tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12814699683338606262024-03-17T23:03:04.511-04:00Still WritingWords are weird.J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.comBlogger2244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-2612798780419297252024-03-14T04:00:00.046-04:002024-03-14T04:00:00.147-04:00Language Of Confusion: Acting!, Part IV<div style="text-align: left;">Continuing on our journey of
words descended from the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto
Indo European</a> root <i>ag-</i>, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ag-" target="_blank">to drive, draw out, or move</a>. These
ones have a G in them, but not ag-.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>First, we just did navigate, so
I’m not going to go into all the details again, but it showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/navigate" target="_blank">late sixteenth century</a>, about fifty years
after <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/navigation" target="_blank">navigation</a>. The navi- is
from nau-, the Proto Indo European word for <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*nau-" target="_blank">boat</a>,
and the rest is from ag-, to drive out or move. To navigate is to drive a boat.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Next, for something completely
different, is prodigy, which showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/prodigy" target="_blank">mid fifteenth century</a> meaning a portent, not meaning a person until the seventeenth century. It’s
from the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old
French</a> <i>prodige</i> and <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical
Latin</a> <i>prodigium</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=prodigium&op=translate" target="_blank">prodigy or portent</a>.
The pro- means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/pro-" target="_blank">forth or before</a>, and the -igium
is thought to be from <i>agere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agere&op=translate" target="_blank">to act</a>.
“To act before” makes sense for a portent, but it’s a little more confusing
when in reference to a person.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>And there’s ambiguity, which
showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/ambiguity" target="_blank">fifteenth century</a>,
while ambiguous showed up about <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/ambiguous" target="_blank">a century later</a>.
Both are from the Old French <i>ambiguite</i> and classical Latin <i>ambiguitatem</i>,
which is just <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=ambiguitatem&op=translate" target="_blank">ambiguity</a>,
from the verb <i>ambigere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=ambiguitatem&op=translate" target="_blank">to surround</a>.
Ambi- is from ambhi-, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ambhi-" target="_blank">around</a>, and the
rest is from agere, meaning ambiguous is to act around. Okay, this one’s
totally lost on me.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>If you want a word that doesn’t
even have an A in it, there’s cogent, which showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/cogent" target="_blank">mid seventeenth century</a> from the French <i>cogent</i>.
That’s from the classical Latin <i>cogentem</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=cogentem&op=translate" target="_blank">compelling</a>,
from the verb <i>cogere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=cogere&op=translate" target="_blank">to force</a> or literally to drive together. See, the com- means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/co-" target="_blank">together</a>, and the rest is from agere, which also means to drive. Driving something
together makes it cogent. Somehow.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Finally today, a very old word:
synagogue. It showed up in English in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/synagogue" target="_blank">late twelfth century</a>,
from the Old French <i>sinagoge</i>, <a href="http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin/Latin.html">Late Latin</a> <i>synagogal</i>,
and Greek <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CF%83%CF%85%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%89%CE%B3%CE%AE%20&op=translate" target="_blank">synagoge</a></i>.
The syn- is a prefix that actually means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/syn-" target="_blank">together</a>,
and the rest is from <i>agein</i>, to put in motion, from ag-. A synagogue is
to drive together, as in an assembly. It’s also not the Hebrew word for synagogue,
just the Greek loan-translation of the actual word used. And now it’s the
English word for a Jewish house of assembly.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University
of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language<br /></a><a href="http://www.orbilat.com/index.html">Orbis Latinus</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-29472102533415130242024-03-12T04:00:00.002-04:002024-03-12T04:00:00.146-04:00Helper<div style="text-align: left;">Bluey just appears when there’s a chance to be pesty.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil69WMT1DjeftdbugN-3xuI9SQSO4sQdE3VKYYox4c6mZWGDRxnprNggyM8tPcZLLM4wBF2YiJg0fEvBw_Xc6scRP1EsXGEvKM0NMUhWLAUCh7RD-ZYv_HBsOwuw_pFS94NpEAgY7kA9WlE6t9Q-2g4kxm4M40NptM7YgPzljVKD-pDW5bK71E6gECULaN/s1616/Helper.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Panel 1, I’m carrying laundry basket into the bedroom, panel 2, I’m bending down to take out the sheets in the laundry basket, Panel 3, I’m draping the sheet over the empty bed, Panel 4, a cat-shaped lump says “Mew?”, and I say, “Okay, where did you even come from?”" border="0" data-original-height="1356" data-original-width="1616" height="538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil69WMT1DjeftdbugN-3xuI9SQSO4sQdE3VKYYox4c6mZWGDRxnprNggyM8tPcZLLM4wBF2YiJg0fEvBw_Xc6scRP1EsXGEvKM0NMUhWLAUCh7RD-ZYv_HBsOwuw_pFS94NpEAgY7kA9WlE6t9Q-2g4kxm4M40NptM7YgPzljVKD-pDW5bK71E6gECULaN/w640-h538/Helper.png" width="640" /></a></div>She zooms in from the other side of the house just to get in
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-1337692689107621842024-03-07T04:00:00.034-05:002024-03-07T04:00:00.242-05:00Language Of Confusion: Acting!, Part III<div style="text-align: left;">Back to the continuing series of
words descended from the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto
Indo European</a> root <i>ag-</i>, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ag-" target="_blank">to drive, draw out, or move</a>. This week… well, they all have A in
them, but it’s going to get weird.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>First, ambassador. Yes, really.
It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/ambassador" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> from the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old
French</a> <i>embassator/ambassateor</i>, from the <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a> <i>ambactus</i>,
<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=ambactus&op=translate" target="_blank">a vassal</a>.
In a shocking twist, that word’s actually from the <a href="https://www.omniglot.com/language/celtic/index.php" target="_blank">Celtic</a> <i>ambiactos</i>, a messenger or servant, which is from the Proto Indo European
<i>ambhi-</i>, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ambhi-" target="_blank">around</a>, and ag-. An ambassador
is to move around. I guess the amba- is the around part, so does that mean the
ass- is actually from ag-???<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Similarly, there’s embassy. It
showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/embassy" target="_blank">late sixteenth century</a> actually meaning the position of an ambassador (remember, they also used to
spell that with an E), not meaning the place of an ambassador until the mid
eighteenth century. It has pretty much the same origin, just from the French <i>embassee</i>,
and ultimately the PIE <i>ambi-ag-to</i>, which like with ambassador, is ambhi-
+ ag-. So yeah, the ass- is the ag-.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Speaking of ass—I mean, kind of—there’s
assay, which showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/assay" target="_blank">fourteenth century</a> as a verb that meant to try and then a noun that meant test of quality. The
words come from the <a href="http://www.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/medieval_studies/french_of_england/index.asp">Anglo
French</a> <i>assai</i> and <a href="http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin/Latin.html">Late Latin</a> <i>exagium</i>,
a weighing. No, I don’t get it. Maybe it will make more sense when we look at
its cousin, essay. Yes, that essay. It showed up in the sixteenth century as a
noun meaning trial or attempt, and a century earlier as a verb meaning to test.
It’s from the French word <i>essai</i>, which means an <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=fr&tl=en&text=essai&op=translate" target="_blank">essay</a> or a test,
and it’s also from exagium. That’s from the classical Latin verb <i>exigere</i>,
to <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=exigere&op=translate" target="_blank">demand</a>, test, or drive out,
with the ex- meaning out [https://www.etymonline.com/word/ex-] and the rest
from <i>agere</i>, which we talked about last week and the week before as
meaning <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agere&op=translate" target="_blank">to act</a>.
An essay is… to act out. Why did it come to mean writing? Because much like
assaying involves unpolished materials, an essay is supposed to be unpolished
writing. Which means all those revisions to essays they made me do in high
school were incorrect for the format!<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Can we make it any weirder? I
think so. Axiom showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/axiom" target="_blank">late fifteenth century</a>,
from the French <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=fr&tl=en&text=axiome&op=translate" target="_blank">axiome</a></i>, and classical Latin <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=axioma&op=translate" target="_blank">axioma</a></i>.
That was actually taken from the Greek <i>axioma</i>, which could mean an
office, authority, or just an <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%B1%CE%BE%CE%AF%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%B1%20&op=translate" target="_blank">axiom</a>.
That’s from <i>axios</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%AC%CE%BE%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82%20&op=translate" target="_blank">worthy</a>,
from the Proto Indo European <i>ag-ty-o-</i>, weighty, and that ag- of course
is to drive. So it went from weighty, to worthy, to authority, to an axiom.
Sure.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University
of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language<br /></a><a href="http://www.fordham.edu/">Fordham
University<br /></a><a href="http://www.orbilat.com/index.html">Orbis Latinus</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-14888227329165460392024-03-05T04:00:00.003-05:002024-03-05T04:00:00.135-05:00March Goals<div style="text-align: left;">Okay, somehow it’s March? Already? How did this happen???
That’s just wrong…<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>February Goals<br />1. Finish my notes for the latest WIP. Most of them so far
are “word it better” and “actually describe this”.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Hey, I finished. Twelve hundred
notes. I need a drink.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>2. Start working on my editing notes. We’re at twelve hundred.
