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Posts by PSTH‭

89 posts
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Q&A How did "as" amass all its confusing "broad and vague meanings"?

as. Do not use the conjunction as when you mean “since,” “because,” “when,” or “while.” Its broad and vague meanings can create confusion. For example, As a potential work stoppage threatened to ...

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

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Q&A Why do the most spoken human languages in 2021 greet with words related to health or peace?

Why do most Asian, Middle Eastern and European languages greet with words anent health or peace? I know that "salutation" itself meant "health". salute [14] Salute goes back ultimately to ...

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

Question etymology
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Q&A How did "bail" shift to signify "money deposited as a guarantee when released"?

I fail to understand this etymology for bail (n.1), particularly the first paragraph. [3.] "bond money, security given to obtain the release of a prisoner," late 15c., a sense that apparently de...

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

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Q&A How did 'quibus?' shift to mean 'evasion of a point at issue'?

quibble [17] _Quibble _probably originated as a rather ponderous learned joke-word. It is derived from an earlier and now obsolete _quib _‘pun’, which appears to have been based on quibus...

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

Question etymology Latin
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Q&A How did 'the better to —' semantically shift to mean 'So as to — better'?

I screenshot Collins and Lexico. Let's treat this like a math problem. How exactly does "the better to —" = 'So as to — better'? Please show all steps between these two expressions.

0 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 4y ago by Moshi‭

Question etymology
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Q&A How did “-able” semantically shift to mean “requiring”?

Etymonline on "-able" doesn't expound the origin of "requiring". -able common termination and word-forming element of English adjectives (typically based on verbs) and generally adding a notion...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 3y ago by PSTH‭

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

I admit I'm unschooled at Googling! Only after I wrote this post, did I stumble on Draconis's answer on Latin SE. While emō normally means "buy", the ancestral meaning seems to have been somethi...

posted 3y ago by PSTH‭

Answer
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Q&A How did « histoire », in « histoire de/que », semantically shift to signify "in order to/that"?

This French StackExchange post merely paraprhased "histoire de/que" as afin de / afin que, meaning pour / pour que — all this can be translated as "in order to/that" in English. But nobody in fact...

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

Question etymology French
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Q&A How did kúklos ("circular") shift to signify "general"?

encyclopedia [16] Etymologically, encyclopedia means ‘general education’. It is a medieval formation, based on the Greek phrase egkúklios paideíā (egkúklios, a compound adjective formed ...

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

Question etymology Greek
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Q&A How did 'consideration' shift to signify grounds and the act of deliberation, then inducer of a grant or promise?

        The name of Consideration appears only about the beginning of the sixteenth century, and we do not know by what steps it became a settled term of art. The word seems to have gone throug...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 3y ago by PSTH‭

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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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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 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 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 How did 'forfeit' shift to signify ‘penalty imposed for committing such a misdeed'?

I don't understand this semantic shift, because a misdeed differs from a penalty or "something to which the right is lost through a misdeed". Can someone please fill in the gap? forfeit [13] ...

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

Question etymology
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Q&A How does the original meaning of “but” (“outside”) relate to its current 2021 meanings?

How do the principal 2021 meanings of "but" relate, if any, to its original meaning of "outside"? E.g. how does "no more than; only" appertain to "outside"? CONJUNCTION Used to introduce ...

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

Question etymology
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Q&A Why did David Ricardo coin "rent", to signify income from a factor of production that exceeds the minimum amount necessary (to beget that factor of production)?

At the time that Ricardo (1772-1823) coined "rent", did "rent" already signify Modern English's lay meaning of 'rent' (tenant's regular payment to a landlord for the use of property or land)? ...

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

Question etymology English
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Q&A How did 'style' signify names of court cases?

Can you please expatiate on ohwilleke's answer? She asseverated My suspicion is that the Latin/French word for a writing instrument ends up being used for the act of using a writing instrument t...

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

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Q&A scilicet: How did 'it is permitted to know' semantically shift to signify 'that is to say, namely'?

How did signification 1 beneath semantically shift to 2? I'm befuddled by the relevant of licit, because what does "permitted" here signify? Why would a Roman require permission to know so...

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

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

What semantic notions underlie less than and IF NOT? How did less than semantically shift to mean IF NOT in at least these 5 languages? Just edit this post if you pine to add other languages with t...

3 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 3mo ago by Jirka Hanika‭

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 4y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 4y ago by PSTH‭

Question etymology
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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 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by PSTH‭

Question etymology Latin
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Q&A How did 'equity' semantically shift to mean 'Assets — Liabilities'?

I ask about Equity = Assets — Liabilities here, not its meaning as stock. See Personal Finance For Canadians For Dummies (2018), p 468. equity: In the real-estate world, this term refers to the...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by PSTH‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Jirka Hanika‭

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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 3y ago by PSTH‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Keelan‭

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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

Answer