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by M. Henri Day
Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:06 am
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: AWRY
Replies: 5
Views: 10883

... and may only be used in predicate position as adjectives
Ah, Dr Goodword, as adverbs as well :
...
With this regard their currents turn awry,
and lose the name of action ...
Henri
by M. Henri Day
Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:59 am
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: IMPRIMATUR
Replies: 3
Views: 8381

Does anyone know just when during the 17th century the word «imprimatur» began to be employed for this purpose in the printing of books ? I ask because I happen to be re-reading Galileo Galilei's Dialogo sopra i duei massimi sistemi del mondo, tolemaico e copernicano , published in Firenze in 1632, ...
by M. Henri Day
Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:15 am
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: SEMPITERNAL
Replies: 27
Views: 41629

... At the conclusion of the third time this word was the last word in the rendition: "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem, sepiternam". (Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, -give him/her rest, eternally".) Not that, possessing neither the requisite co...
by M. Henri Day
Sun Feb 21, 2010 8:58 am
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: GRUNTLE
Replies: 4
Views: 9819

... assuming that disgruntle is an orphan negative (a negative without a corresponding positive antonym, like inept)
Dr Goodword, may I submit that «inept», does indeed have a corresponding positive antonym, viz, «apt» ?...

Henri
by M. Henri Day
Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:35 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: FLUCTUATE
Replies: 7
Views: 18379

I should certainly like to hear that particular Texas accent - it would put Mr Bush and his «noocular» right in the shade !... Henri PS : Flam , the Surgeon General - and a lot of other people besides - say that smoking cigarettes is bad for your health ! Can't you consider taking up a different hob...
by M. Henri Day
Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:25 pm
Forum: Etymology
Topic: Q-tip
Replies: 17
Views: 44239

After reading on your «different place», Flam, that most of its readers will have guessed that «Tsemer Pladah» refers to steel wool, I came to the reluctant conclusion that I lacked the requisite intellectual qualifications, and crossed it off my list. So can it go !...

Henri
by M. Henri Day
Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:17 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Der Untergang des Abendlandes
Replies: 30
Views: 65974

... the difference between two contemporary systems -- the public school system in my suburban county (and other suburban counties) versus the public school system in Baltimore City, the latter of which seems to have the need to dumb down the definitions of noun and verb for all middle school stude...
by M. Henri Day
Sun Jan 15, 2006 2:09 pm
Forum: Good Word Suggestions
Topic: Analects
Replies: 9
Views: 18195

... because he [Richard Milhous Nixon] had proved on many occasions that he could scrut anyone.
With the sole exception, perhaps, of a certain Mr Felt....

Henri
by M. Henri Day
Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:43 am
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: FLUCTUATE
Replies: 7
Views: 18379

I'll take the queen at night, Larry, and leave the four to you....

Henri
by M. Henri Day
Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:01 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: VOGUE
Replies: 6
Views: 14616

The impression I get from the entry in Diccionario de la lengua española is that this particular usage is a late import from the French, the pronunciation and orthography of which was affected by a similarity with an earlier import from Latin. The b/v mix up in Spanish might possibly have facilitate...
by M. Henri Day
Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:40 pm
Forum: Etymology
Topic: Q-tip
Replies: 17
Views: 44239

Cotton in that language [Hebrew], by the way, is named periphrastically; tsemer gefen (vine wool).
Flam, do you know if the Hebrew term is ancient, or whether it is a modern construction, influenced, perhaps, by words like German «Baumwolle» ?...

Henri
by M. Henri Day
Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:29 pm
Forum: Good Word Suggestions
Topic: Analects
Replies: 9
Views: 18195

And I, presumably, in providing the definition, scrutable ? OK then, but smile when you say it !...

Henri
by M. Henri Day
Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:24 pm
Forum: Good Word Suggestions
Topic: Mirific(al)
Replies: 7
Views: 14631

Always had problems with those pesky fractions, Larry ! Imagine that those Greeks considered them to be rational numbers !...

Henri
by M. Henri Day
Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:21 pm
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: VAGITUS
Replies: 5
Views: 13070

The impression I get from reading the material to which you kindly provide a link, BD , is that there exists some evidence for Latin « virus » as both a 2nd and a 4th declension noun, but that - as I had understood previously - there is no evidence for plural forms. Interesting also to note a tenden...
by M. Henri Day
Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:05 pm
Forum: Idioms
Topic: TH substitution: S or T?
Replies: 41
Views: 140952

... Just as a Norwegian chooses [t] and [d], when they would have a choice of their native [s] and [z]? ... Not quite. Sibilants are unvoiced in modern Scandinavian languages (with the possible exception of Icelandic, or Farœic which retain, of course, traces of a much older phonetic system and abo...

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