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Popular Etymology

Popular etymology

Folk etymology (or popular etymology) is a linguistic term for a category of false etymology which has grown up in popular lore, as opposed to one which arose in scholarly usage. Folk etymology is particularly important because it can result in the modification of a word or phrase by analogy with the erroneous etymology which is popularly believed to be true. In this case, 'folk etymology' is the trigger which causes the process of linguistic analogy by which a word or phrase changes because of a popularly-held etymology, or misunderstanding of the history of a word or phrase. Here the term 'folk etymology' is also used (originally as a shorthand) to refer to the change itself.

Instances of word change by folk etymology

In linguistic change caused by folk etymology, the form of a word changes so that it better matches its popular rationalisation. For example, the Old English sam-blind ("semi-blind" or "half-blind") became sand-blind (as if "blinded by the sand") when people were no longer able to make sense of the element sam ("half"), and the Old English bryd-guma ("bride-man") became bridegroom after the loss of the Old English word guma ("man", compare French homme) rendered the compound semantically obscure. The silent s in island is also a result of folk etymology. The word, which derives from an Old English compound of ig ("water", surprisingly, cognate to Latin aqua) with land, was erroneously believed to be related to isle, which has a similar meaning but derives from Latin insula ("island"). More recent examples are the French (e)crevisse (likely from Germanic krebiz) which became the English cray-fish, and asparagus, which in England became sparrow-grass. Similarly, cater-corner became kitty-corner or catty-corner when the original meaning of cater ("four") had become obsolete. Other changes due to folk etymology include: :buttonhole from buttonhold (originally a loop of string that held a button down) :hangnail from agnail :penthouse from pentice :sweetheart from sweetard (the same suffix as in dullard and dotard) :shamefaced from shamefast :chaise lounge from chaise longue When a back-formation rests on a misunderstanding of the morphology of the original word, it may be regarded as a kind of folk etymology. In heraldry, a rebus coat-of-arms may reinforce a folk etymology for a placename. For further examples, see the following articles that discuss folk etymologies for their subjects:
- Belfry (architecture)
- Brass monkey
- Brent goose
- Caesarean section
- Ducking stool
- Gringo
- Jerusalem artichoke
- Poll tax
- Rake-hell
- Serviceberry
- Welsh rarebit

Reference

- Adrian Room, Dictionary of True Etymologies, 1986, Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0-710-20340-3

External link

- Richard Lederer, [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0203/lederer022003.asp Spook Etymology on the Internet]
- [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fallacy.html Popular fallacies in the attribution of phrase origins] Category:Urban legends Category:Etymology ja:民間語源

False etymology

A false etymology is an assumed or postulated etymology which is incorrect from the perspective of modern scholarly work in historical linguistics. Erroneous etymologies can exist for many reasons. Some are simply outdated. There have been many serious attempts by scholars to propose an etymology based on the best information available at the time, which however are later modified or rejected as linguistic scholarship advances. Mediaeval etymology, for example, is a vast body of work by the best intellectuals of the period, which was plausible given the insights available at the time, but which has mostly been rejected by modern linguists. The etymologies of humanist scholars in the early modern period began to produce more reliable results, but their hypotheses too have frequently been superseded. Even today, knowledge in the field is advancing fast, so that many etymologies found even in recent editions of major dictionaries are now outdated. Incorrect etymologies have sometimes been created for purposes of propaganda. The opponents of the mediaeval Dominicans joked that Dominicanes was derived from domini canes, “God’s dogs”. This was not an error; they knew they were playing word games. Another particularly ugly example was the derivation of Slav from slave, which may originally have been a scholarly error (it's in some reputable dictionaries) but was used by the Nazis to provide a pseudo-linguistic justification for their atrocities. People sometimes create etymologies to make a political point. The feminist who “etymologised” history as his story and proposed herstory as an antidote was not serious about the linguistics of the matter, but she was entirely serious about the gender-political point (male domination of history), which she communicated all the more effectively because of her good-humoured etymological fake. The term womanipulate for manipulate as man-ipulate (actually Latin manipulare, “to handle”, from manus, “hand”) was created in the same way. Some etymologies are part of urban legends, many of which allege a scandalous origin for a common and innocent word. One common example has to do with the phrase rule of thumb, meaning a rough measurement; the width of adult male thumb is roughly one inch. An urban legend has it that the phrase refers to an old English law under which a man could legally beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. [http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-rul1.htm] Interestingly enough, the phrase "rule of thumb" is known in Finland (which is a Metric country) as "nyrkkisääntö" (rule of fist); the width of adult male fist is roughly ten centimeters) - certain Feminists have interpreted a man has legally been allowed to beat his wife with his fists but not with a weapon. In the United States, many of these scandalous legends have had to do with racism and slavery. Common words such as picnic [http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/picnic.htm], buck [http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/buck.htm], and crowbar [http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/crowbar.asp] have been alleged to stem from derogatory terms or racist practices. The 'discovery' of these alleged etymologies is often believed by those who circulate them to draw attention to racist attitudes embedded in ordinary discourse. On one occasion the use of the word niggardly led to the resignation of a US public official because it sounded similar to the word nigger.

Folk etymology

See main article: Folk etymology “Folk etymology” or “popular etymology” is an established term for a false etymology which grows up anonymously in popular lore. A modern folk etymology may be thought of as a linguistic urban legend, but folk etymologies can be very old. Folk etymology becomes interesting when it feeds back into the development of the word and thus becomes a part of the true etymology. Because a population wrongly believes a word to have a certain origin, they begin to pronounce or use the word in a manner appropriate to that perceived origin, in a kind of misplaced pedantry. Thus a new standard form of the word appears which has been influenced by the misconception. In such cases we often say that the form of the word has been “altered by folk etymology”. (Less commonly, but found in the etymological sections of the OED, one might read that the word was altered by pseudo-etymology, or false etymology.) It should be noted, however, that strictly the term “folk etymology” refers to the misconception which triggered the change, not to the process of change itself, which is best thought of as an example of linguistic analogy.

