Auld

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Dr. Goodword
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Auld

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Dec 30, 2017 11:32 pm

• auld •

Pronunciation: awld • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: (Scots English) Old.

Notes: In most English-speaking regions December 31 is celebrated as New Year's Eve. The celebration was previously known as Old Year's Night, which continues in English-speaking Guyana and some other areas of the Caribbean.

In Play: Many English speakers around the world sing the very popular Scottish song, Auld Lang Syne "Old Long Since" at midnight Old or New Year's Eve. This includes those living in Auld Reekie "Old Smoky", a sobriquet of Edinburgh, Scotland, and elsewhere in the Auld Warld. No doubt it will be heard in many English-speaking places in the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

Word History: The Proto-Indo-European root al- meant "grow, nourish" and with the suffix -to (al-to), it meant "grown", which went on to become Old English eald "old". Over time the Old English word came to be auld in Scots English and old in Modern English. With the suffix -m, it turned up in Latin almus "nourishing", the feminine of which is the alma in alma mater "the nourishing mother" = the school from which we graduate. Alumnus and alumna are based on the same root; they mean "student, pupil" in Latin, from alere "to nourish".
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Slava
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Re: Auld

Postby Slava » Sun Dec 24, 2023 10:36 am

This one's coming up on its sixth anniversary of sitting here, so I'll post a comment just for auld time's sake.

Amazingly enough, my spell-check didn't take kindly to auld, preferring laud instead. Odd it wouldn't come with that one preloaded.
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