Hence why I said <i>start</i>.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">I was able to start, though my
progress was hindered by getting rather sick earlier in the month. Babies are cute,
but such germ-spreaders.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>3. Keep editing my web serial. Only about nine chapters left
in part two…<br /><span style="color: cyan;">At least this was easy enough. Five
chapters before the end!<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>And that was last month. Now for this month…<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>March Goals<br />1. Finish my editing for the new book. I think I’m down to
eight hundred notes left. Eep.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>2. Get the last chapters of the web serial ready to post.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>3. Work on something fun that isn’t editing. I definitely
need it.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>It’s March, and spring will be here in a few weeks. What do
you want to accomplish?</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-53962353780157359432024-02-29T04:00:00.055-05:002024-02-29T04:00:00.343-05:00Language Of Confusion: Acting!, Part II<div style="text-align: left;">Back to looking at words related
to act, which are all descended from the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto Indo European</a> root <i>ag-</i>,
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ag-" target="_blank">to drive, draw out, or move</a>. This week,
all the words start with ag-, too.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>First, agent showed up in the
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/agent" target="_blank">late fifteenth century</a>, initially
meaning one who acts, then a natural force that produces something in the mid
sixteenth century, and a deputy or representative at the end of the sixteenth
century (it didn’t mean a secret agent until 1916!). Agency showed up in the
mid sixteenth century, where it meant an active operation, then a mode of
producing effect, and then way later in 1861 it meant a place where business is
done. Both words are from the <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical
Latin</a> <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agentem&op=translate" target="_blank">agentem</a></i>, from the verb <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agere&op=translate" target="_blank">agere</a></i>, which we talked about last week as being the origin
word for act. It kind of seems like agent replaced what actor used to be. And then it came to
mean spy. There’s also agenda, which showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/agenda" target="_blank">mid seventeenth century</a>,
which is <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agenda&op=translate" target="_blank">directly taken</a> from a Latin word.
And it also is from agere, which is from ag-.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Next is less obvious. Agility
showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/agility" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a>,
a little before <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/agile" target="_blank">agile</a>. It’s from the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old French</a>
<i>agilité</i>, from the classical Latin <i>agilitatem</i>, which is just
<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agilitatem&op=translate" target="_blank">agility</a>,
which is from <i>agilis</i> (<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agilis&op=translate" target="_blank">agile</a>),
and that’s from agere. It does make sense that the word for movement would also
give us the word for nimble and quick.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Slightly less sensible is
agitate, which showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/agitate" target="_blank">mid sixteenth century</a>,
slightly after <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/agitation" target="_blank">agitation</a>. Both are
from the classical Latin <i>agitare</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agitare&op=translate" target="_blank">to drive (forward)</a>,
which is from agere, and since ag- does mean to drive, I guess I can see it. To
drive, to put in motion, to agitate.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>How about agony? It showed up in
the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/agony" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> from the
Old French <i>agonie/agoine</i>, and <a href="http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin/Latin.html">Late Latin</a> <i>agonia</i>.
That’s from the Greek <i>agonia</i>, which means <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%B1%20&op=translate" target="_blank">agony</a> or anguish,
from <i>agon</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%8E%CE%BD%20&op=translate" target="_blank">to struggle</a>,
to put in motion, which is from ag-. Kind of a journey, but I guess it makes
sense.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>And related to that is
antagonist, which showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/antagonist" target="_blank">late sixteenth century</a>,
a few decades after <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/antagonize" target="_blank">antagonize</a>.
It’s from the French <i>antagoniste</i> and Late Latin <i>antagonista</i>,
which is from the Greek <i>antagonistes</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AD%CF%82%20&op=translate" target="_blank">competitors</a>.
That’s from <i>antagonizesthai</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%0A%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%B3%CF%89%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%B6%CE%B5%CF%83%CE%B8%CE%B1%CE%B9%20&op=translate" target="_blank">to compete</a>,
where the anti means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/anti-" target="_blank">against</a> and the
rest is from agon. To antagonize is to struggle against. And yeah, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/protagonist" target="_blank">protagonist</a>
is from the same place. The only
difference is the prefix is from <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/proto-" target="_blank">proto</a>,
which is from the Proto Indo European root <i>per</i>-, which means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*per-" target="_blank">forward</a>.
A protagonist is driving the agony forward.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University
of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language<br /></a><a href="http://www.orbilat.com/index.html">Orbis Latinus</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-88469464712744370242024-02-27T04:00:00.004-05:002024-02-27T04:00:00.144-05:00The Only Reason<div style="text-align: left;">My mom didn’t ask, but she really doesn’t need to.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicGPV0lVM1QqQiGZaKJuqEOqhojvSdCj9BHpJTI3zPK00v-lSjUWCa9oke5We0SsMkH9pLnJVTTXxmMe5PK3Et3z8M-GRjbzUZn_IxWnRj-UCLSI0siP0LUS7TEHSQsh9msZA64Lr91kxwo3QQKTM950Sg0taiz7L2ykAHpjJ7zcmgjDOayI5FYccS6JLP/s1508/The%20Only%20Reason.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Panel 1, I’m on the phone with my mom and she says, “I signed us up to give blood on Monday!” Panel 2, I say, “Then they’re giving away Girl Scout Cookies again?” and she responds, “Of course. Why else would I do it?”" border="0" data-original-height="1508" data-original-width="716" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicGPV0lVM1QqQiGZaKJuqEOqhojvSdCj9BHpJTI3zPK00v-lSjUWCa9oke5We0SsMkH9pLnJVTTXxmMe5PK3Et3z8M-GRjbzUZn_IxWnRj-UCLSI0siP0LUS7TEHSQsh9msZA64Lr91kxwo3QQKTM950Sg0taiz7L2ykAHpjJ7zcmgjDOayI5FYccS6JLP/w304-h640/The%20Only%20Reason.png" width="304" /></a></div><br />It was quite crowded. Everyone really wants those cookies.</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-57668941943163076302024-02-22T04:00:00.069-05:002024-02-22T04:00:00.250-05:00Language Of Confusion: Acting!, Part I<div style="text-align: left;">This will be yet another simple
word with a far reaching etymology. Act showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/act" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> as a noun and a century later as
a verb, and back then it was just a synonym for to do, not meaning to perform
until the sixteenth century. It comes from the <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a> <i>actus</i>,
<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=actus&op=translate" target="_blank">act</a>,
from the verb <i>agere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=agere&op=translate" target="_blank">to act</a>, which is from the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto
Indo European</a> root <i>ag-</i>, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ag-" target="_blank">to drive</a>, draw out, or move.
And that of course is the root of so many other things. But today we’ll just
look at the act words.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Action for example showed up in
the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/action" target="_blank">mid fourteenth century</a> spelled <i>accioum</i>.
It’s from the <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/medieval_studies/french_of_england/index.asp"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Anglo French</span></a></span> <i>accioun</i>,
<a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old
French</a> <i>accion</i>, which is from the classical Latin <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=actionem&op=translate" target="_blank">actionem</a></i>, so yes, French changed the spelling, and eventually (in the fifteenth century)
English changed it back. Anyway, actionem is the noun version of agere, so no
big surprises here. Active is very similar, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/active" target="_blank">from the</a> Old French <i>actif</i> and Latin <i>activus</i>. Actor was, during the late
fourteenth century, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/actor" target="_blank">taken straight from</a> the Latin version of the word, actually meaning one who does something or an
overseer before firmly meaning a performer. Then there’s actual, another from
the early fourteenth century, meaning “pertaining to an action” before it meant
something that’s real. It’s from the Old French <i>actuel</i> and <a href="http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin/Latin.html">Late Latin</a> <i>actualis</i>,
which of course is from actus.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Next we’ll look at all the prefixed
versions of the word. Interact isn’t exactly rocket science, though it didn’t
show up until <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/interact" target="_blank">1805</a>. It’s just act
plus <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/inter-" target="_blank">inter-</a>, which means between,
among, or during. Interacting is acting between. Transact showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/transact" target="_blank">late sixteenth century</a>, while transaction
was actually <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/transaction" target="_blank">a century earlier</a>,
from the Old French <i>transaccion</i>, Late Latin <i>transactionem</i>, and
verb <i>transigere</i>. It’s a mix of the prefix <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/trans-" target="_blank">trans-</a>,
across or beyond, and agere, so to transact is to drive across. The not often
used intransigent is actually also from here, having shown up in <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/intransigent" target="_blank">1874</a> from the Spanish <i>los intransigentes</i>, those not coming to an agreement,
which is what they used to call the “extreme republicans of the 1870s” back in Spain.
Could also use that today, but I digress. That word is, back in Latin, a mix of
the in- prefix, meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/in-" target="_blank">not</a>, and
transigere. Intransigent is to not transact.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>There’s also counteract, which
showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/counteract" target="_blank">late seventeenth century</a> and is just <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/counter-" target="_blank">counter</a> and act. Exact
showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/exact" target="_blank">sixteenth century</a>,
from the Latin <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=exactus&op=translate" target="_blank">exactus</a></i> and its verb form <i>exigere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=exigere&op=translate" target="_blank">to demand</a>.