Examples

- F.U.C.K. (for fuck). There is an urban legend which states that the term "fuck" originated as an acronym, standing for "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge". According to this etymology, adulterers in medieval England would be charged with the crime of unlawful carnal knowledge. After a while the charge was shortened on the charge sheet to "F.U.C.K.", and so the term came to mean the act of adultery. There are a number of variations on this theme - the same acronym was posted on stocks where adulterers were publicly humiliated. Another variation suggests that F.U.C.K stands for "Fornication Under Consent of the King", supposedly posted on the doors of those permitted to reproduce at a time of medieval population control, or to indicate that a brothel had paid its tax and was licensed to operate. These etymologies are clearly false: acronyms were not widely used before the 20th century, and "fuck" derives from Old English.
- "Fuck you". There is also the one about the archers who had their middle fingers removed in medieval times to keep them from properly aiming their arrows; however; they would defiantly raise their mangled hands to the enemy and claim they could still "pluck yew". English longbow archers caught by the enemy at Agincourt would supposedly have their bow fingers amputated, since at that time the longbow was a devastating weapon, giving great advantage to the English. Unaffected archers would taunt the enemy by raising two fingers to show they were still intact - the "V-sign" survives to this day as an insulting gesture. This is, however, an untrue story.
- Pommy, an Australian slang term for a person of British descent or origin. The true origins of the term remain obscure, but a common legend states that the term arises from the acronym P.O.M.E, for "Prisoner of Mother England" (sometimes P.O.H.M, "Prisoners Of Her Majesty"), which term was supposedly used on documentation accompanying English convicts transported to Australia.
- Canada. There is a story that it was actually the Spanish who first discovered Canada, but in winter. Upon fixing their telescope on the frozen land, and being asked what he saw, one explorer, not wanting to make landfall replied 'Ca nada'.
- S.H.I.T. (for shit). Another legend suggests that the origin of the term "shit" traces back to the farming industry. Dried manure was transported via ship. Often times it would be shipped in the lowest holds of the ship, the remoteness of these sections was ideal for concealing the smell. The wooden boats were prone to minor leakage. The manure would become damp and begin expelling methane. On occasion this methane buildup was set into an explosive charge by deck hands going into the holds with lit lanterns. Once it had finally been figured out what caused the accidents all manure packages going on board were required to be labelled "Ship High In Transit" which was later abbreviated to S.H.I.T.
- California from 'Cali', as in 'caliente, calor' -hot in Spanish, calories, etc. and 'fornia' as in fornicate. Thus California allegedly used to be called Tierra de la California, the land of hot sex. (So as to not leave the origins of the name in doubt, California was the name of an island of Amazons in Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo's Las Sergas de Esplandián, The Voyages of Esplandián, a romance popular at the time of the region's discovery. See Origin of the name California.)
- G.O.L.F. (for golf). Sometimes thought to be an acronym for "Gentlemen Only; Ladies Forbidden". However, the word golf is over 500 years old. In the oldest Scottish writings, the word was spelled gouff, goiff, goffe, goff, gowff, and golph. The acronym cannot be formed with any of those spellings, and furthermore, the development of the acronym in the English language is mostly a 20th century phenomenon, perhaps as a backronym.
- The word news is often thought to be an acronym of the four cardinal directions (North, East, West, and South). However, old spellings of the word varied widely—newesse, newis, nevis, neus, newys, niewes, newis, nues, etc.
- P.O.S.H. (for posh). Port Out, Starboard Home: on a ship sailing from Britain to India, cabins on the port (left) side receive less sun than those on the starboard (right) side, and on the return trip the opposite is true.
- Welsh Rarebit. This supposedly original spelling of the British cheese-on-toast snack, pronounced and normally spelled 'Welsh rabbit', presumably indicates that it is a 'rare bit' - an undercooked, or perhaps occasional, morsel?

Eponyms

Here are some words which are commonly thought to be eponyms, but are not:
- Asphalt – Leopold von Asphalt
- Avocado – Jorge-Luis Avocado
- Brassiere or Bra - Otto Titzling (this one propagated by the original edition of Trivial Pursuit and the movie Beaches)
- Buffet – Pierre-Alphonse Buffet
- Bugle – Hereward Bugle
- Cabaret – Antoine de Cabaret
- Comma – Domenico da Comma
- Corset – Etienne Corset
- Crap – Earl Crapper (The flush toilet was indeed popularised to a large extent by an Englishman named Thomas Crapper, though the coincidence of his surname is, sadly for some, only that - a coincidence. The slang term 'crap' for faeces, or to defecate, was in common use long before this time).
- Curry – Sir George Curry
- Ketchup – Noah Ketchup
- Lager beer – Gottfried Lager
- Marmalade – João Marmalado
- the word nasty – Thomas Nast [http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth03.htm]
- Salon – Marquise Henriette de Salon Two eponyms that are true, however: the sandwich was named for the Earl of Sandwich, and the napoleon pastry for Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France.

