Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on March 11, 2013 at 5:11pm

Nice. I love collective nouns. 

Permalink Reply by Davy on April 15, 2013 at 3:39pm

A word I came across in a book of Essays by A.R. Wallace 

Nidification  

Noun Wikitionary

nidification (countable and uncountable; plural nidifications)
The building of a nest.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on April 21, 2013 at 2:38am

Ooh, I like this one. This is the word of the day on Dictionary.com. What a lovely sounding word.

soigné \ swahn-YEY; Fr. swa-NYEY \ , adjective;
1. carefully or elegantly done, operated, or designed.
2. well-groomed.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus yesterday

Due to the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma, the word aftermath keeps cropping up as news reporters broadcast from the scene of all that destruction. So I began to be curious about the origin of the word aftermath, since it is 1.) kind of an odd word similar to understand (what does under + stand have to do with comprehension?), 2.) unique (we don't have words like beforemath, overmath, etc.), and 3.) has limited applicability. 

I was certain that the -math had nothing to do with mathematics for the same reason cat has nothing to do with catalogue. But what then was its origin?

Well, this is from etymonline: 

aftermath (n.) 
1520s, originally a second crop of grass grown after the first had been harvested, from after + -math, a dialectal word, from Old English mæð "a mowing, cutting of grass" (see math (n.2)). Figurative sense by 1650s.

And:

math (n.2) 
"a mowing," Old English mæð "mowing, cutting of grass," from Proto-Germanic *mediz (cf. Old Frisian meth, Old High German mad, German Mahd "mowing, hay crop"), from PIE *me- "to cut down grass or grain with a sickle or scythe" (see mow).

First recorded use is from 1520! That's a good long period of usage. And the math had to do with the cutting of grass. Who'd a thunk it!

This is clearly one of those words whose usage has drifted from the original meaning, like decimate has. 

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus 23 hours ago

landlubber

- noun

an unseasoned sailor or someone unfamiliar with the sea.

Etymology

landlubber (n.) 
also land-lubber, sailor's term of contempt for a landsman, c.1700, from land (n.) + lubber (q.v.).

lubber (n.) 
mid-14c., "big, clumsy, stupid fellow who lives in idleness," from lobre, earlier lobi "lazy lout," probably of Scandinavian origin (cf. Swedish dialectal lubber "a plump, lazy fellow"). But OED suggests a possible connection with Old French lobeor "swindler, parasite," with sense altered by association with lob (n.) in the "bumpkin" sense. A sailors' word since 16c. (cf. landlubber), but earliest attested use is of lazy monks (cf. abbey-lubber). Cf. also lubberwort, the name of the mythical herb that produces laziness (1540s); and Lubberland "imaginary land of plenty without work" (1590s). Sometimes also Lubbard (1580s).

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