Diploma

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Diploma

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:53 pm

• diploma •


Pronunciation: di-plo-mê • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A document conveyed by an educational institution, testifying to the fact that the holder has completed the requirements for a degree at that institution. 2. (Historical) An official document issued by a government, such as a title, license, charter.

Notes: A diplomat is someone with official documents from his government. Diplomat is based on the Greek plural of the word, diplomata. The adjective diplomaed is not the presumed past participle of the verbal use of this word, but an adjective in a class forested, bearded, uniformed, meaning "having X". Diplomatology is the study of original documents.

In Play: The most popular usage refers to the document certifying you've completed a course of study at an educational institution: "When Xavier was expelled from one college for blowing up a chemistry lab, he switched schools and was awarded a diploma with honors in chemistry." Any educational institution can confer diplomas: "Homer has a high school diploma, but he can't locate his hometown on a map."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes to us from Greek, where iIt began its life there meaning "official document". It comes from diploun "to fold double", a verb based on diploos "double", which originally comprised di- "two, twice" + -ploos "-fold", from PIE pel-/pol- "to fold". Since the Germanic languages generally turned [p] into [f], we are not surprised at its link to English fold, German falten "to fold", Danish folde, and Dutch vouwen, where the origin of the U is L. It also underlies Albanian palë "fold, pair, yoke" and Greek peplos "woman's robe", with a reduplicated prefix. German Zweifel "doubt" is made up of zwei "two" + -fel "-fold", implying second thoughts. (There is no doubt that we owe Monica Freund a word of thanks for suggesting today's certifiably Good Word.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Diploma

Postby Philip Hudson » Wed Jan 12, 2022 2:33 pm

Re: German Zweifel "doubt" is made up of zwei "two" + -fel "-fold", implying second thoughts.
Zweifel is in my limited German vocabulary. Thanks for the etymology.
It almost makes me want to dust off one of my old German language books and learn some more of the language. I have an old Bible in German. The type=font makes it too difficult to read. Should an octogenarian half-way to being a nonagenarian actually revisit a foreign language? I have enough trouble with English.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Diploma

Postby Slava » Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:49 pm

It's never too late to challenge one's mind. Working on a second language would probably be beneficial, even. And learning the German ways of doing things could help understand the English, too. I know I learned a lot about English while studying Russian.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Re: Diploma

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Jan 12, 2022 11:14 pm

Monika Freund, whom I presume is German, sent the following comment: "It was very interesting to read that the German word Zweifel "doubt" is made up of zwei "two" + -fel "-fold", implying second thoughts."
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Audiendus
Wordmaster
Posts: 909
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:08 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: doubt

Postby Audiendus » Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:38 am

The word "doubt" (and its Old English equivalent tweogan) also implies second thoughts, or 'two minds', from Latin duo:

http://etymonline.com/word/doubt


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 54 guests