External link

- [http://www.wordorigins.org/errors.htm Common errors in popular Etymology (wordorigins.org)]
- [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0203/lederer022003.asp "Spook etymology on the Internet" by Richard Lederer] Category:Urban legends Category:Etymology Category:Language comparison

Analogy

Analogy is either the cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), or a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. In a narrower sense, analogy is an inference or an argument from a particular to another particular, as opposed to deduction, induction and abduction, where at least one of the premises or the conclusion is general. The word analogy can also refer to the relation between the source and the target themselves, which is often, though not necessarily, a similarity, as in the biological notion of analogy. Analogy plays a significant role in problem solving, decision making, perception, memory, creativity, emotion, explanation and communication. It lies behind basic tasks such as the identification of places, objects and people, e.g. in face perception and facial recognition systems. It has been argued that analogy is "the core of cognition" (see Hofstadter in Gentner et. al. 2001). Specifically analogical language comprises exemplification, comparisons, metaphors, similes, allegories, and parables, but not metonymy. Phrases like and so on, and the like, as if and the very word like also rely on an analogical understanding by the receiver of a message including them. Analogy is important not only in ordinary language and common sense, where proverbs and idioms give many examples of its application, but also in science, philosophy and the humanities. The concepts of similarity, resemblance, homology, comparison, association, correspondence and isomorphism are closely related to analogy. In cognitive linguistics, the notion of conceptual metaphor may be equivalent to that of analogy. Analogy has been studied and discussed since classical antiquity by philosophers, scientists and lawyers. The last few decades have shown a renewed interest in analogy, most notable in cognitive science.

Models and theories of analogy

Identity of relation

In ancient Greek the word αναλογια (analogia) originally meant proportionality, in the mathematical sense, and it was indeed sometimes translated to Latin as proportio. From there analogy was understood as identity of relation between any two ordered pairs, whether of mathematical nature or not. Kant's Critique of Judgment held to this notion. Kant argued that there can be exactly the same relation between two completely different objects. The same notion of analogy was used in the US-based SAT tests, that included "analogy questions" in the form "A is to B as C is to what?" For example, "Hand is to palm as foot is to ____?" These questions were usually given in the Aristotelian format: :HAND : PALM : : FOOT : ____ It is worth noting that while most competent English speakers will immediately give the right answer to the analogy question (sole), it is quite more difficult to identify and describe the exact relation that holds both between hand and palm, and between foot and sole. This relation is not apparent in some lexical definitions of palm and sole, where the former is defined as the inner surface of the hand, and the latter as the underside of the foot. Analogy and abstraction are different cognitive processes, and analogy is often an easier one.

Shared abstraction

Greek philosophers as Plato and Aristotle actually used a wider notion of analogy. They saw analogy as a shared abstraction (Shelley 2003). Analogous objects shared an idea, a pattern, a regularity, an attribute, an effect or a function. They also accepted that comparisons, metaphors and "images" (allegories) could be used as valid arguments, and sometimes they called them analogies. Analogies should also make those abstractions easier to understand and give confidence to the ones using them. The Middle Ages saw an increased use and theorization of analogy. Roman lawyers had already used analogical reasoning and the Greek word analogia. Mediaeval lawyers distinguished analogia legis and analogia iuris (see below). In theology, analogical arguments were accepted in order to explain the attributes of God. Aquinas made a distinction between equivocal, univocal and analogical terms, the latter being those like healthy that have different but related meanings. Not only a person can be "healthy", but also the food that is good for health (see the contemporary distinction between polysemy and homonymy). Thomas Cajetan wrote an influent treatise on analogy. In all of these cases, the wide Platonic and Aristotelian notion of analogy was preserved.

Special case of induction

On the contrary, Bacon and later Mill argued that analogy be simply a special case of induction (see Shelley 2003). In their view analogy is an inductive inference from common known attributes to another probable common attribute, which is known only about the source of the analogy, in the following form: :Premise: a is C, D, E, F and G. :Premise: b is C, D, E and F. :Conclusion: b is probably G. :Alternative conclusion: every C, D, E and F is probably G. This view does not accept analogy as an autonomous mode of thought or inference, reducing it to induction. However, autonomous analogical arguments are still useful in science, philosophy and the humanities (see below), which makes this reduction philosophically uninteresting. Moreover, induction tries to achieve general conclusions, while analogy looks for particular ones.

Hidden deduction

The opposite move could also be tried, reducing analogy to deduction. It is argued that every analogical argument is partially superfluous and can be rendered as a deduction stating as a premise a (previously hidden) universal proposition which applied both to the source and the target. In this view, instead of an argument with the form: :Premise: a is analogous to b. :Premise: b is F. :Conclusion: a is plausibly F. We should have: :Hidden universal premise: all Gs are Fs. :Hidden singular premise: a is G. :Conclusion: a is F. This would mean that premises referring the source and the analogical relation are themselves superfluous. However, it is not always possible to find a true universal premise to replace the analogical premises (see Juthe 2005). And analogy is not only an argument, but also a distinct cognitive process.

Shared structure

Contemporary cognitive scientists use a wide notion of analogy, extensionally close to that of Plato and Aristotle, but framed by the structure mapping theory (See Gentner et. al. 2001). The same idea of mapping between source and target is used by conceptual metaphor theorists. Structure mapping theory concerns both psychology and computer science. According to this view, analogy depends on the mapping or alignment of the elements of source and target. The mapping takes place not only between objects, but also between relations of objects and between relations of relations. The whole mapping yields the assignment of a predicate or a relation to the target. Structure mapping theory has been applied and has found enough confirmation in psychology. It has had reasonable success in computer science and artificial intelligence (see below). Some studies extended the approach to specific subjects, such as metaphor and similarity (see Gentner et. al. 2001 and Gentner's publication page). Holyoak and Thagard (1997) developed their multiconstraint theory within structure mapping theory. They defend that the "coherence" of an analogy depends on structural consistency, semantic similarity and purpose. Structural consistency is maximal when the analogy is an isomorphism, although lower levels are admitted. Similarity demands that the mapping connects similar elements and relations of source and target, at any level of abstraction. It is maximal when there are identical relations and when connected elements have many identical attributes. An analogy achieves its purpose as much as it is fit for the problem at hand. The multiconstraint theory faces some difficulties when there are multiple sources, but these can be overcome (Shelley 2003). A problem for the multiconstraint theory arises from its concept of similarity, which, in this respect, is not obviously different from analogy itself. Computer applications demand that there are some identical attributes or relations at some level of abstraction. Human analogy does not, or at least not apparently.

