Re: A poem by Ryokun
| From: | John Cowan <jcowan@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, March 2, 2000, 14:45 |
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Patrick Dunn wrote:
> This could be a feature,
> not a bug -- just as in English "cleave" means to stick together and to
> rend apart at the same time.
This is the result of a collision between two originally separate words:
OE clifian 'stick', cléofan 'split'.
The same is true, IIRC, of Russian mir 'peace, world'.
--
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau, || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau, || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies. -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)