With ex- meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/ex-" target="_blank">out</a>, to exact is… to act
out? And that somehow went from to demand and became precise.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>And finally today is to redact.
It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/redact" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a>,
meaning to combine into unity. Yes, really. It didn’t start to mean to edit out
until 1851! It’s from the classical Latin <i>redactus</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=redactus&op=translate" target="_blank">reduced</a>,
from the verb <i>redigere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=redigere&op=translate" target="_blank">to redefine</a> or more literally to drive back. The red- prefix is from re- here, meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/re-" target="_blank">back or again</a>, so to redact is to… act again. I
guess they threw the D in their to make it distinct from react, which showed up
in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/react" target="_blank">mid seventeenth century</a> and was
from the French <i>réaction</i> and <a href="http://www.dmlbs.ox.ac.uk/web/latin-in-the-middle-ages.html#features">Medieval
Latin</a> <i>reactionem</i>, from the Latin <i>reagere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=reagere&op=translate" target="_blank">to react</a>.
So redact and react have been two separate words for a long time, despite being
made up of the same elements.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University
of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language<br /></a><a href="http://www.dmlbs.ox.ac.uk/web/latin-in-the-middle-ages.html">Dictionary
of Medieval Latin<br /></a><a href="http://www.fordham.edu/">Fordham
University<br /></a><a href="http://www.orbilat.com/index.html">Orbis Latinus</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-21875418575559823292024-02-20T04:00:00.031-05:002024-02-20T04:00:00.139-05:00From The Spamfiles<div style="text-align: left;">The one constant of the universe
is people trying to scam you.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3-uz-c0-pRfPAJjLJhYyJeG0SD6mBQ-IrJXljkme9lUF0Nm7h6-pHIfcLKFSpMv71SwbvxbRE5pOpaglKmPjO8c8XIbrXOhCaMoNeg9SZrXS-Vw_xR_wTaCaxSS6T9kVKQaqPIT8eHZ0X24YE-HdbH3-vIJpgvGxmBj5p0v1lQFQAupQbVGR0Z0vQl5WZ/s955/Spam%2025.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Message evidently from myself (with an R symbol after my name!) saying Re: your e-mail has been reported. Action Recommended" border="0" data-original-height="51" data-original-width="955" height="34" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3-uz-c0-pRfPAJjLJhYyJeG0SD6mBQ-IrJXljkme9lUF0Nm7h6-pHIfcLKFSpMv71SwbvxbRE5pOpaglKmPjO8c8XIbrXOhCaMoNeg9SZrXS-Vw_xR_wTaCaxSS6T9kVKQaqPIT8eHZ0X24YE-HdbH3-vIJpgvGxmBj5p0v1lQFQAupQbVGR0Z0vQl5WZ/w640-h34/Spam%2025.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Where to even begin. First of
all, apparently I’m sending this to myself? But what is with the Reserved
symbol after it? And I’ve been reported—to who??? Finally, anyone who uses “e-mail”
is not a real human being. Email. It’s called email.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9RFp1pp5f48C_Sfb3q9iALb3RmfyPQ3ajnFvF12_QfD0LuMeW2hWplV3aWZQXyZ4layQwwE8zLK16Fzoxu2ZKg2o48sDcQ01Cjrx5a1O_IoxHMZVk5RKrr1tltnRy4CyXQMkIOT8hK77J5Nw71jxxuJJVbdir8zuQp0UAr2iNF-7iUGP1zqmt_xJ9Aeo/s1057/Spam%2026.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Message that says Business Inquiry underscore Paid Guest Post, from MR Usman SEO, to a bunch of random names. The body of the message says “Today I visit the wall of your blog and see that the interface is beautifully decorated. I really enjoyed your recent blog post. I wanted to share my thought in your blog. I totally understand that there would be some editorial fee involved and I am ready to pay. Hope so you will like m suggestion and we will get benefited mutually and side by side this help us to rank our both businesses." border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="1057" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9RFp1pp5f48C_Sfb3q9iALb3RmfyPQ3ajnFvF12_QfD0LuMeW2hWplV3aWZQXyZ4layQwwE8zLK16Fzoxu2ZKg2o48sDcQ01Cjrx5a1O_IoxHMZVk5RKrr1tltnRy4CyXQMkIOT8hK77J5Nw71jxxuJJVbdir8zuQp0UAr2iNF-7iUGP1zqmt_xJ9Aeo/w640-h150/Spam%2026.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now isn’t this a fine mess of
words. Who pays to do a guest post on some rando’s blog? Well, clearly not a
real person because no actual person says “the interface is beautifully
decorated”.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha_KURFJoZ75G3PWARmnpzeHxj3Ojk7JMJpxmRxsv-7PbY116p1r5pwWOLD10sCQ0rVf1aaN2gMyfTnu6_sd24KwBU3Mn_ssQG-_1A2A2-CIOeRJW4nTmYO09fgq-h6KGT1crKXcnIUR0ouAXFlGL9c7TXvSd8uJyzjSJa_fVN-zlpRAo0J7peDv5ShPQu/s911/Spam%2027.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Another message from Blanca Saunders, this one saying, God is sending you a blessing (Genie Script), In the next 1-7 days, you will manifest a…" border="0" data-original-height="45" data-original-width="911" height="32" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha_KURFJoZ75G3PWARmnpzeHxj3Ojk7JMJpxmRxsv-7PbY116p1r5pwWOLD10sCQ0rVf1aaN2gMyfTnu6_sd24KwBU3Mn_ssQG-_1A2A2-CIOeRJW4nTmYO09fgq-h6KGT1crKXcnIUR0ouAXFlGL9c7TXvSd8uJyzjSJa_fVN-zlpRAo0J7peDv5ShPQu/w640-h32/Spam%2027.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Blanca is usually trying to get
me to sign up for some scam business opportunity, so it’s a surprise that she’s
sending me this weird “blessing”. Though obviously it is still a scam.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDKDgfkUoKqygVTWBwJyQYyATHxBqmf8ydtG12mlXyO_8rT2PVaVBoS1YwgafEdhfhkrOv6ljzEjQeBsRMtPm6NUAcDUAGMDC-gOUTwja8E0vLVacor3PUce1auzwMVd8MHroz14uXpU9FphRtV_D5Xy_zM4lGAJHLCuYV9wTM4PYnU0coxEpdbpLEGggS/s908/Spam%2028.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Message from Vanguard Home Warra. saying Get the best protection for your home this fall with Vanguard Home Warranty" border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="908" height="34" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDKDgfkUoKqygVTWBwJyQYyATHxBqmf8ydtG12mlXyO_8rT2PVaVBoS1YwgafEdhfhkrOv6ljzEjQeBsRMtPm6NUAcDUAGMDC-gOUTwja8E0vLVacor3PUce1auzwMVd8MHroz14uXpU9FphRtV_D5Xy_zM4lGAJHLCuYV9wTM4PYnU0coxEpdbpLEGggS/w640-h34/Spam%2028.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Isn’t that what home insurance
is for? What’s the purpose of a warranty? This one is just confusing. I mean,
obviously a scam. But still confusing.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ9Pu3ku-5-_DdBC2PL92C502RQic6pHp5lurk859T7n_un6bo-z9yWoba53FIC8qDwbLWKTpBO0iZdrtAC0P6_TIVrLH7apXndRSMQdXmzJmIJeB5e2bSQZohlkx1U5i69fjU8c9Iruy5_68J7loA8miHQ53dbbj-PdbfUDVj_9SganOjzV7CZP_OIGkm/s533/Spam%20Comment%202.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Blog comment from Krugers, saying Great read thank yyou" border="0" data-original-height="175" data-original-width="533" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ9Pu3ku-5-_DdBC2PL92C502RQic6pHp5lurk859T7n_un6bo-z9yWoba53FIC8qDwbLWKTpBO0iZdrtAC0P6_TIVrLH7apXndRSMQdXmzJmIJeB5e2bSQZohlkx1U5i69fjU8c9Iruy5_68J7loA8miHQ53dbbj-PdbfUDVj_9SganOjzV7CZP_OIGkm/w400-h131/Spam%20Comment%202.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">I’m not sure why the spammers like
to pick posts that are years old to leave their comments under, like I’m not
going to find that suspicious. Are there people out there who actually fall for
this sort of thing? Oh god, there are people out there who actually fall for
this sort of thing.</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-79166728989129162832024-02-15T04:00:00.040-05:002024-02-15T04:00:00.150-05:00Language Of Confusion: More Instrumental<div style="text-align: left;">Today I believe we’ll look at the
etymology of some woodwinds.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Flute<br />Flute showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/flute" target="_blank">early fourteenth century</a> from the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old French</a>
<i>flaut/flaute</i>, which is from the <a href="https://www.omniglot.com/writing/provencal.htm" target="_blank">Old Provençal</a> <i>flaut</i>, but before that is unknown. It might be from the <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a> <i>flare</i>,
which means <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=flare&op=translate" target="_blank">blowing</a>,
mixed with the Provençal <i>laut</i>, which means lute. Imagine it being a mix
of flare and laut. There’s no indication that’s what it is, but what if???</div><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Clarinet<br />This one’s actually kind of easy.
