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Re: some origins...

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Wednesday, November 11, 1998, 6:59
lucasso wrote:
>=20 > what do you know about origins of simple word like time > time is an abstract > you can't touch time, you can't even see time (i've never seen time, ar=
e
> you? > so why time words in every languages are so old and simple are there an=
y
> ideas?? > (time, Zeit, czas, toki, tiempo, tid, ido", uair, etc...)
Time comes from the PIE *di' (i' =3D i-macron), meaning "cut up, divide", and thus originally denoted "a section of existence, a period of time".=20 *di' passed into Proto-Germanic as *ti', on which was added the suffix *-mon, producing *ti'mon, hence English "time". Latin "tempus" is thought to have come from PIE *ten-, meaning "stretch", thus "a stretch of time" (altho I personally think that is an odd theory, given that it would require a parallel metaphor). So, either way, it's a concrete word being used abstractly.
> and what about articles, what can be origins of them?
I don't know if it's true in all languages, but it's often from definite articles. The English "the" comes from Old English _se_, the nominative singular masculine for "that" (the "th" comes from the inflections - all the other forms began with th-), the neuter singular nominative was "thaet" (=FE=E6t). In the romance languages, it comes from Latin "ille" (also meaning "that"), which is also the origin of the third-person pronouns, hence homophones like Spanish "e'l" (he) and "el" (the, masc. sing.) --=20 "It has occured to me more than once that holy boredom is good and sufficient reason for the invention of free will." - "Lord Leto II" (Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert) http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files/ ICQ #: 18656696 AOL screen-name: NikTailor