High-level perception

Douglas Hofstadter and his team (see Chalmers et. al 1991) challenged the shared structure theory and mostly its applications in computer science. They argue that there is no line between perception, including high-level perception, and analogical thought. In fact, analogy occurs not only after, but also before and at the same time as high-level perception. In high-level perception, humans make representations selecting relevant information from low-level stimuli. Perception is necessary for analogy, but analogy is also necessary for high-level perception. Chalmers et. al. conclude that analogy is high-level perception. Forbus et. al. (1998) claim that this is only a metaphor. It has been argued (Morrison and Dietrich 1995) that Hofstadter's and Gentner's groups do not defend opposite views, but are instead dealing with different aspects of analogy.

Applications and types of analogy

Linguistics

- In linguistics, an analogy can be a spoken or textual comparison between two words (or sets of words) to highlight some form of semantic similarity between them. Linguistic analogies can be used to strengthen political and philosophical arguments, even when the semantic similarity is weak or non-existent (if crafted carefully for the audience).
- An analogy can also be the linguistic process that reduces word forms perceived as irregular by remaking them in the shape of more common forms that are governed by rules. For example, the English verb help once had the preterite holp and the past participle holpen. These obsolete forms have been discarded and replaced by helped by the power of analogy. However, irregular forms can sometimes be created by analogy; one example is the American English past tense form of "dive": "dove", formed on analogy with words such as drive-drove.
- Neologisms can be formed by analogy with existing words. A common example is software, formed by analogy with hardware. Another example is the humorous term underwhelm, formed by analogy with overwhelm.

Mathematics

Some types of analogies can have a precise mathematical formulation through the concept of isomorphism.

Artificial intelligence

See case-based reasoning

Anatomy

:See also: Analogy (biology) In anatomy, two anatomical structures are considered to be analogous when they serve similar functions but are not evolutionarily related, such as the legs of vertebrates and the legs of insects. Analogous structures are the result of convergent evolution and should be contrasted with homologous structures.

Law

In law, analogy is used to resolve issues on which there is no previous authority. A distinction has to be made between analogous reasoning from written law and analogy to precedent case law.

Analogies from codes and statutes

In civil law systems, where the preeminent source of law are legal codes and statutes, a lacuna (a gap) arises when a specific issue is not explicitly dealt with in written law. Judges will try to identify a provision whose purpose applies to the case at hand. That process can reach a high degree of sophistication, as judges sometimes not only look at specific provision to fill lacunae (gaps), but at several provisions (from which an underlying purpose can be inferred) or at general principles of the law to identify the legislator's value judgement from which the analogy is drawn. Besides the not very frequent filling of lacunae, analogy is very commonly used between different provisions in order to achieve substantial coherence. Analogy from previous judicial decisions is also common, although these decisions are not binding authorities.

Analogies from precedent case law

By contrast, in common law systems, where precedent cases are the primary source of law, analogies to codes and statutes are rare (since those are not seen as a coherent system, but as incursions into the common law). Analogies are thus usually drawn from precedent cases: The judge finds that the facts of another case are similar to the one at hand to an extent that the analogous application of the rule established in the previous case is justified.

Engineering

Often a physical prototype is built to model and represent some other physical object. The prototype (the "analog") is designed such that, while it is much easier and/or less expensive for someone to experiment on it. The behavior of the analog tells us something about the behavior of "the real thing". For example, wind tunnels are used to test scale models of wings and aircraft, which act as an analog to full-size wings and aircraft. For example, the MONIAC Computer (an analog computer) used the flow of water in its pipes as an analog to the flow of money in an economy.

External links and references

- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-09 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] Analogy in Early Greek Thought.
- [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-10 Dictionary of the History of Ideas:] Analogy in Patristic and Medieval Thought.
- [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/analogy-medieval/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:] Medieval Theories of Analogy.
- [http://www.psych.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/gentner/allpubs.htm Dedre Gentner's publications page], most of them on analogy and available for download.
- Chalmers, D.J. et. al. (1991). Chalmers, D.J., French, R.M., Hofstadter, D., [http://consc.net/papers/highlevel.pdf High-Level Perception, Representation, and Analogy].
- Forbus, Kenneth et. al. (1998). [http://www.psych.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/gentner/newpdfpapers/ForbusGentner98.pdf Analogy just looks like high-level perception].
- Gentner, Dedre et. al. (2001). The Analogical Mind: Perspectives from Cognitive Science. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
- Itkonen, Esa (2005). Analogy as Structure and Process. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin's Publishing Company.
- Juthe, André (2005). [http://www.cs.hut.fi/Opinnot/T-93.850/2005/Papers/juthe2005-analogy.pdf "Argument by Analogy"], in Argumentation (2005) 19: 1–27.
- Holyoak and Thagard (1997). [http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/Pages/Analog.Mind.html The Analogical Mind].
- Holyoak, K.J. et. al. (1996). Mental Leaps: Analogy in Creative Thought. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
- Morrison, C., and Dietrich, E. (1995). [http://eksl.cs.umass.edu/~clayton/publications/CogSci95/SM-v-HLP.pdf Structure-Mapping vs. High-level Perception].
- Shelley, Cameron (2003). Multiple analogies in Science and Philosophy. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamin's Publishing Company. Category:Philosophical arguments Category:Cognitive science Category:Computer science Category:Semantics ja:アナロジー

Analogy

Models and theories of analogy

Identity of relation

Shared abstraction

Special case of induction

Hidden deduction

Shared structure

High-level perception

Applications and types of analogy

Linguistics

Mathematics

Some types of analogies can have a precise mathematical formulation through the concept of isomorphism.