It showed up in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/saxhorn" target="_blank">1768</a> from the French <i>clarinette</i>,
which is from <i>clair</i>, which means <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=fr&tl=en&text=clair&op=translate" target="_blank">clear</a> and is from the classical Latin <i>clarus</i>, also <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=clarus&op=translate" target="_blank">clear</a>.
I guess it was called a clarinet because the sound was clear.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Saxophone<br />A sax is probably the most
modern instrument here, the word showing up in <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/saxophone" target="_blank">1851</a> from the French <i>saxophone</i>, where it was named for the Belgian who first
made it in 1840—<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antoine-Joseph-Sax" target="_blank">Antoine Joseph Sax</a>. Fun fact, he also created an instrument called the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/saxhorn" target="_blank">saxhorn</a>.
Apparently he just liked naming them after himself.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Oboe<br />This one showed up in <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/oboe" target="_blank">1724</a> from the Italian <i>oboe</i>, which is actually from the French <i>hautbois</i>…
which was pronounced something like oboe. That word is actually related to the
English (!) hautboy, another name for <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/hautboy" target="_blank">oboe</a>,
a mix of haught (<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/haught" target="_blank">high</a>) and <i>bois</i>,
which means <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=fr&tl=en&text=bois&op=translate" target="_blank">wood</a>.
An oboe is a high wood. And its name has been translated between English and
French a bunch of times.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Piccolo<br />Piccolo showed up in <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/piccolo" target="_blank">1830</a>,
while piccolo flute showed up in 1809. It’s from the French <i>piccolo</i> and
Italian <i>flauto piccolo</i>, which literally translates to <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=it&tl=en&text=piccolo&op=translate" target="_blank">small</a> <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=it&tl=en&text=flauto&op=translate" target="_blank">flute</a>.
Well, this one was straightforward.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.britannica.com/">Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-17215110319474077172024-02-13T04:00:00.003-05:002024-02-13T04:00:00.136-05:00Math<div style="text-align: left;">This has been bugging the crap out of me.<o:p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNXCkhi862whEB3RYvBXIJtInfp3PB0BD46Oh0AJTP819vZ6lvjj0kHibZrmYLlpR1Otkr-4aUAb37NCSk3lPl-fFh6D6uCUqnqvoL00vgJkcBLGrbqsVmEn5Flu-sfxCDeVA41wLvwCJUB3T1fvtAkdXzgAM8Qcgrghhv4OrJod-1VcbXX5FV2vL8xJKd/s1246/Math.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Panel 1, I’m carrying a box of frozen pizza, and I say, “Mmm, French bread pizza.” Panel 2, I’m looking at the box, and I say, “Huh, the nutritional information…” Panel 3, a close up of the box showing the calorie count, 380 for one pizza and 750 for the container, pizzas per container, 2, Panel 4, I’m squinting at the box as the math doesn’t add up" border="0" data-original-height="1246" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNXCkhi862whEB3RYvBXIJtInfp3PB0BD46Oh0AJTP819vZ6lvjj0kHibZrmYLlpR1Otkr-4aUAb37NCSk3lPl-fFh6D6uCUqnqvoL00vgJkcBLGrbqsVmEn5Flu-sfxCDeVA41wLvwCJUB3T1fvtAkdXzgAM8Qcgrghhv4OrJod-1VcbXX5FV2vL8xJKd/w616-h640/Math.png" width="616" /></a></div></o:p>Where do the extra ten calories go?</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-55594392324616162342024-02-08T04:00:00.040-05:002024-02-08T04:00:00.150-05:00 Language Of Confusion: -Solve/Solution, Redux<div style="text-align: left;">Solve showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/solve" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> as <i>solven</i>, and
back then it meant to dissipate or loosen. Then in medicine, it started to mean
dissolve a substance in a liquid, and then in the sixteenth century, it took on
the more figurative meaning of to clear up or to answer. Finally, it meant to
solve a math problem in 1737! Funny, right? Anyway, it comes from the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto Indo European</a> <i>se-lu</i>,
from the word <i>s(w)e-</i>, which was actually a third person reflexive
pronoun. And is also the origin of <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/idiom" target="_blank">idiom</a>. Basically, idiom came from the Greek <i>idios</i>, which came from the PIE <i>swed-yo</i>,
which, drop the S, and yeah, that tracks.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Then there’s solvent, which is
actually fairly recent, having shown up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/solvent" target="_blank">mid seventeenth century</a> meaning to pay what you owe, and then a little later something that can dissolve
something. Plus there’s solution, which showed up in the late fourteenth
century meaning both the dissolving of something and an explanation. It’s from
the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old
French</a> <i>solucion</i> and the <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a> <i>solutionem</i>
(<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=solutionem&op=translate" target="_blank">bet you can’t guess what that means</a>).
That’s from the verb <i>solvere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=solvere&op=translate" target="_blank">to solve</a> or to dissolve, and that’s from se-lu.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Next, let’s look at some
prefixed versions. Resolve showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/resolve" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a>,
also meaning to melt or dissolve, and pretty much the same is true for <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/resolution" target="_blank">resolution</a>. How did it get to mean what we
use it as? Well, first it meant to separate into components, and then to <i>mentally</i>
separate into components, which led to resolve. Both words come from the
classical Latin <i>resolvere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=resolvere&op=translate" target="_blank">to analyze</a> or to loosen, with the re- prefix meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/re-" target="_blank">back</a>.
To resolve is to solve back, which makes sense when you know that one of
resolve’s meanings in the fifteenth century was to condense into a vapor. Basically,
resolve meant dissolving something backwards.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Speaking of dissolve, it showed
up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/dissolve" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> meaning to break up, meaning this one actually kept its definition. It’s from
the classical Latin <i>dissolvere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=dissolvere&op=translate" target="_blank">to dissolve</a>, with dis- meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/dis-" target="_blank">apart</a> here. To
dissolve is to break apart. And the only one of the solve words to stick to its
original meaning through the centuries.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Finally today, absolve showed up
in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/absolve" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a> meaning release, from the classical Latin <i>absolvere</i>, to acquit or set
free. The ab- means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/ab-" target="_blank">off or away from</a>, and
with solvere meaning to loosen, absolving is loosening off, which sounds kind
of nonsensical but does go with setting free. Absolute showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/absolute" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a>, meaning free
from limitation, and from the Latin <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=absolutus&op=translate" target="_blank">absolutus</a></i>, a past participle of absolve. When you’re totally free, you’re absolute!<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University of
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J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-26115561591802432182024-02-06T04:00:00.014-05:002024-02-06T04:00:00.145-05:00February Goals<div style="text-align: left;">Great, an entire month is over already. I’m really getting
sick of this happening. What did I plan to do last month?<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>January Goals<br />1. Work on some old projects to
recharge enough to edit.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">I must
have recharged because I actually got to editing. It’s a miracle!<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>2. Update my etymology page
again. Remember when this didn’t used to be torture?<br /><span style="color: cyan;">I did
this, and as always, it made me miss old Blogger so much. It used to be so easy…<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>3. UGH! Jury Duty! Hopefully I
won’t get picked, because that would suck. And have I mentioned the bridge that
I have to take to the courthouse is partially closed?<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Yay! It’s
done! They haven’t paid me my twenty five bucks yet. Twenty five dollars… Yeah,
<i>that</i> makes giving up an entire day of my time worth it.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>What a month. I’m so tired. And now we have February…<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>February Goals<br />1. Finish my notes for the latest WIP. Most of said notes so far
are “word it better” and “actually describe this”.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>2. Start working on my editing notes. We’re at almost <strike>eight hundred</strike> <strike>one thousand</strike> twelve hundred for the final count. Hence why I said <i>start</i>.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>3. Keep editing my web serial. Only about nine chapters left
in part two…<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Ugh, goals. UGH, February. What do you want to accomplish
this month?</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-41261844118084809882024-02-01T04:00:00.040-05:002024-02-01T04:00:00.140-05:00Language Of Confusion: Tense, Part V<div style="text-align: left;"> <br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Here’s the last part of the
series looking at words related to tense—there are more, words that end in -tend,
but I did those fairly recently, so we won’t be looking at them. These words,
all from the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto Indo
European</a> root <i>ten-</i>, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ten-" target="_blank">to stretch</a>,
all end in -tain.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>First, abstain showed up in the
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/abstain" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a>, coming from
the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old
French</a> <i>abstiner/abstenir</i>. That’s from the <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a> <i>abstinere</i>,
which of course is just <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=abstinere&op=translate" target="_blank">to abstain</a>.
