peritus 'skilled, practised, clever'.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted drivers wsieber 03/19/06 03:38 PM Re: drivers zmjezhd 03/19/06 05:09 PM Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. themilum 03/19/06 06:04 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. of troy 03/19/06 06:15 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. Faldage 03/19/06 08:23 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. belMarduk 03/19/06 08:33 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. themilum 03/19/06 08:58 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. Faldage 03/19/06 11:17 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. Zed 03/21/06 08:13 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. Alex Williams 03/21/06 08:31 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. Zed 03/21/06 11:47 PM Re: Quasi-scientific words that drive me crazy. of troy 03/22/06 01:44 AM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,331Members9,182 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 (), 854 guests, and 1 robot. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 15ddrinnan 1
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,542tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,916Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org