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Q&A How can fulsome constitute "a case of ironic understatement"?

The quoted definition appears to answer your question already. An 300 ml cup of water is full if and only if it contains exactly 300 ml water. There's no mystery there, if you think of a cup the i...

posted 6mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  edited 6mo ago by matthewsnyder‭

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Meta Mixed fonts within a sentence (and proposed fixes)

Markdown doesn't work, but HTML does. The HTML source for the following is taken from the question ("preferred solution"): This is a sentence with 中文 characters 日本語が分かりません

posted 8mo ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Q&A How does taking, buying, procuring (emō) semantically appertain to destruction, annihilation (perimō)?

As you can read below, emō meant to take, buy, gain, procure. But perimō meant to destroy and annihilate. Plainly, their meanings differ! So why was perimō formed from emō and compounded with per-?...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by PSTH‭

Question etymology Latin
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Q&A Demise — How did "dismiss, put away" semantically shift to mean 🡲 a transfer of property, or the grant of a lease?

Remember that lawyers love to put their own stamp on language, and hold on to fanciful usages while pretending they are the clearest, most common parlance. https://dictionary.thelaw.com/demise/ is...

posted 1y ago by dsr‭

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Q&A What semantic notions underlie "pull, drag" (in tractō) 🡒 "negotiate, bargain" (in 'treat')?

I revamped Serious-Telephone142's answer for grammar. Negotiation involves a metaphorical pushing and pulling, a give and take. This sense is preserved in the modern English word 'intractable,' ...

posted 2y ago by PSTH‭

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Q&A Modern English words originating in Norman

Where should I learn about words that came into Modern English most likely from Norman? Please example some words which most likely came to Modern English only from Norman (i.e. words which are li...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by deleted user  ·  last activity 2y ago by dsr‭

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Q&A Why did linguists choose 'Patient' (noun) to denote this Thematic Role?

        THEMES and PATIENTS are rather similar, and not all linguists distinguish between these roles. A THEME typically moves from one location or one person to another, like the letter in (31...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Keelan‭

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Q&A How did 'to wit' shift (from "to know") 🡺 to mean 'that is to say'?

Etymology Online suggests: The phrase to wit, almost the only surviving use of the verb, is first recorded 1570s, from earlier that is to wit (mid-14c.), probably a loan-translation of Anglo-Fre...

posted 2y ago by gmcgath‭

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Q&A ~ません versus ~ないです

From Steve Wright on Quora, you can turn an entire phrase or sentence into a noun, and this has an unspoken effect, when suffixed with ~です, of adding up to the message, “I’m explaining this to you...

posted 3y ago by Razetime‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Razetime‭

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Q&A What is "these gentry" in Marxist writing?

In George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language", he refers to "[t]he jargon peculiar to Marxist writing (hyena, hangman, cannibal, petty bourgeois, these gentry, lackey, flunkey, mad d...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by msh210‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Jirka Hanika‭

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Q&A How did 'less than' semantically shift to mean 'if not'?

Disclaimer: I'm not a linguist and this answer is pure speculation. I think the semantics are in fact the same. If we look at the concept of existence, as humans typically evaluate things, in tha...

posted 3y ago by __shiva_c‭

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Q&A How did “negotiable” mean “a good or security whose ownership is easily transferable”?

I knew merely the first most popular meaning of negotiate. I never knew this second legal meaning A document of an amount of money, or a title, which is readily transferable to another. Diff...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Jirka Hanika‭

Question etymology
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Q&A Why “chose” in action? Why not “right/droit” in action?

"Thing" isn't an obvious supernym for a "right". The legal definition of a "thing" is narrower than "simply anything" and it varies not just by a language, but also by jurisdiction. Any chose in ...

posted 3y ago by Jirka Hanika‭

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Q&A How does backwardation semantically relate to "backward"?

What semantic notions underlie any sense of 'backwardness' (like "backward" or "backwards"), with the meaning of 'backwardation' below? Etymonline overlooked this term. OED is too brusque and doesn...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 3y ago by tommi‭

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Q&A How can a problem or puzzle be analogized as a knot?

An ESL student was asking about the quotation below at my school, but I don't know how to expound or simplify to her that "A problem or puzzle can be thought of as a knot." Any ideas? She knows wha...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Jordan‭

Question semantics
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Q&A Please expound and simplify the semantic progression behind "reduce"?

I don't understand the "semantic progression" that I emboldened below. The steps in the "semantic progression" feel too farfetched and unconnected. Can someone please fill in, and expound, the ste...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭

Question etymology
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Q&A What semantic notions underlie "gasket" with "little gird, maidservant"?

I see that Etymonline warns of gasket's uncertain origin, but I still pine to understand this possible etymology. I know little about sailing, and Wikipedia annunciates: gaskets are lengths of r...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 3y ago by PSTH‭

Question etymology
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Q&A How did "join issue" mean ‘jointly submit a disputed matter to the decision of the court’?

Kindly see the embolded phrase below. Etymonline is written too abstrusely. issue [13] The words issue and exit are closely related etymologically. Both go back ultimately to the Latin v...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Jirka Hanika‭

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Meta Translation Golf (draft stage)

The community seems positive so far. There are concerns about disrupting the main Q&A with an entirely different type of posts, but there are also concerns about if these games will have enough...

posted 3y ago by Lundin‭

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Q&A Expound and simplify the "semantic progression" behind "must"?

I don't understand the "semantic progression" that I emboldened. The steps in the "semantic progression" feel farfetched and unconnected to me. Can someone please fill in, and elaborate, the steps...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Moshi‭

Question etymology English
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Q&A What did the etymons of “on by + out, over, up” mean?

What did the etymons of "on by out", "on by up", "on by over" mean? Why did Old English tack and jam these different prepositions together? E.g. didn't ufan alone mean "above"? Why prefix...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭

Question etymology
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Q&A How can "lemma" be translated as "rede-ship" with merely Germanic etymons?

Attempts to fashion a purer form of literary English can be seen in the poetry of Edmund Spenser in the 16th century and William Barnes in the 19th century. Barnes’ arguments against borrowing ...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 3y ago by PSTH‭

Question etymology
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Q&A Why are service or maintenance contracts called 'warranties', when they aren't Legal Warranties?

The term 'warranty' is used to distinguish between a term (warranty) and a mere representation, and also to distinguish between terms that give no right to termination upon breach (warranties) an...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Jirka Hanika‭

Question etymology English
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Q&A How did 'security' semantically shift to signify 'tradable financial asset'?

What semantic notions underlie the Latinate meanings of 'security' (quoting Etymonline first) mid-15c., "condition of being secure," from Latin securitas, from securus "free from care" (see secu...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by dsr‭

Question etymology finance
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Q&A Why does "counter" mean the area of a letter entirely, or partially, enclosed by a letter form or a symbol?

Etymonline's entries for the homonyms "counter" don't semantically appertain to its meaning in typography. How does "counter" in typography relate to the common lay English 2021 meanings of "co...

0 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 2y ago by PSTH‭

Question etymology English