The ab- means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/ab-" target="_blank">of or away from</a>, and the
rest is from <i>tenere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tenere&op=translate" target="_blank">to hold</a>,
from ten-. Which I’ve probably mentioned during every one of these posts. Anyway,
to abstain is to hold down, which does kind of fit. Even the ten- to -tain
makes sense.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Contain showed up in the
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/contain" target="_blank">fourteenth century</a>, from the Old
French <i>contein</i> and its verb form <i>contenir</i>, to hold together. The
prefix is from <i>com</i>, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/con-" target="_blank">with or together</a>,
and the rest is tenere. Wow, that one makes even more sense.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Detain showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/detain" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a>, from the Old French
<i>detemir</i>, from the classical Latin <i>detinere</i>, which means <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=detinere&op=translate" target="_blank">to detain</a>, or more literally, to hold back. De- means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/de-" target="_blank">from or away</a>,
so to detain is to hold away. Yes, if you’re detaining something, you’re
holding it away.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Then we have retain, which
showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/retain" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> (funnily enough, a few decades after that, people started using it to mean hold
back or restrain, which was then dropped, while its original meaning is
basically what we use it as today). It’s from the Old French <i>retenir</i>,
from the classical Latin <i>retinere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=retinere&op=translate" target="_blank">to retain</a> or to hold back. The re- means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/re-" target="_blank">back</a> here,
so to retain is to hold back.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Finally, sustain. It showed up
in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/sustain" target="_blank">late thirteenth century</a> meaning to provide the necessities of life to,
then to give support to or to keep up, then in the legal sense in the fifteenth
century. It’s from the Old French <i>sostenir/sustenir</i>, and classical Latin
<i>sustinere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=sustinere&op=translate" target="_blank">to support</a> or hold up. The sus- is from sub-, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/sub-" target="_blank">below</a>,
so to sustain is to support something from below.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Look, sometimes you have things
like temple or thin, and other times they just follow a sensible logic. It
happens even in etymology.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University
of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-5896838028576466342024-01-30T04:00:00.010-05:002024-01-30T04:00:00.139-05:00 What Are The Odds?<div style="text-align: left;">In reality, it happened three
days after my jury duty finished, but still.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6tBF5F1Q6FysBHNkePc9pyhtWkOMzXFLbMxrkc8FMKTSRGHR1hrdQ4APtkvVX3PpWzJ5FcFwefIFLNhn9Gtk0jgYmvQcvMJpxhuNageri7A6miApzEWDbA7fgT7mT1aBdk2vf3S4jxBngYTLcsLzS3anTyAnv54HxCU-m5VMz7zYPlBBwD30WLE7nF5R/s1532/What%20Are%20The%20Odds.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Panel 1, I’m at my mom’s house handing over her keys, saying “Thanks for letting me use your car.” She says, “Sure. You have fun in all the traffic?” Panel 2, I say, “Hilarious. I brought in your mail. This card here seems… familiar.” She says, “What the hell does that mean?” And I say, “You have to register for jury duty.” She says, “Oh, I do not.” Panel 3, she’s looking at the card, Panel 4, she says, “Son of a…” And I say, “Have fun with the traffic.”" border="0" data-original-height="1532" data-original-width="1164" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6tBF5F1Q6FysBHNkePc9pyhtWkOMzXFLbMxrkc8FMKTSRGHR1hrdQ4APtkvVX3PpWzJ5FcFwefIFLNhn9Gtk0jgYmvQcvMJpxhuNageri7A6miApzEWDbA7fgT7mT1aBdk2vf3S4jxBngYTLcsLzS3anTyAnv54HxCU-m5VMz7zYPlBBwD30WLE7nF5R/w486-h640/What%20Are%20The%20Odds.png" width="486" /></a></div>She’s never had jury duty
before, so that makes this all the more hilarious.</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-78165242864346865642024-01-25T04:00:00.014-05:002024-01-25T04:00:00.135-05:00Language Of Confusion: Tense, Part IV<div style="text-align: left;">Still more words from the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto Indo European</a> root <i>ten-</i>,
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ten-" target="_blank">to stretch</a>. Appropriate, as these definitions are definitely a stretch.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The first word we’re looking at
today is hypotenuse, as in the leg of a triangle across from the right angle.
It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/hypotenuse" target="_blank">late sixteenth century</a> from the <a href="http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin/Latin.html">Late Latin</a>
<i>hypotenusa</i>, from the Greek <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%B7%CF%85%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%83%CE%B1%20&op=translate" target="_blank">hypoteinousa</a></i>.
That’s a mix of hypo-, which means
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/hypo-" target="_blank">under</a>, and <i>teinein</i>, to stretch, which is from the PIE ten-. A hypotenuse
stretches under—or across—from a right angle.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Next is the last word to
actually have ten in it: lieutenant. Really! It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/lieutenant" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> meaning one who
takes the place of another—it wasn’t a rank until a century later. It’s from
the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old
French</a> <i>lieu tenant</i>, which means substitute or deputy, with lieu
meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/lieu" target="_blank">place</a> (as in, in lieu of) and <i>tenant</i>
from the verb <i>tenir</i>, to hold, which is from ten-, to stretch. Now, the
rank notion is that a lieutenant is the one taking the place of the captain in
their absence, so the lieu part makes sense. It’s the ten part that’s weird. A
lieutenant stretches in the place of a captain?<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Also from ten- is temple—temple
like the side of your forehead, as a place of worship temple might not actually
be related. Forehead temple showed up in the mid fourteenth century from the
Old French <i>temple</i>, <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/633448/Vulgar-Latin">Vulgar
Latin</a> <i>tempula</i>, and <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical
Latin</a> <i>tempora</i>, meaning side of the forehead here. That’s from ten-, apparently
in the sense that the temple is a thin stretch of skin on the side of your
head. As for the other temple, that might be from ten- in the sense of one
stretching in front of an altar in worship. Or it may be from the Proto Indo
Eurpoean <i>temp-</i>, to cut, as in a place reserved (or cut out) for worship.
Either way, it makes little sense.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The next word makes sense when
you think about it: thin. It <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/thin" target="_blank">comes from</a> the <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.jebbo.co.uk/learn-oe/origins.htm"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Old English</span></a></span> <i>þynne</i>, <a href="https://en.glosbe.com/ang/en/%C3%BEynne" target="_blank">thin</a>,
and making it the first word we’ve looked at from Germanic origins instead of
Latin. Before English, it was the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/pgmc01.html#1_1">Proto
Germanic</a> <i>thunni</i>, which is from ten-, to stretch, because thin things
can be stretched out.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Finally today, rein, which doesn’t
even have a T in it. It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/rein" target="_blank">fourteenth century</a>,
from the Old French <i>rene/resne</i>, thought to be from the Vulgar Latin <i>retina</i>—<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/retina" target="_blank">no, not related to</a> the eyeball word, it
means bond or check here. That’s from the classical Latin <i>retinere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=retinere&op=translate" target="_blank">to retain</a>.
