Re: TAN: new words [was: RE: LONG: Latest Wenetaic Stuff]

Lars Henrik Mathiesen <thorinn@...> wrote:

> > Is it a coincidence that 'repeat' has 're-' in it? Where does
> > it come from?
>
> It's from the Latin verb peto, main senses 'attack/go towards' and
> 'ask for'. English has 'petition' and 'repetition' from Mediaeval
> Latin, I guess, and 'repeat' from Latin through French.
Oh yes, Spanish has _pedir_ 'to ask for, to request' (it's one of
the e->i alternating verbs, BTW; does it happen in French too?).
I guess _repetir_ didn't shift medial /t/ > /d/ because it wasn't
common enough. It's curious that 'to request again' becomes 'to
repeat', but in fact Spanish _repetir_ also means 'to ask for more
food, to request another dish to be served'.


--Pablo Flores
  http://draseleq.conlang.org/pablo-david/