Artificial intelligence

See case-based reasoning

Anatomy

Law

In law, analogy is used to resolve issues on which there is no previous authority. A distinction has to be made between analogous reasoning from written law and analogy to precedent case law.

Analogies from codes and statutes

Analogies from precedent case law

Engineering

External links and references

Latin

Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages, those being most notably Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian, are descended from Latin, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. The Latin alphabet, derived from the Greek, remains the most widely-used alphabet in the world. It is said that 80 percent of scholarly English words are derived from Latin (in a large number of cases by way of French). Moreover, in the Western world, Latin was a lingua franca, the learned language for scientific and political affairs, for more than a thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English in the late 19th. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day, and thus the official national language of the Vatican. The Church used Latin as its primary liturgical language until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Latin is also still used (drawing heavily on Greek roots) to furnish the names used in the scientific classification of living things. The modern study of Latin, along with Greek, is known as Classics.

Main features

Latin is a synthetic inflectional language: affixes (which usually encode more than one grammatical category) are attached to fixed stems to express gender, number, and case in adjectives, nouns, and pronouns, which is called declension; and person, number, tense, voice, mood, and aspect in verbs, which is called conjugation. There are five declensions (declinationes) of nouns and four conjugations of verbs. There are six noun cases: #nominative (used as the subject of the verb or the predicate nominative), #genitive (used to indicate relation or possession, often represented by the English of or the addition of s to a noun), #dative (used of the indirect object of the verb, often represented by the English to or for), #accusative (used of the direct object of the verb, or object of the preposition in some cases), #ablative (separation, source, cause, or instrument, often represented by the English by, with, from), #vocative (used of the person or thing being addressed). In addition, some nouns have a locative case used to express location (otherwise expressed by the ablative with a preposition such as in), but this survival from Proto-Indo-European is found only in the names of lakes, cities, towns, small islands, and a few other words related to locations, such as "house", "ground", and "countryside". Latin itself, being a very old language, is far closer to Proto-Indo-European than are most modern Western European languages; it has, in fact, about the same relationship with PIE as modern Italian or French has to Latin. There are six general tenses in Latin (technically they are tense/aspect/mood complexes). The indicative mood can be used with all of them. The subjunctive mood, however, has only present, imperfect, perfect, and pluperfect tenses. These tenses in the subjunctive mood do not completely correlate in meaning to the tenses in the indicative. The following examples are of the first conjugation verb "laudare" ("to praise") in the indicative mood and the active voice:
Primary sequence tenses
# present (laudo, "I praise") # imperfect (laudabam, "I was praising") # future (laudabo, "I shall praise," "I will praise")
Secondary sequence tenses
# perfect (laudavi, "I praised", "I have praised") # pluperfect (laudaveram, "I had praised") # future perfect (laudavero, "I shall have praised," "I will have praised") The future perfect tense can also imply a normal future idea (like in "When I will have run...") and so may also sometimes be included in the primary sequence.
Latin and Romance
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Latin evolved into the various Romance languages. These were for many centuries only spoken languages, Latin still being used for writing. For example, Latin was the official language of Portugal until 1296 when it was replaced by Portuguese. The Romance languages evolved from Vulgar Latin, the spoken language of common usage, which in turn evolved from an older speech which also produced the formal classical standard. Latin and Romance differ (for example) in that Romance had distinctive stress, whereas Latin had distinctive length of vowels. In Italian and Sardo logudorese, there is distinctive length of consonants and stress, in Spanish only distinctive stress, and in French even stress is no longer distinctive. Another major distinction between Romance and Latin is that all Romance languages, excluding Romanian, have lost their case endings in most words except for some pronouns. Romanian retains a direct case (nominative/accusative), an indirect case (dative/genitive), and vocative. In Italy, Latin is still compulsory in secondary schools as Liceo Classico and Liceo Scientifico which are usually attended by people who aim to the highest level of education. In Liceo Classico Ancient Greek is a compulsory subject.
Latin and English
See Latin influence in English for a more complete exposition. English grammar is independent of Latin grammar, though prescriptive grammarians in English have been heavily influenced by Latin. Attempts to make English grammar follow Latin rules — such as the prohibition against the split infinitive — have not worked successfully in regular usage. However, as many as half the words in English were derived from Latin, including many words of Greek origin first adopted by the Romans, not to mention the thousands of French, hundreds of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian words of Latin origin that have also enriched English. During the 16th and on through the 18th century English writers created huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek roots. These words were dubbed "inkhorn" or "inkpot" words (as if they had spilled from a pot of ink). Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, but some remain. Imbibe, extrapolate, dormant and inebriation are all inkhorn terms carved from Latin words. In fact, the word etymology is derived from the Greek word etymologia, meaning "true sense of the word." Latin was once taught in many of the schools in Britain with academic leanings - perhaps 25% of the total [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/teachem2/thennow/]. However, the requirement for it was gradually abandoned in the professions such as the law and medicine, and then, from around the late 1960s, for admission to university. After the introduction of the Modern Language GCSE in the 1980s, it was gradually replaced by other languages, although it is now being taught by more schools along with other classical languages.
Latin education
The linguistic element of Latin courses offered in high schools or secondary schools, and in universities, is primarily geared toward an ability to translate Latin texts into modern languages, rather than using it in oral communication. As such, the skill of reading is heavily emphasized, whereas speaking and listening skills are barely touched upon. However, there is a growing movement, sometimes known as the Living Latin movement, whose supporters believe that Latin can, or should, be taught in the same way that modern "living" languages are taught, that is, as a means of both spoken and written communication. One of the most interesting aspects of such an approach is that it assists speculative insight into how many of the ancient authors spoke and incorporated sounds of the language stylistically; without understanding how the language is meant to be heard it is very difficult to identify patterns in Latin poetry. Institutions offering Living Latin instruction include the Vatican and the University of Kentucky. In Britain the Classical Association encourages this approach, and there has been something of a vogue for books describing the adventures of a mouse called Minimus. In the United States there is a thriving competitive organization for high school Latin students, the National Junior Classical League (the second-largest youth organization in the world after the Boy Scouts), backed up by the Senior Classical League for college students. Many would-be international auxiliary languages have been heavily influenced by Latin, and the moderately successful Interlingua considers itself to be the modernized and simplified version of the language (le latino moderne international e simplificate). Latin translations of modern literature such as Paddington Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Le Petit Prince, Max und Moritz, and The Cat in the Hat have also helped boost interest in the language.
See also

