Re: CHAT Etruscana (was: Oh! Kay! (was : ...etc))

Ray Brown scripsit:

> But there was some re-introduction by the Normans. The Latin [i:] has
> become [aj] as we would expect whether the name came via Old English or
> Norman French. But the Latin & Old English [u:] has not given us [aw] as
> the modern name of the letter 'U'. The modern [ju:] is from Norman french
> [y:].
Of course I thought of that case as soon as I had sent my earlier mail.
L'esprit de l'escalier.

> Certainly the first month of the pre-Julian calendar, March, is named
> after Mars <-- Martius (mensis). But he was an important god to the early
> Romans, with both agricultural & military interests before being equated
> with the Greek Ares. But IIRC the name Mars is of Etruscan origin.
I had understood that the o:rs part of Ma:vo:rs > Mars was cognate with
Ares, and only the Mav- part was of unknown origin.  But this may be
another half-baked story.

> There are some other English indirect borrowings from Etruscan, e.g.
IIRC "persona" is Etruscan too, and that the etymology
"per sonem" is also folk only.

> Except 'zed'/'zee'   :)
Umm, yeah.  I wonder who invented "zee"?  "Zed" is obviously < "zeta",
so it must have been the older form.

> >If L1 speakers can teach other L1 speakers that "potatoe" is the correct
> >spelling of "potato", nothing is too surprising.
>
> From what I remember, it was one particular L1 speaker   :)
He wasn't alone, alas.  My wife was also taught this spelling in the
North Carolina schools in the 50s, and may well have passed it on to
some of her students (before I stopped her).  She describes being
explicitly taught the mnemonic "pot a toe", so it can't be accidental.

--
"Clear?  Huh!  Why a four-year-old child        John Cowan
could understand this report.  Run out          jcowan@reutershealth.com
and find me a four-year-old child.  I           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
can't make head or tail out of it."             http://www.reutershealth.com
        --Rufus T. Firefly on government reports

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