Re: Which is simpler: /y/ or /iw/?
| From: | Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, June 4, 2008, 16:01 |
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Quoting "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>:
> On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 10:55 AM, caeruleancentaur
> <caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:
> > Perhaps it's because 'simplify' was brought into English from the
> > French 'simplifier' (according to the AHD). The other words came to us
> > directly from the Latin participles.
>
> Ah, so it took a side trip. Well, that explains the existence of a
> discrepancy, even if we haven't yet established how the details worked
> out over in Gaul...
I don't think it explains anything. If "simplify" had been directly from a Latin
participle, it'd been "simplificate", and the nominalization still
"simplification", not **simplication.
The real question is, why were the Latin verbs formed in different ways? I doubt
any particular answer can be given - the language had multiple ways of making
verbs from adjectives, and in each case a particular one happened to be
employed.
--
Andreas Johansson
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