Comments on: Can I Borrow a Cup of Déjà Vu?

By: Mike O

Mike O — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:33:12 +0000

We’re just back from England, and jokes about my son’s misguided attempts at correctly pronouncing ‘Waterloo’ which sounded more like ‘Port-a-loo’. You think ‘dog’ has an obscure etymology, you should try researching ‘loo’!

By: St. Frank

St. Frank — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:20:27 +0000

Thanks Alan…this looks great. Goodbye next couple of hours!(It’s OK, I took the day off)

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:33:27 +0000

You’re right that “dog”, for such a basic word, has a famously obscure etymology. Usually a word so common will leave an etymological “trail” which linguists can follow, and the one for “dog”
(which follows neither the “hound”-like words of the Germanic family, Gaelic’s “cu” or French “chien”) is not clear. You can check out a bunch of linguists discussing the topic here if you’re so inclined:

http://qi.com/talk/viewtopic.php?start=0&t=4586

By: St. Frank

St. Frank — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:21:51 +0000

Does anyone know where “dog” comes from? I know it’s probably not a borrowed word, but I remember reading somewhere that the background on that word is shady.
Speaking of etymology, I just learned the other day that the English word “anger” comes from the ancient Zoroastrian destructive spirit Angra Mainyu…Happy belated Norooz!

By: Carl

Carl — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:55:57 +0000

Wonderful as always, but let’s not forget the influence of Old Norse. Long before the natives of Old Albion were conquered by the French, they were being subjugated by Viking masters, primarily in the northern and eastern parts of England 800-1000 AD. A great number of English words were imported from Old Norse at that time, e.g., berserk (bare shirt or possibly bear shirt=frenzied warrior), bylaw (village law), cast (kasta), egg (egg), husband (husbond, master of the house), knife (knifr), mire (myr, bog as in “no time to wallow in the mire) and, to tie it all together with the Norman conquest: the words Norman and Normandy, from Old Norse through Old French, meaning “northman”, due to Viking settlement in Normandy region. So I think it would be fair to say that also the French influence on English is indirectly attributable to the Vikings. More mead (from O.N. mjöd), anyone?

By: Hal

Hal — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:20:41 +0000

I showed this blog to a freiend of mine who is Hungarian. He asked where is goulash and paprika?

By: Bob G

Bob G — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:00:40 +0000

Awkward when you don’t know which set of pronunciation rules to use. Funny story…

(Background: At many Catholic Masses, there’s a Mass intention, whereby a Mass is offered on behalf of a particular person. Usually deceased, and usually, **the deceased’s family makes a special effort to attend that day.**)

I was the cantor at our parish church. One of my responsibilities is to read the intention at the beginning of the Mass. Later, the lector says that name again. Finally, the priest says the name.

Five minutes before mass, I look at the intention. It’s for “Guy Moreau.” (Last name chosen at random, because I can’t remember it, but it *was* French.) Great. I run back to the vestry, where the lector and priest are preparing, and ask them…

“Do either of you know Guy Moreau, or his family?”
“No, why, isn’t the mass intention for him today?”
“Right. Is it Guh-eye, or Ghee?”
Confusion, silence, then looks of horror…

We decided to use Guh-eye.

By: Ned

Ned — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:39:19 +0000

I am reminded of the words of Pigglius Caesar: “eni-vay, idi-vay, ici-vay.”

By: Jay

Jay — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:25:12 +0000

Bruce, I tried to think about your question … but I drank too many kamikazes last night and got blitzed, so I hit the hammock and took a siesta. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be a little more gung ho.

OK, that last one was Chinese, but that was as close as I could get.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:01:19 +0000

So my question is somewhat bellicose. When it comes to war, historically, are more words “borrowed” by the victors from cultures/languages on the losing side of a war – or vice-versa? I can think of many instance where Americans English has borrowed Japanese, German, Native American and Spanish words. But where’s the Vietnamese?