http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/monthly-gleanings-april-2009/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Sat, 25 May 2013 23:50:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/monthly-gleanings-april-2009/#comment-152572 J P Maher Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:36:41 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=4306#comment-152572 Isn't Russian SOBAKA 'dog' from Iranian SPAKA 'bitch'? Dogs get metaphoric names. In German lands NERO is a favorite. Spanish PERRO is from the name PYRRHUS, a ruthless tyrant of Hellenic Sicily (not him of the Victory). Polish SMOK 'dragon' appears in German and Yiddish as name of a dangerous watchdog, then a nasty man and in Yiddish and Yinglish by totum pro parte - SCHMOCK and SHMUCK. If tyrants and watch dogs, why not bears? PETZ ~ BETZ is the nickname of the bear, BAER... Isn’t Russian SOBAKA ‘dog’ from Iranian SPAKA ‘bitch’? Dogs get metaphoric names. In German lands NERO is a favorite. Spanish PERRO is from the name PYRRHUS, a ruthless tyrant of Hellenic Sicily (not him of the Victory). Polish SMOK ‘dragon’ appears in German and Yiddish as name of a dangerous watchdog, then a nasty man and in Yiddish and Yinglish by totum pro parte – SCHMOCK and SHMUCK. If tyrants and watch dogs, why not bears? PETZ ~ BETZ is the nickname of the bear, BAER…

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/monthly-gleanings-april-2009/#comment-152571 J P Maher Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:08:55 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=4306#comment-152571 Anatoly Liberman and I are in agreement that the “foundry” etymology is junk or joke, in the vein of Jose Jimenez (born Szathmary): “I’m a Jungarian Hew”. Dictionaries outside Italy are not much help/ And in Italy the dictionaries have to be supplemented by gazetteers, Yahoo and Google maps, as well as figurative speech. GHETTO means, as also CHIASSO, noise, disorder, a slum (street, quarter), a whorehouse (literal & figurative), a racket (acoustic or criminal). See the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca (Vocabulary of the Academics of the Crusca, i.e winnowing). Translation mine): “BORGHETTO: dim[inutive] of BORGO = Lat[in] VICULUS ‘street’.” http://vocabolario.biblio.cribecu.sns.it Anatoly Liberman and I are in agreement that the “foundry” etymology is junk or joke, in the vein of Jose Jimenez (born Szathmary): “I’m a Jungarian Hew”. Dictionaries outside Italy are not much help/ And in Italy the dictionaries have to be supplemented by gazetteers, Yahoo and Google maps, as well as figurative speech. GHETTO means, as also CHIASSO, noise, disorder, a slum (street, quarter), a whorehouse (literal & figurative), a racket (acoustic or criminal). See the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca (Vocabulary of the Academics of the Crusca, i.e winnowing). Translation mine): “BORGHETTO: dim[inutive] of BORGO = Lat[in] VICULUS ‘street’.”
http://vocabolario.biblio.cribecu.sns.it

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/monthly-gleanings-april-2009/#comment-150436 Cape Wolstenholme » Prunus Tue, 05 May 2009 10:59:46 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=4306#comment-150436 [...] Monthly Gleanings: April 2009 : OUPblog [...] [...] Monthly Gleanings: April 2009 : OUPblog [...]

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/monthly-gleanings-april-2009/#comment-150400 B.G.Sanford Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:14:07 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=4306#comment-150400 Than you for your informative article. Being a romance writer, I deal in words so to speak. I suppose, before I leave this academic site, I should mention my new book, if you will permit me. "Beth:Love Along The Way...by B.G.Sanford is the story of one woman who overcomes all odds and two ugly divorces to find real Love.....Along The Way," and just released by Eloquent Books. It's an amazing and entertaining story and study in relationships, and if you're so inclined, you can order it off the internet or have your favorite bookstore order it for you. Good reading friends, B.G.Sanford http://www.eloquentbooks.com/BethLoveAlongTheWay.html Than you for your informative article. Being a romance writer, I deal in words so to speak. I suppose, before I leave this academic site, I should mention my new book, if you will permit me. “Beth:Love Along The Way…by B.G.Sanford is the story of one woman who overcomes all odds and two ugly divorces to find real Love…..Along The Way,” and just released by Eloquent Books. It’s an amazing and entertaining story and study in relationships, and if you’re so inclined, you can order it off the internet or have your favorite bookstore order it for you.
Good reading friends,
B.G.Sanford
http://www.eloquentbooks.com/BethLoveAlongTheWay.html

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2009/04/monthly-gleanings-april-2009/#comment-150392 John Cowan Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:51:02 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=4306#comment-150392 When referring to an unknown or unspecified individual, or referring distributively (rather than collectively) to the unknown members of a class, <i>they</i> is a grammatical and appropriate pronoun. This is a rule of English "grammatical number". It is no more inelegant, silly, or self-stultifying than the French rule which requires that if we speak of <i>la personne qui a écrit sur le mur</i>, any future referring pronouns must be <i>elle</i>, even if the wall in question is in a men's room. And it has been the rule since at least the 19th century, as comments to your earlier posts have firmly established. When referring to an unknown or unspecified individual, or referring distributively (rather than collectively) to the unknown members of a class, they is a grammatical and appropriate pronoun. This is a rule of English “grammatical number”. It is no more inelegant, silly, or self-stultifying than the French rule which requires that if we speak of la personne qui a écrit sur le mur, any future referring pronouns must be elle, even if the wall in question is in a men’s room. And it has been the rule since at least the 19th century, as comments to your earlier posts have firmly established.

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