So rein is from retain, it just lost the T. And now you know what we’ll be
looking at next week.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University
of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language<br /></a>Tony Jebson’s page on the <a href="http://www.jebbo.co.uk/learn-oe/origins.htm">Origins of Old English<br /></a><a href="https://en.glosbe.com/ang/en/">Old English-English Dictionary<br /></a><a href="http://www.britannica.com/">Encyclopaedia Britannica<br /></a><a href="http://www.orbilat.com/index.html">Orbis Latinus</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-61864124925119486332024-01-23T04:00:00.030-05:002024-01-23T04:00:00.127-05:00From The Spamfiles<div style="text-align: left;">It’s been a while.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCURa_Vg3QFHgi52vLRTzfLPlCKh065yC5TN20OaoxODYSf1ffg08Ts1LGpyK9KLyp5Mg4Me8I45k3sUoM5DP-duIXff2DoVkgVBnNr1VsbFiTI-dWFTgJy4h1LNvZVJW-fOYdENNmRwwh0Qynd7wYejHp67InKeIdetGtZKcFhyu3onGZaa__91I65MQ/s713/Spam%2021.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Message from Walter, saying Top Notch Web Design Services At Affordable Prices.." border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="713" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCURa_Vg3QFHgi52vLRTzfLPlCKh065yC5TN20OaoxODYSf1ffg08Ts1LGpyK9KLyp5Mg4Me8I45k3sUoM5DP-duIXff2DoVkgVBnNr1VsbFiTI-dWFTgJy4h1LNvZVJW-fOYdENNmRwwh0Qynd7wYejHp67InKeIdetGtZKcFhyu3onGZaa__91I65MQ/w640-h44/Spam%2021.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Yeah, that’s what I want, a
cheap website full of malware designed by some guy named Walter.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBRviu6o7y78C6Ivnaepwr8rL6DRHhMyZ0SPsN1GpAKi0TvFHu2XvVXlRL6C_H2P1TmxwyqTEHkkLviykkQKOFNT4BKZ9SIVDhG6dkR00aT4R3vGetvxCdKz_AscZPVqrD90YTYVkQuL1RCC0eT7Fy5tS0_4O-JX738pmqhoGMrApKSQxDpjV5qu0RH4S/s961/Spam%2022.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Message From T-Mobile with a little circle R, saying did you receive your package? Please verify, YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO GET…" border="0" data-original-height="49" data-original-width="961" height="32" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBRviu6o7y78C6Ivnaepwr8rL6DRHhMyZ0SPsN1GpAKi0TvFHu2XvVXlRL6C_H2P1TmxwyqTEHkkLviykkQKOFNT4BKZ9SIVDhG6dkR00aT4R3vGetvxCdKz_AscZPVqrD90YTYVkQuL1RCC0eT7Fy5tS0_4O-JX738pmqhoGMrApKSQxDpjV5qu0RH4S/w640-h32/Spam%2022.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">I’ve been selected to receive the
package T-Mobile randomly ships out because companies do that stuff all the
time! The trademark sign is what makes it look legit.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KZOFYQNOQqhjGOUd1wO2UzE0x53Mp_y67ZccZmOqE1lhak7saA9KPJ0v6cugOQw-vXCevA3k6cyA2DfBZAzus8VwKhMPCAm-9TC2Gi6nEcb82NnO0ZXaPaKXp0g1XftkwjgEOhFHjOYMizVFwHxLrHKDtiz8DohPvLVle8fxtFhhV4ZjnjNSURIZcxqJ/s556/Spam%2023.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Message from Harbor */ Freight, saying Confirmation kdEut, Welcome 46754" border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="556" height="35" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KZOFYQNOQqhjGOUd1wO2UzE0x53Mp_y67ZccZmOqE1lhak7saA9KPJ0v6cugOQw-vXCevA3k6cyA2DfBZAzus8VwKhMPCAm-9TC2Gi6nEcb82NnO0ZXaPaKXp0g1XftkwjgEOhFHjOYMizVFwHxLrHKDtiz8DohPvLVle8fxtFhhV4ZjnjNSURIZcxqJ/w400-h35/Spam%2023.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">That welcome 43754 makes it feel
like a dystopian video game where you’re trapped by a rogue AI trying to kill
you and you have to make it through a series of increasingly elaborate traps.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh8_fAwPq8wZ6InByNG3xiv7z-x-DRMwB0XyLP6AjH5TFihztzpnk59MUvELL3j-5qLQNbZW_n1lisZwyjWEtrsipYNfh1oawbuJmNf3HAML7ClFZ6EzqxO5yUJun_8L2kXQq0IsVeTCnUAN774gRLDxlmvwdJBdWfZVMJylK1ewynash1u5U8C1Zl8iIs/s807/Spam%2024.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Message from Louis Martin saying Support for Morocco earthquake victims, a resource for, hello I hope this…" border="0" data-original-height="48" data-original-width="807" height="38" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh8_fAwPq8wZ6InByNG3xiv7z-x-DRMwB0XyLP6AjH5TFihztzpnk59MUvELL3j-5qLQNbZW_n1lisZwyjWEtrsipYNfh1oawbuJmNf3HAML7ClFZ6EzqxO5yUJun_8L2kXQq0IsVeTCnUAN774gRLDxlmvwdJBdWfZVMJylK1ewynash1u5U8C1Zl8iIs/w640-h38/Spam%2024.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is obviously several months
old. Remember when an earthquake was the worst thing the world was dealing
with? I miss that.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALNXuyuDR-u8ZwmXzX9_VXx0E_MKvJB9oTDfJFMzj18sHXeUBlKArA-2P9QpuQDvgfRAB7U_-vrjWeNuSl4u3hcYd4QqZD5o5cYXyq5lvd9lxrFpEv1zmQCguJv_cHdkPJuYCzQJ26LlU-BCXS3-l_0pq6T2FJzC1RUqchWC_Sa5gficKYt6wcqTGc2dr/s341/Spam%20Tumblr%20DM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A DM I received on Tumblr, full of emojis (mostly hearts) saying How are you, its Ivy I’m so naughty atm and I want you to chill together, then a totally suspicious link, and pls be quick I awaiting you right there" border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="341" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiALNXuyuDR-u8ZwmXzX9_VXx0E_MKvJB9oTDfJFMzj18sHXeUBlKArA-2P9QpuQDvgfRAB7U_-vrjWeNuSl4u3hcYd4QqZD5o5cYXyq5lvd9lxrFpEv1zmQCguJv_cHdkPJuYCzQJ26LlU-BCXS3-l_0pq6T2FJzC1RUqchWC_Sa5gficKYt6wcqTGc2dr/w320-h239/Spam%20Tumblr%20DM.png" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">A DM I received on Tumblr. No,
this isn’t a porn bot at all. (Eyeroll emoji)</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-44594664013128695732024-01-18T04:00:00.006-05:002024-01-18T04:00:00.131-05:00Language Of Confusion: Tense, Part III<div style="text-align: left;">Even more words descended from the
<a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto Indo European</a>
root <i>ten-</i>, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ten-" target="_blank">to stretch</a>. Today
these words… well, they’re quite a stretch.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Tone for example is not
something you’d think was related to tense. It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tone" target="_blank">mid fourteenth century</a> meaning a musical sound, then a
manner of speaking in the seventeenth century and shortly after the “firmness
of body”. It comes from the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old French</a>
<i>ton</i> and <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a>
<i>tonus</i>, just <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tonus&op=translate" target="_blank">tone</a>,
and before that the Greek <i>tonos</i>, also <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CF%84%CF%8C%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82%20&op=translate" target="_blank">tone</a> (and tuna fish, which is <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tuna" target="_blank">certainly related</a>).
And yeah, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tune" target="_blank">tune</a> is from the same place, literally called an “unexplained variant”
of tone. A tone is a sound, though, while a tune is a bunch of tones.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>There are also a few variants, like
baritone, which showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/baritone" target="_blank">seventeenth century</a> from the Italian <i>baritono</i>, from the Greek <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%8D%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82%20&op=translate" target="_blank">barytonos</a></i>.
<i>Barys</i> translates to heavy or <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%8D%CF%82%20&op=translate" target="_blank">deep</a>,
so with tonos, a baritone is a deep tone.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Then there’s tonic—yes, like a
potion or medicine. When it first showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tonic" target="_blank">mid seventeenth century</a>,
it actually meant relating to muscle tension, meaning it’s the first one of
these words to make sense as being related to tense. By the end of the century
it started to mean relating to healthy muscles, then in the mid eighteenth
century shifted to mean something that restores to health. It comes from the
Greek word <i>tonikos</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82%20&op=translate" target="_blank">tonic</a>,
which is from tone, which is from ten-. Still no explanation as to how a tone
relates to stretching, but there you go.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>There are a few variants on
that, too. Isotonic is relatively recent, having shown up in <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/isotonic" target="_blank">1776</a> (there’s actually a section of my grocery store labeled isotonics in spite of
Microsoft telling me that’s not a word). It’s also from Greek, <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82%20&op=translate" target="_blank">isotonos</a></i>,
with the prefix meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/iso-" target="_blank">equal or identical</a>.
An isotonic is an identical tone. Plus there’s catatonic, which showed up in
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/catatonic" target="_blank">1899</a> (catatonia having shown up in
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/catatonia" target="_blank">1888</a>). It’s from the Latin <i>catanoia</i>,
with the cata- prefix coming from the Greek kata, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%AC%20&op=translate" target="_blank">against</a>, and meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/cata-" target="_blank">down</a> in this case.
Catatonia is… to tone down???<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University
of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-2923498147266729642024-01-16T04:00:00.008-05:002024-01-16T04:00:00.132-05:00Bridge<div style="text-align: left;">True story that took place at
the beginning of December. You know, just in time for the end of year holidays.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70Hn_Uke36DyldiACirxXBwIpTl8W1SWUaCGMxgIwI6hwTslUz9MzFdcnP1cqRtAs254ZAoXOarlV5hCEPaFdCFqYhHR-Pc9xqpU2Bd6luShsEGutZDn21Af7m1cAqmBNEPZ34dt5HovxivwAtiUIYKClxRIy1pThc5NYSQpZbyX7DvNa46eUSL98JneY/s1404/Bridge.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Panel 1, I’m sitting on the couch when my phone buzzes, Panel 2, I’m looking at the phone and I say, “Huh? An emergency alert?” Panel 3, I keep reading, Panel 4, I say, “Hm, ‘Catastrophic Failure’ is not a phrase you want associated the state’s main bridge.”" border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="1404" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi70Hn_Uke36DyldiACirxXBwIpTl8W1SWUaCGMxgIwI6hwTslUz9MzFdcnP1cqRtAs254ZAoXOarlV5hCEPaFdCFqYhHR-Pc9xqpU2Bd6luShsEGutZDn21Af7m1cAqmBNEPZ34dt5HovxivwAtiUIYKClxRIy1pThc5NYSQpZbyX7DvNa46eUSL98JneY/w640-h498/Bridge.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />That’s really what it said. “At
risk of catastrophic failure”. Hope no one has to go anywhere for the next
three months. And they actually do fix it in that timeframe.</div>
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looking at words related to tense by way of the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto Indo European</a> root <i>ten-</i>,
<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ten-" target="_blank">to stretch</a>. A lot of these things do
stretch. But certainly not all of them.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The first word
we’re going to look at this week is tendril, which is a neat descriptive word that
literally means a “<a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/tendril" target="_blank">threadlike, leafless organ of climbing plants</a>”.
