Re: A new version of Genesis
From: | David Barrow <davidab@...> |
Date: | Sunday, June 13, 2004, 6:36 |
John Cowan wrote:
>Roger Mills scripsit:
>
>
>
>>That hadn't occurred to me; but surely "c" would be better than "qu" before
>>Historically of course French, like Spanish, avoided "impure s" by
>>"a", no?
>>
>>
>
>French ca > cha [tSa] > cha [Sa], as in cattus > chat and carrus > char.
>(English borrowed "cat" and "car" from Norman French, which didn't have
>this sound change.)
>
>
>snip-
>
>
>--
>John Cowan jcowan@reutershealth.com www.reutershealth.com www.ccil.org/~cowan
>
John,
This from
http://www.etymonline.com
cat - O.E. (c.700), from W.Gmc. (c.400-450), from P.Gmc. *kattuz, from
L.L. cattus. The near-universal European word now, it appeared in Europe
as L. catta (Martial, c.75 C.E.), Byzantine Gk. katta (c.350) and was in
general use on the continent by c. 700, replacing L. feles. Probably
ult. Afro-Asiatic (cf. Nubian kadis, Berber kadiska, both meaning
"cat"). Ar. qitt "tomcat" may be from the same source. Cats were
domestic in Egypt from c.2000 B.C.E., but not a familiar household
animal to classical Greeks and Romans.
car - 1301, "wheeled vehicle," from Norm.-Fr. carre, from L. carrum,
carrus (pl. carra), orig. "two-wheeled Celtic war chariot," from Gaul.
karros, from PIE *krsos, from base *kers- "to run." Extension to
"automobile" is 1896.
David Barrow