PIE *per- also shows up in words like periscope, perigee and, surprisingly, in the name of the great Greek statesman, Pericles.

Merriam-Webster defines "anacoluthon" as "syntactical inconsistency or incoherence within a sentence" while the Wikipedia entry says "[it] is an unexpected discontinuity in the expression of ideas within a sentence, leading to a form of words in which there is logical incoherence of thought." In the...

Are the following anacoluthons? (Examples of Garden-path sentences from Wikipedia)

1) The horse raced past the barn fell.
2) The old man the boat.
3) The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.

According to Wikipedia, English loan words from indigenous languages of the Americas, Narragansett (or the language spoken by the Narragansett) was an Algonquian language, one of the most widely spread of the indigenous language families in North America. The Algonquian languages are polysynthetic s...

The article says "Inside a small wooden hut, she teaches the 112 sounds including 45 distinct clicks of N|uu with the local children." And a little further down the article, there is a link of a video with her speaking Nluu and you can hear clicks almost from the first word in the video Here are lin...

barbecue/barbeque - I like the second; it is nicely abbreviated bbq doughnut/donut - the former mike (microphone)/mic - the former fair (market)/fayre* - the former; the latter is ok in contexts in which one would also use "ye" and "olde" fare (food)/fayre* - Have I seen the latter? May in the same ...

When I wrote the above post, I was hoping some of the Agorans would help me with the general problem the "pronouns he, him, his" line suggests. Although, as Audiendus pointed out, "he, him, his" is not difficult, what about the alternatives? If someone were to close with "pronouns she, her, hers," h...

This re-analysis was already well established by Shakespeare's day. A search of his complete works gives 21 examples. I will quote but one Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day, Though many dearer, in this bloody fray. Embowell'd will I see thee by and by: Till then in blood by noble Percy lie....

I can't decide on the proper category for this question: Is it a Grammar question? Is it Slang question? Is it an Idiomatic question? Not being able to decide, I post it here. I recently received an email from a non-governmental organization with the following signature block First Name Last Name Pr...

Although I think your question is a good one, it is a bit unclear. To what does "it" refer? Are you asking whether "benign" or "gignere" came from γίγνομαι? According to Wikipedia, the IPA transcription of γίγνομαι is /ɡí.ɡno.mai̯/ and the Greek word in both pronunciation and definition could be beh...

"Gimmick" was posted as the Word of the Day a couple days back but never made it to the Agora. Then I discovered it has appeared twice in the past (2006 and 2010) and I got interested in the relative frequency of the two spellings of noun that refers to the "art of creating gimmicks or the class of ...

Slava, I think you put the cart before the horse. Cachexy can be a result of pellagra, not the cause. (And since cachexy is a symptom, it can have multiple causes.) Pellagra, on the other hand, is a disease due to a vitamin deficiency: Insufficient niacin (vitamin B3) and tryptophan in the diet. Onc...

A in-depth discussion of the pronunciation and etymology of "pannier," a word of interest to some, together with some wise suggestions on how to respond when the pronunciation of a word is not similar to your own.
https://youtu.be/PmXnaX-5d8g

byrohic, I am confused. To what does your post refer? To what does "that" refer? Who is David? "Fact" is already a noun so "its [sic] normally placed before a noun" doesn't make sense to me. Your statement suggests "it" refers to an adjective, not a noun. Please clarify: To what does "it" refer? I'm...

Here is "Spring" performed by Joan Sutherland. (music by Thomas Arne who was born about a hundred years after Shakespeare died.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_38A2zEWN1o