Re: Hebrew and Semitic questions

From: "Wesley Parish" <wes.parish@...>
Subject: Re: Hebrew and Semitic questions


>  (Are the connotations the same
> > for Latin words used in Romance langs? Are Latin words
> > used in Romance langs?)
First, let's make sure we're using the same terminology here.  Most words in
any Romance language _are_ Latin, distorted by centuries of change.  These
are "inherited" words.  Then there are some words that have been "borrowed"
from Latin, bypassing (for the most part) the sound changes.

The inherited words, being the normal and common words in the language, do
not carry any special connotations for being of Latin origin.  Many words
that have been borrowed into English would never be borrowed into Spanish or
Italian, as the inherited word is already quite similar to the original
Latin word.

So words like "auxiliary" that carry an educated and scientific sense in
English carry no such sense in Spanish, where the word has simply been
inherited from Latin.  In the same way "mill" has no special connotations in
English - it is an inherited word from an older Germanic language.  The word
"mill" was originally borrowed into that tongue from Latin.  Perhaps then it
had some higher connotations, when it was known to be from a more
prestigious language.  But millennia of change and use have made "mill" seem
commonplace, and no longer recognizably Latin.

Perhaps this answers your question?