About the Latin language

- Latin grammar
- Latin spelling and pronunciation
- Latin declension
- Latin conjugation
- Latin alphabet
- List of Latin words with English derivatives
- Latin verbs with English derivatives
- Latin nouns with English derivatives
- ablative absolute
- Word order in Latin
About the Latin literary heritage

- Latin literature
- Romance languages
- Loeb Classical Library
- List of Latin phrases
- List of Latin proverbs
- Brocard
- List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names
- List of Latin place names in Europe
- Carmen Possum
Other related topics

- Roman Empire
- Internationalism
References

- Bennett, Charles E. Latin Grammar (Allyn and Bacon, Chicago, 1908)
- N. Vincent: "Latin", in The Romance Languages, M. Harris and N. Vincent, eds., (Oxford Univ. Press. 1990), ISBN 0195208293
- Waquet, Françoise, Latin, or the Empire of a Sign: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries (Verso, 2003) ISBN 1859844022; translated from the French by John Howe.
- Wheelock, Frederic. Latin: An Introduction (Collins, 6th ed., 2005) ISBN 0060784237
External links

- [http://www.jambell.com/latin.html Latin Phrases for after dinner conversation (Thanks to Elaine Poole)]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=lat Ethnologue report for Latin]
- [http://forumromanum.org/literature/index.html Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum] is a comprehensive webography of Latin texts and their translations.
- [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/ The Perseus Project] has many useful pages for the study of classical languages and literatures, including [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/resolveform?lang=Latin an interactive Latin dictionary].
- [http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe words by William whitaker] is a dictionary program online capable of looking up various word forms.
- [http://retiarius.org/ Retiarius.Org] includes a Latin text search engine.
- [http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm Latin-English dictionary and Latin grammar from U of Notre Dame]
- [http://latin-language.co.uk/ Latin language] History of Latin language, Latin texts with English translation and a collection of dictionaries.
- [http://augustinus.eresmas.net/scl/ Societas Circulorum Latinorum] gathers together Latin Circles all over the world.
- [http://www.learnlatin.tk LearnLatin.tk] - Free online course in Latin
- [http://www.latintests.net/ LatinTests.net] - Lets Latin learners test their grammar and vocabulary with self-checking quizzes.
- [http://thelatinlibrary.com/ The Latin Library] contains many Latin etexts
- [http://www.textkit.com/ Textkit] has Latin textbooks and etexts.
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Latin-english/ Latin–English Dictionary]: from Webster's Rosetta Edition.
- [http://www.language-reference.com/ Language reference] Cross-foreign-language lexicon powered by its own search engine. All cross combinations between Latin and French, German, Italian, Spanish.
- [http://comp.uark.edu/~mreynold/rhetor.html Rhetor by Gabriel Harvey] was originally published in 1577 and never again reprinted.
- [http://freewebs.com/omniamundamundis omniamundamundis] Latin hypertexts from fourteen ancient Roman authors.
- [http://www.saltspring.com/capewest/pron.htm Pronunciation of Biological Latin, Including Taxonomic Names of Plants and Animals]
- [http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii Nuntii Latini (News in Latin)], written and spoken (RealAudio) news in latin. Weekly review of world news in Classical Latin, the only international broadcast of its kind in the world, produced by YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.
- [http://www.tranexp.com:2000/InterTran?url=http%3A%2F%2F&type=text&text=Replace%20Me&from=eng&to=ltt InterTran Latin], Translate from Latin to ENGLISH or vice versa.
- [http://www.latinvulgate.com Latin Vulgate] The Latin and English of the Old & New Testaments in parallel, along with the Complete Sayings of Jesus in parallel Latin and English. Category:Classical languages Category:Ancient languages Category:Fusional languages Category:Languages of Italy Category:Languages of Vatican City als:Latein zh-min-nan:Latin-gí ko:라틴어 ja:ラテン語 simple:Latin language th:ภาษาละติน

Germanic languages

The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family. The largest Germanic languages are English and German, with ca. 340 and 120 million native speakers, respectively. Other significant languages includes a number of Low German languages including Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages (principally Danish, Norwegian and Swedish). The SIL Ethnologue lists 53 different Germanic languages and dialects. Their common ancestor is Common Germanic, probably spoken in the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age Northern Europe. Common Germanic, and all its descendants, is characterised by a number of unique linguistic features, most famously the consonant change known as Grimm's law. Early Germanic dialects enter history with the Germanic peoples who settled in northern Europe along the borders of the Roman Empire from the 2nd century.

Writing

Our earliest evidence of Germanic is from names, recorded in the 1st century by Tacitus, and in a single instance in the 2nd century BC, on the Negau helmet. From roughly the 2nd century AD, some speakers of early Germanic dialects developed the Elder Futhark. Early runic inscriptons are also largely limited to personal names, and difficult to interpret. The Gothic language was written in the Gothic alphabet developed by Bishop Ulfilas for his translation of the Bible in the 4th century. Later, Christian priests and monks who spoke and read Latin in addition to their native Germanic tongue began writing the Germanic languages with slightly modified Latin letters, but in Scandinavia, runic alphabets remained in common use throughout the Viking Age. In addition to the standard Latin alphabet, various Germanic languages use a variety of accent marks and extra letters, including umlauts, the ß (Eszett), Ø, Æ, Å, Ð, Ȝ, and Þ and Ƿ, from runes. Historic printed German is frequently set in blackletter typefaces (e.g. fraktur or schwabacher).

