Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »

Activity for dsr‭

Type On... Excerpt Status Date
Comment Post #287769 As an anthropomorphic metaphor, a pimple can be viewed as a thief who comes to steal the beauty of your skin.
(more)
over 1 year ago
Edit Post #287769 Initial revision almost 2 years ago
Answer A: What semantic notions underlie fūrunculus (Latin for 'petty thief') 🡺 furuncle?
A pimple is a small theft of beauty.
(more)
almost 2 years ago
Edit Post #286762 Initial revision over 2 years ago
Answer 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 quite useful here, but assumes a crucial element: in the British monarchy, the Crown is the original ...
(more)
over 2 years ago
Edit Post #286525 Initial revision over 2 years ago
Answer A: English dialects and he/she versus it
He/she may be used to refer to an object. The accepted practice in English is for boats and ships to be considered female; this is unusual enough to be remarked upon by non-sailors. All other uses that I am aware of are casual anthropomorphisms rather than formal. A vehicle is often referred to as...
(more)
over 2 years ago
Edit Post #286057 Initial revision over 2 years ago
Answer A: How did 'ad-' + 'rogare' compound to mean 'to make great claims about oneself'?
It would take a literature search to prove it, but I think that the claimed etymology is not precisely correct for English. It is often the case for English that a word is adopted and then a mutation of it happens independently of mutations in the original language. As an alternative source for ar...
(more)
over 2 years ago
Edit Post #286011 Initial revision over 2 years ago
Answer A: How did 'security' semantically shift to signify 'tradable financial asset'?
Let's look at the described phenomena, as they changed over the years. First we have ownership: the idea that a particular person has a right to determine what is done and not done with a physical object. An owner worries over their property: is this carved stick still with me? They care about it....
(more)
over 2 years ago
Comment Post #284914 I would not say that I have studied linguistics, no. My profession is computing, my interests are reading and music, and my primary contributions to Codidact seem to be in cooking advice.
(more)
almost 3 years ago
Edit Post #285607 Initial revision almost 3 years ago
Answer A: Modern English words originating in Norman
If you rephrase this question to ask about "the influence of Norman French on English", you will discover a myriad of searchable sources and references, and the book Contact: The Interaction of Closely Related Linguistic Varieties and the History of English (2016 Edinburgh University Press). The l...
(more)
almost 3 years ago
Edit Post #284914 Initial revision about 3 years ago
Answer A: How's inVEST semantically related to VEST? How did the "idea of dressing your capital up in different clothes" arise?
Let's disregard vestments (clothing) for a moment and consider hats. In many cultures, specific hats are associated with different social roles. Sometimes these are strictly regulated by sumptuary laws, and sometimes they are on a spectrum between mandatory and fashionable. E.g. a firefighter's helme...
(more)
about 3 years ago