Re: Word connections - malaise and sit

>From: Daniel44 Reply-To: Constructed Languages List To:
>CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU Subject: Word connections - malaise and sit
>Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 11:42:09 +0100
>
>Hi all,
>
>I've been thinking a lot of late about word origins and the >interesting
>connections between words.
>
(Snip...)

>What do you all think, and what about some other interesting examples >in
>different languages (conlang and natlang)?
>
>Daniel
How about this one: the English words 'silly' and 'nice' seem to have
swapped their original meanings. The first generally refers to stupid or
juvenile behavior, but its Anglo-Saxon ancestor is 'saelig', the adjective
form of 'sael', meaning luck, happiness, prosperity or joy.
The opposite it true with 'nice'. It usually denotes the same concepts
'silly' used to indicate, but actually originated from Latin 'nescius' -
ignorant, unknowledgeable or foolish.

Wierd, huh? It probably has to do with the concept of 'ignorance is bliss'.
A truly happy person is simply unaware of all the misfortune that currently
plagues human existance! (Kind of a depressing thought, actually...) And the
fact that the Normans were ruling England when most Romance vocabulary was
added might explain why the Latin word is in slightly higher favor today,
similar to how pork, mutton, venison and beef are more sophisticated terms
than pig, sheep, deer and cow.

Ah... I just love interesting word histories! Now you should really watch
what (or whom) you refer to as being 'nice'.

Nathan Roy

P.S. I think I finally found out how to send Email everyone can read. The
rich text formatting option had somehow been activated. If there's still a
problem, please tell me and I'll keep looking, though.
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