Linguistic Markers

Some unique features of Germanic languages are: # The levelling of the IE tense system into past and present (or common) # The use of a dental suffix (/d/ or /t/) instead of vowel alternation (Indo-European ablaut) to indicate past tense. See: Germanic weak verb. # The presence of two distinct types of verb conjugation: weak (using dental suffix) and strong (using ablaut). English has 161 strong verbs; all are of native English origin. See: West Germanic strong verb. # The use of strong and weak adjectives. Modern English adjectives don't change except for comparative and superlative; this was not the case with Old English, where adjectives were inflected differently depending on whether they were preceded by an article or demonstrative, or not. # The consonant shift known as Grimm's Law. # A number of words with etymologies that are difficult to link to other Indo-European families, but variants of which appear in almost all Germanic languages. See Germanic substrate hypothesis. # The shifting of stress onto the root of the stem. Though English has an irregular stress, native words always have a fixed stress regardless of what's added to them. This is arguably the most important change.

History

Germanic substrate hypothesis All Germanic languages are thought to be descended from a hypothetical Proto-Germanic, united by their having been subjected to the sound shifts of Grimm's law and Verner's law. These took place probably during the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe from ca. 500 BC, but other common innovations separating Germanic from Proto-Indo European suggest a common history of pre-Proto-Germanic speakers throughout the Nordic Bronze Age. From the time of their earliest attestation, the Germanic dialects are divided into three groups, West, East and North Germanic. Their exact relation is difficult to determine from the sparse evidence of runic inscriptions, and they remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration period, so that some individual dialects are difficult to classify. The 6th century Lombardic language, for instance, may constitute an originally either North or East Germanic dialect that became assimilated to West Germanic as the Lombards settled at the Elbe. The Western group would have formed in the late Jastorf culture, the Eastern group may be derived from the 1st century dialect of Gotland (see Old Gutnish), leaving southern Sweden as the original location of the Northern group . The earliest coherent Germanic text preserved is the 4th century Gothic translation of the New Testament by Ulfilas. Early testimonies of West Germanic are in Old High German and Old English from about the 9th century. North Germanic is only attested in scattered runic inscriptions, as Proto-Norse, until it evolves into Old Norse by about 800. Longer runic inscriptions survive from the 8th and 9th centuries (Eggjum stone, Rök stone), longer texts in the Latin alphabet survive from the 12th century (Íslendingabók), and some skaldic poetry held to date back to as early as the 9th century. By about the 10th century, the dialects had diverged enough to make intercomprehensibility difficult. The linguistic contact of the Viking settlers of the Danelaw with the Anglo-Saxons left traces in the English language, and is suspected to have facilitated the collapse of Old English grammar that resulted in Middle English from the 12th century. The East Germanic languages were marginalized from the end of the Migration period. The Burgundians, Goths and Vandals became linguistically assimilated to their respective neighbors by about the 7th century, with only Crimean Gothic lingering on until the 18th century. During the early Middle Ages, the West Germanic languages were separated by the insular development of Middle English on one hand, and by the High German consonant shift on the continent on the other, resulting in Upper German and Low German, with graded intermediate Central German dialects. By Early modern times, the span had extended into considerable differences, ranging from Highest Alemannic in the South to Northern Low Saxon and Frisian in the North, and although both extremes are considered German, they are hardly mutually intelligible. The southern dialects have completed the second sound shift, but remained closer to the Middle German vowel system, while the northern dialects remained unaffected by the consonant shift, but simplified the vowel system. The North Germanic languages, on the other hand, remained more unified, largely retaining mutual intelligibility into modern times.