It’s a botany term that showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tendril" target="_blank">mid sixteenth century</a> from the French <i>tendrillon</i>, which means <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=fr&tl=en&text=tendrillon&op=translate" target="_blank">tendon</a>.
It’s from the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old French</a>
<i>tendre</i>, soft, the origin word for <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tender" target="_blank">tender</a>, which we looked at not too long ago. That’s from <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a>, either <i>tendere</i>,
<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tendere&op=translate" target="_blank">to tend to</a>,
or <i>tener</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tener&op=translate" target="_blank">soft</a>,
both of which come from the PIE ten-.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Next, tenuous
showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tenuous" target="_blank">late sixteenth century</a>.
It’s from the classical Latin <i>tenuis</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tenuis&op=translate" target="_blank">thin</a>,
and that’s from ten-. It actually used to literally mean thin before it shifted
into the figurative meaning in 1817, and… that’s really it. This one was very straightforward.
Unusual, isn’t it?<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Now it’s time to
get into the more WTF ones. Tenet, for example. It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tenet" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a> from the classical
Latin <i>tenet</i>, which means <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tenet&op=translate" target="_blank">(he) holds</a>.
That’s from <i>tenere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tenere&op=translate" target="_blank">to hold</a>,
which is from ten- even if it doesn’t quite make sense. The Etymology page says
the connection between stretch and hold is “cause to maintain”, and then it was
used in <a href="http://www.dmlbs.ox.ac.uk/web/latin-in-the-middle-ages.html#features">Medieval
Latin</a> in relation to doctrine, but I still don’t quite get it.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The word tenure
is actually from the same place. It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tenure" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a>,
from the <span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/medieval_studies/french_of_england/index.asp"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Anglo French</span></a></span>/Old French <i>tenure</i>,
Old French <i>tenir</i>, <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/633448/Vulgar-Latin">Vulgar
Latin</a> <i>tenire</i>, and finally also tenere, because a tenure is something
that’s held. Fun fact, it didn’t start being used as tenure of an office until
1957. Also from tenere is tenacity, which also showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tenacity" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a>, from the Old French <i>ténacité</i>
and classical Latin <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tenacitas&op=translate" target="_blank">tenacitas</a></i>, which is an offshoot of tenere. Well, tenacity is holding onto something and refusing
to let go.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Finally today is
tetanus—yes, the infection. It showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tetanus" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> from the classical Latin <i>tetanus</i>, which means… <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tetanus&op=translate" target="_blank">tetanus</a>.
It’s from the Greek <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CF%84%CE%AD%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%82%20&op=translate" target="_blank">tetanos</a></i>, which originally meant a muscle spasm. It’s from <i>teinein</i>, to stretch, because
of the spasms and stiffness of the muscles, and that word is of course from
ten-. Another one that weirdly makes sense.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.dictionary.com/%5d">Dictionary.com<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language<br /></a><a href="http://www.dmlbs.ox.ac.uk/web/latin-in-the-middle-ages.html">Dictionary
of Medieval Latin<br /></a><a href="http://www.britannica.com/">Encyclopaedia Britannica<br /></a><a href="http://www.fordham.edu/">Fordham University</a></div>
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2024? This is wrong. Worse, this is an election year! AAAAAAAAAA!<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>December Goals<br />1. Finish my WIP.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Yay, I did
this! It needs so much work before it’s readable by other humans, but the first
draft is done!<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>2. Keep editing and posting my web
serial.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Thankfully,
this was also easy.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>3. The holidays! Maybe they won’t be
bleak and full of despair!<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Meh, they
were kind of. The countdown to the new year was more of a death march.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>Ugh, January. UGH, 2024.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>January Goals<br />1. Work on some old projects to
recharge enough to edit.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>2. Update my etymology page again.
Remember when this didn’t used to be torture?<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>3. UGH! Jury Duty! Hopefully I won’t
get picked, because that would suck. And have I mentioned the bridge that I
have to take to the courthouse is partially closed?<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>This month is going to be hell from
number 3 alone. I’m not even sure I’ll have time to visit blogs today (or
yesterday for that matter, because that was when the jury duty started). This
year has started like a kick to the head. What do you want to accomplish this
month?</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-33059507309502143112024-01-04T04:00:00.035-05:002024-01-04T04:00:00.131-05:00Language Of Confusion: Feeling Tense, Part I<div style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;">As usual with
the start of the new year, it’s time to start a big multi-part series that
lasts for weeks! I can sense your excitement from here!<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>In this series,
we’re going to look at words related to tense, which I’ve already done but
could use redoing at my current standards. Tense is also related to words like
attend and tendon—which I’ve also already done, but only a few years ago, so we
won’t be looking at those. However there are still many, many more to busy
ourselves with.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>First, tense
showed up as a noun first in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/tense" target="_blank">early fourteenth century</a>,
referring to the grammatical sense, as in a tense of verb, which comes from the
<a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old
French</a> <i>tens</i>, time or occasion, which is from the <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a> <i>tempus</i>,
yes, as in <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tempus&op=translate" target="_blank">time</a>.
Tense as in stretched tight showed up in the mid seventeenth century, then
tense as a verb showed up just after that, both from the classical Latin <i>tensus</i>,
<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tensus&op=translate" target="_blank">tense</a>, and its verb form <i>tendere</i>. You might be thinking this is another
etymological coincidence, but nope, tempus and tensus are related, both coming
from the <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html">Proto Indo
European</a> root <i>ten-</i>, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ten-" target="_blank">to stretch</a>.
Because a stretch of time is something that can be measured, see?<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Intense showed
up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/intense" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a>,
meaning great or extreme, then in the seventeenth century meaning people who
are high-strung. It’s from the Old French <i>intense</i>, from the classical
Latin <i>intensus</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=intensus&op=translate" target="_blank">intense</a>.
That’s from the verb <i>intendere</i>, but taken very literally. The in- is
from en-, meaning <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*en" target="_blank">in or toward</a>, and the
rest is from tendere, to stretch. Also related are <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/intend" target="_blank">intend</a> (which we already looked at) and intent, which showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/intent" target="_blank">early thirteenth century</a> from the Old French
<i>entent/entente</i>, from the Latin <i>intentus</i>, which means <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=intentus&op=translate" target="_blank">intent</a> or, literally, stretching out.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Speaking of
words ending in -tent, content showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/content" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a>,
first meaning to be satisfied, with the definition of thing being contained (as
in the content of this blog) showing up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/content" target="_blank">early fifteenth century</a>.
The first content is from the Old French <i>contenter</i>, <a href="http://www.dmlbs.ox.ac.uk/web/latin-in-the-middle-ages.html#features">Medieval
Latin</a> <i>contentare</i>, and classical Latin <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=contentus&op=translate" target="_blank">contentus</a></i>, while the second content is from <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=contentum&op=translate" target="_blank">contentum</a></i>,
and both are from <i>continere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=continere&op=translate" target="_blank">to contain</a>.
The con- means <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/con-" target="_blank">with or together</a>, while
the rest is from <i>tenere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tenere&op=translate" target="_blank">to hold</a>,
another word from ten-.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Finally today we
have extensive, which is related to extend, a la intend, but doesn’t have a
-tense version. It showed up in the <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=tenere&op=translate" target="_blank">seventeenth century</a>,
first relating to immaterial things, then a century later also material things.
It’s from the <a href="http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin/Latin.html">Late
Latin</a> <i>extensivus</i>, from the classical Latin <i>extendere</i>, <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=extendere&op=translate" target="_blank">to extend</a>.
Fairly straightforward, though I still think it’s weird there’s no extense.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European
language<br /></a><a href="http://www.dmlbs.ox.ac.uk/web/latin-in-the-middle-ages.html">Dictionary
of Medieval Latin<br /></a><a href="http://www.orbilat.com/index.html">Orbis Latinus</a></div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-77658717662100134682024-01-02T04:00:00.005-05:002024-01-02T04:00:00.132-05:00Resolutions 2024<div style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;">Yeah I guess I’m doing this again.
