View source for Language and etymology


[[category:Language Arts]]
[[category:Grammar]]
[[Category:Linguistics]]

'''Language and [[Vocabulary:Etymology|Etymology]]''' 

communication, words, and word origins and evolution  

Page purpose: 

* study of purposes and forms of language
* study of the origin of words 
* study of change in meaning of words over time<br />

== Language quirks and facts ==

* for more on the English, see: [[English Language]]

=== English word count ===

* the English language has a very large word count for several reasons
** English words have multiple definitions and parts of speech
*** ex. "content" can be a verb, noun, or adjective
*** other languages may be more explicit with distinct words that English will cover with a single word.
** English is a combination of multiple languages, none of which fully replaced the other over time
*** '''''Celt > Germanic''''' (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, etc.) '''> Nordic > French > Latin, Greek >''' modern international word entries 
*** each new language added, shaped, and expanded the English language

=== "Love" in Greek ===

* >> to do .
** see John 21:15

=== "Thanks to" and "because of" in Russian ===

* Russian uses a distinct word for the positive and negative connotations of "because of" or "thanks to"
** ''благодаря'' = positive connotation
*** as in "Thanks to hard studying, I aced the test"
** ''из за'' = negative connotation
*** "I lost points on my paper because of having forgotten about the due date"

=== "Curry a favor" === 
* excellent demonstration of how language morphs across space and time
* in Old English, "curry" means "to cook"
** after British colonization of India, the word became synonymous with the common Indian cooking spice, called today, "curry"
* "Curry a favor" has no relation to the spice
** "curry" came from the Old French "torcher" for "groom" as in to wipe down and clean a horse
* origin of "curry a favor":
** from the 14th century French satirical poem,''Roman de Fauvel'' ("roman" = romance story or verse)
* in the story:
** Fauvel was a horse or ass
** the goddess ''Fortuna'' answers Fauvel's request to move into the palace and become a lord
*** priests and other lords visit Fauvel and "curry" (groom) him in order to gain his favor
** "fauvel" refers to the brownish color of fallow (un-planted) field, and was a color symbolic of vanity
*** fauvel may also have been a play on the words, "false veil" 
** the expression "curry fauvel" was picked up by English speakers
*** but as memory of the story of Fauvel faded, the use of the word morphed into the more recognizable "favor"
*** thus, "curry favor" means to hypocritically flatter a vain person for some favor or advantage
* see 
** https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curry%20favor
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_de_Fauvel