Re: booze words

On May 9, 2008, at 5:59 PM, li_sasxsek@NUTTER.NET wrote:

>> [mailto:CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu] On Behalf Of Mark J. Reed
>
>>> It's _bi-_, here meaning "side" as in "side effect", plus
>> _smak_ "taste". The
>>> prefix is from German _bei_ according to my dictionary.
>>
>> yeah, got it.  bi + smak (english by + smack), not bis + mak.
>> Divided
>> it in the wrong place. :)
>
>
> My instinct was to parse it as "bis+mak" too, leading me to think
> it was some type of Turkish verb.
And I thought it was either a reference to Bismarck, or the Arabic
for "in your name" -- but that turns out to be <bismik> instead.