It’s something that fills a post slot, even if I don’t actually follow through.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>1. Edit the book I wrote at the end
of last year. I already know it needs a ton of work.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>2. Edit the web serial to version 2
and post that.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>3. Work on being more out there and
pushing my stuff, even if it’s really, really hard.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>4. Write a new book, perhaps the
sequel to last year’s book.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>5. Find something new to post
online. I have several old stories that might work.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>6. Try not to melt into a puddle of
anxiety as the election looms. No big deal, it’s just between people with no
spine and those who want to see me dead. I hate this! I never envisioned my life this way, make it stop!<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>7. Try to keep better track of my
goals for this year (yeah, right).<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Ha ha, 2024 is going to be a
nightmare!!! What do you want for this year?</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-52261954461735495962023-12-28T04:00:00.007-05:002023-12-28T04:00:00.132-05:00More Stupidest Etymology<div style="text-align: left;">As usual for the last etymology
post of the year, I’m going to do something different. Once again I’m going to
look at the weirdest etymology I’ve gone over this past year, because there’s
been quite a bit of it.<br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /></span><a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/warp" target="_blank">Warp</a> means transport these days
because of astrophysics, and mostly Star Trek.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/nacelle" target="_blank">Nacelle</a>, defined as the cockpit of an
aircraft (or other similar structures) comes from the Latin word <i>navis</i>, ship,
for the stupidest reason possible. Navis then Late Latin made it a diminutive<i> navicella</i>, Vulgar Latin made
it a, <i>naucella</i>, then Old French made it nacele. It came to English
meaning a small boat, and then, in 1901, because a “gondola of an airship”
looked like a small boat, we started calling parts of metal things that fly in
the air a small ship.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/inward" target="_blank">Inward</a> and <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/outward" target="_blank">outward</a> are not related to award,
reward, or anything else with ward in it. The former two are in- or out- +
ward, which means toward and from <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/*wer-" target="_blank">wer-</a>, a PIE root that means turn or bend. The rest
are from a <i>different</i> PIE wer-, this one meaning perceive or watch out
for, and is the origin for guard and words ending in -gard.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/kaput" target="_blank">Kaput</a>. Just kaput. It definitely wins the stupid prize here.. It’s from
German, but it’s actually a misused form of the phrase <i>capot machem</i>,
which is a translation of the French phrase <i>faire capot</i>, which was used
to say you won all the tricks in an old card game. The phrase’s literal
translation is “to make a bonnet”. What the hell.</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-82530478892862029092023-12-26T04:00:00.002-05:002023-12-26T04:00:00.362-05:00Reflections 2023<div style="text-align: left;">What the absolute hell happened? This year was… not great.
In multiple ways. And very, very expensive. Companies are reporting record
profits, because cereal is eight dollars now. Face lotion is thirty. If you go
into Target, you can’t find someone to unlock the electronics you want to buy
because there are like three people working in the whole store. Life is an
endless nightmare, and we’re going into an election year. I want to crawl into
a hole now before they take away my healthcare and a single cereal bar costs
eighteen dollars.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>I’m not even sure I can stomach to look at what I was
supposed to do the last year.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Resolutions 2023<br />1. Keep looking for ways to
promote my web serial (I am so, so bad at this).<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Yeah, I’m
even worse at this than I thought. Marketing and promotion are really confusing.
I suppose I could create a hundred fake accounts and downvote a bunch of books
by POCs and only upvote mine, or has that been done?<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>2. Write the second part of that
web serial.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">At
least this was easy enough.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>3. Finish the new web serial
project I’ve been working on (less seriously, I don’t have much of a plan for
this one).<br /><span style="color: cyan;">This
too, as I do really, really enjoy writing.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>4. Write something else. Not
sure what. I’m just assuming this will happen at some point.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Hey, I
did this too, and have finished a book that I have been envisioning in some
form or other for something like twenty five years. It’s nothing like how I first
conceived it, but that’s probably a good thing.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>5. Find a new social media to be
active on since twitter is being slowly murdered. So far, Mastodon seems too
complicated and Hive too shaky. There’s Tumblr, of course, but it’s, well, <i>Tumblr</i>.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Bluesky!
It’s actually not terrible. I have some invite codes I have no idea what to do
with, if anyone’s interested.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>6. Work on losing some weight.
Probably not going to happen, but I can try.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Okay,
why the hell did I make this a goal? That was a stupid idea.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>7. Start reading some new books.
For the past few years, the only new things I’ve read have been graphic
novels/comics, so I’d like to get back to reading some word novels again.<br /><span style="color: cyan;">Hey, I
did this! And now I’m chewing my nails waiting for the last book in the series trying
to come out.<br /></span><o:p> <br /></o:p>Don’t let the relative completion fool you. 2023 was
terrible. Off to the hole.</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p>J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1281469968333860626.post-28866720282175786462023-12-21T04:00:00.043-05:002023-12-21T04:00:00.141-05:00Language Of Confusion: Instrumental<div style="text-align: left;">Yeah I’m totally out of ideas. Plus it’s almost the holiday, and I’m
tired.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Guitar<br />Guitar showed up as a word in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/guitar" target="_blank">mid seventeenth century</a>,
from the French <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=fr&tl=en&text=guitare&op=translate" target="_blank">guitare</a></i>.
That’s from the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/ofrol-0-X.html">Old French</a> <i>guiterre/guiterne</i>, from the <a href="http://omniglot.com/writing/latin2.htm">classical Latin</a> <i>cithara</i>,
<a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=cithara&op=translate" target="_blank">guitar</a>,
and Greek <i>kithara</i>, also <a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%BA%CE%B9%CE%B8%CE%AC%CF%81%CE%B1%20&op=translate" target="_blank">guitar</a>.
It was always a stringed musical instrument, though it used to be a triangular,
seven-stringed lyre-like instrument. There are several other instruments
descended from these words, including the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/gittern" target="_blank">gittern</a> and the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/zither" target="_blank">zither</a>, and kithara might be descended
from the word <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/sitar" target="_blank">sitar</a> as well. Though
this is etymology, so maybe not.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Lute<br />Lute is a much older word, having shown up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/lute" target="_blank">late thirteenth century</a> from the Old French <i>lut/leut</i>.
That’s from the <a href="https://www.omniglot.com/writing/provencal.htm" target="_blank">Old Provençal</a> <i>laut</i>,
a messed up form of the Arabic <i>al-‘ud</i>, their word for lute, which literally
translates into the wood.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Harp<br />Harp <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/harp" target="_blank">comes from</a> the <a href="http://www.jebbo.co.uk/learn-oe/origins.htm">Old English</a> <i>hearpe</i>,
which is also just a <a href="https://en.glosbe.com/ang/en/hearpe" target="_blank">harp</a>. That’s from
the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/pgmc01.html#1_1">Proto Germanic</a> <i>harpon</i>, a word of uncertain origin,
though it might be related to the <a href="http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin/Latin.html">Late Latin</a> <i>harpa</i>. Which, you know, would make sense, but again, etymology.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Lyre<br />Lyre showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/lyre" target="_blank">thirteenth century</a> from the Old French <i>lire</i>, classical Latin <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=la&tl=en&text=lyra&op=translate" target="_blank">lyra</a></i>, and Greek <i><a href="https://translate.google.com/?sl=el&tl=en&text=%CE%BB%CF%85%CF%81%CE%B1%20&op=translate" target="_blank">lyra</a></i>,
so there really hasn’t been much variation in a thousand years. The word’s
origin is unknown before that (though the instrument is supposedly from Egypt),
though it did give us the word lyric as a lyrical poem in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/lyric" target="_blank">late sixteenth century</a>.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Violin<br />Violin showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/violin" target="_blank">late sixteenth century</a> from the Italian <i>violino</i>, a diminutive of viola. Viola actually didn’t
show up in English until <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/viola" target="_blank">1797</a>, but it
was in Italian a lot earlier than that, coming from the Old Provençal <i>viola</i>,
and <a href="http://www.dmlbs.ox.ac.uk/web/latin-in-the-middle-ages.html#features">Medieval Latin</a> <i>vitula</i>, and that might actually be from
<a href="https://pantheon.org/articles/v/vitula.html" target="_blank">a Roman goddess</a>.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Fiddle<br />Finally today, fiddle showed up in the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/fiddle" target="_blank">late fourteenth century</a> (violin actually replaced it as the word for the instrument). It comes from the
Old English <a href="https://en.glosbe.com/ang/en/Fi%C3%B0ele" target="_blank"><i>fi</i><i>ð</i><i>ele</i></a>, which is somehow related
to the <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldnorse.htm">Old Norse</a> <i>fi</i><i>ðla</i>, though no one knows where that actually came
from. Who knows? Maybe someone called it that once as a joke and it stuck.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Sources<br /><a href="http://www.etymonline.com/">Online
Etymology Dictionary<br /></a><a href="https://translate.google.com/?hl=en">Google Translate<br /></a><a href="http://omniglot.com/index.htm">Omniglot<br /></a><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/">University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center<br /></a><a href="http://www.utsa.edu/">University of Texas at San Antonio</a>’s page on <a href="http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/default.htm%5d">Proto Indo European language<br /></a>Tony Jebson’s page on the <a href="http://www.jebbo.co.uk/learn-oe/origins.htm">Origins of Old English<br /></a><a href="https://en.glosbe.com/ang/en/">Old
English-English Dictionary<br /></a><a href="http://www.dmlbs.ox.ac.uk/web/latin-in-the-middle-ages.html">Dictionary of Medieval Latin<br /></a><a href="http://www.orbilat.com/index.html">Orbis
Latinus<br /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="https://pantheon.org/">Encyclopedia Mythica</a></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
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J E Oneilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09780097298061829471noreply@blogger.com3