Classification

Note that divisions between subfamilies of Germanic are rarely precisely defined; most form continuous clines, with adjacent dialects being mutually intelligible and more separated ones not. Mentioned here are only the principal or unusual contemporary dialects; individual articles linked to below contain larger family trees. For example, many Plattdüütsch dialects are discussed on Plattdüütsch besides just Northern Low Saxon and Plautdietsch. Diachronic stages are listed in the main articles (such as Old English and Middle English, in the English language article)
- West Germanic language
- High Germanic languages
- German
- Central German
-
- East Central German
-
- Luxembourgish
-
- West Central German
-
- Pennsylvania German (spoken by the Amish and other groups in southeastern Pennsylvania)
- Upper German
-
- Alemannic German
-
- Swabian German, including Stuttgart
-
- Low Alemannic German, including the area of Lake Constance or Basel German
-
- Alsatian
-
- High Alemannic German, including Zürich German or Bernese German
-
- Highest Alemannic German, including the Bernese Oberland dialects or Walliser German
-
- Austro-Bavarian German
-
- North Bavarian (including Nuremberg)
-
- Middle Bavarian (including Munich and Vienna)
-
- South Bavarian (including Innsbruck, Klagenfurt and Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
-
- Hutterite German (aka "Tirolean")
- Yiddish (with a significant influx of vocabulary from Hebrew and other languages, and traditionally written in the Hebrew alphabet)
- Wymysojer (with a significant influence from Plattdüütsch, Dutch, Polish and Scots)
- Low Germanic languages
- Low Franconian
- Dutch
- Afrikaans (with a significant influx of vocabulary from other languages)
- Limburgish
- Plattdüütsch
- West Low German
-
- Northern Low Saxon language
-
- East Frisian Low Saxon
-
- Westphalian language
-
- Eastphalian language
- East Low German
-
- Plautdietsch (Mennonite "Low German")
- Insular Germanic
- Frisian
- Söl'ring
- English. Huge influx of Latinate vocabulary, mostly via Norman French. Many dialects.
- English English
-
- Northern English
-
- Northumberland (Geordie)
-
- Durham (Pitmatic)
-
- Cumbrian
-
- Yorkshire
-
- Lancashire
-
- Merseyside (Scouse)
-
- Manchester
-
- Midlands English
-
- East
-
- Derbyshire
-
- Nottingham
-
- Lincolnshire
-
- Leicestershire
-
- West
-
- Black Country (Yam Yam)
-
- Birmingham (Brummie)
-
- East Anglian
-
- Norfolk (Broad Norfolk)
-
- Southern English based
-
- Received Pronunciation
-
- Estuary English
-
- Cockney (London)
-
- Somerset
-
- Devon
-
- Cornwall
- Scottish English
- Welsh English
- Hiberno-English (Irish English)
- North American English
-
- Canadian English
-
- Boston dialect
-
- Southern American English
-
- General American
-
- New York-New Jersey English
-
- California English
-
- Hawaiian English
-
- Black English/AAVE/Ebonics
-
- Liberian English
- (Others)
-
- Australian English
-
- New Zealand English
-
- Caribbean English
-
- Jamaican English
-
- Newfoundland English
-
- Hong Kong English
-
- South African English
-
- Indian English
-
- Singlish (Singaporean English)
-
- Manglish (Malaysian English)
- Scots
- Insular Scots
- Northern Scots, including Doric
- Central Scots
- Southern Scots
- Ulster Scots
- Urban Scots (City dialects)
- Yola
- East Germanic (descending from Gothic)
- Crimean Gothic (extinct in the 1800s)
- Vandalic (extinct)
- Burgundian (extinct)
- Lombardic (extinct)
- North Germanic (descending from Old Norse):
- West (Insular) Nordic
- New Norwegian (Nynorsk) (disputed)
- Icelandic
- Faroese
- Norn (Extinct)
- East (Continental) Nordic
- Danish
- Standard Norwegian (Bokmål and Riksmål) (Dano-Norwegian)
- Swedish
- Finland-Swedish

Vocabulary comparison

Several of the terms in the table below have had semantic drift. For example, the form 'Sterben' and other terms for 'die' are cognate with the English word 'starve'. There is also at least one example of a common borrowing from a Non-Germanic source (ounce and its cognates from Latin).

Apple

Aiple

Appel

Apfel

עפּל (Epl)

Aplus

Epli

Súrepli¹

Äpple

Æble

Eple

Board

Buird

Bord

Boord

Brett

Baúrd

Borð

Bord

Bræt

Bord

Book

Beuk

Boek

Book

Buch

בוך (Buḫ)

Bóka

Bók

Bok

Bog

Bok

Breast

Breest

Bors

Borst

Bost

Brust

ברוסט (Brust)

Brusts

Brjóst

Bróst

Bröst

Bryst

Bryst/Brøst

Bryst

Brown

Broun

Bruin

Bruun

Braun

Bruns

Brúnn

Brúnur

Brun

Day

Dag

Tag

טאָג (Tog)

Dags

Dagur

Dag

Die

Dee

Sterf

Sterven

Döen/Starven

Sterben

Diwan

Deyja

Doyggja

Dö

Dø

Døy

Enough

Eneuch

Genoeg

Genug

גענוג (Genug)

Ga-nóhs

Nóg

Nóg/Nógmikið

Nog

Nok

Give

Gie

Gee

Geven

Geben

געבן (Gebn)

Giban

Gefa

Geva

Giva/Ge

Give

Gje/Gjeve

Glass

Gless

Glas

גלאָז (Gloz)

Gler

Glas

Glass/Glas

Glas

Gold

Gowd

Goud

Gold

גאָלד (Gold)

Gulþ

Gull

Guld

Gull

Hand

Haund

Hand

האַנט (Hant)

Handus

Hönd

Hond

Hand

Hånd

Hand/Hånd

Hand

Head

Heid

Kop

Hoofd/Kop

Kopp

Haupt/Kopf

קאָפּ (Kop)

Háubiþ

Höfuð

Høvd/Høvur

Huvud

Hoved

Hode

Hovud

High

Heich

Hoog

Hoch

הױך (Hoyḫ)

Háuh

Hár

Høg/ur

Hög

Høj

Høy

Høg

Home

Hame

Huis

(Huus)

Heim

הײם (Heym)

Háimóþ

Heim

Hem

Hjem

Heim

Hook

Heuk

Haak

Haken

Krókur

Krókur/Ongul

Hake

Hage

Hake/Krok

House

Hoose

Huis

Huus

Haus

הױז (Hoyz)

Hús

Hus

Many

Mony

Menige

Mennig

Manch

Manags

Margir

Mangir/Nógvir

Många

Mange

Mang ein

Moon

Muin

Maan

Mond

Ména

Tungl/Máni

Máni

Måne

Night

Nicht

Nag

Nacht

Natt / Nacht

Nacht

נאַכט (Naḫt)

Nahts

Nótt

Nátt

Natt

Nat

Natt

Nae

Nee

Niet/Nee

Nee

Nein/Nö/Nee

נײן (Neyn)

Né

Nei

Nej

Nei

Old

Auld

Oud

Oll

Alt

אַלט (Alt)

Sineigs

Gamall

Gamal/Gomul/Gamalt

Gammal

Gammel

Gammel (but: eldre, eldst)

Gammal

One

Ane

Een

Eins

אײן (Eyn)

Áins

Einn

Ein/Eitt

En/ett

Ein

Ounce

Unce

Ons

Unze

Únsa

Uns

Unse

Snow

Snaw

Sneeu

Sneeuw

Snee

Schnee

שנײ (Šney)

Snáiws

Snjór

Kavi/Snjógvur

Snö

Sne

Snø