Re: 'caron' (was: Re: Re: Two questions about Esperanto

Philippe Caquant wrote:
> Ah, interesting. 'Hacek' looks quite understandable by
> now.
>
> Since 'caret' come from Latin 'care:re', as somebody
> here already said,
[Me quoting Rodger.] <-- It's probably quite boring, but how do you
                          analyse that sentence? How do other languages
                          say it?

>it seems difficult to conceive that
> 'caron' is of the same family. I can't see any "-on"
> ending in Latin.
No-no, that's not at all what I meant. I meant the modification took
place in English. Perhaps someone (other than Steg :) mis-remembered the
ending of 'caret', or purposefully re-formed it based on 'macron'
(because a caret, after all, isn't an accent).

> I have no good Greek dictionary at hand, but in my
> small (Modern Greek) pocket one, I found:
> - karfi = nail
> - karfis = pin
> - karfo:no: = I nail.
>
> Looks not to far from "li'l hook', does it ?
I would say so. You have to remember, after all, that a hook is ... errm
... hooked, but nails and pins are straight, not at all appropriate to
the caron.

>Seems
> there is a "kar-" root in Greek, and perhaps "caron"
> could be related to it ? (Pure speculation, of
> course).

--
Yesterday I was a dog.                  |                     Tristan.
Today I'm a dog.                        |    kesuari at yahoo!.com.au
Tomorrow I'll probably still be a dog.  | http://zsau.firespeaker.org/
Sigh!                                   |
There's so little hope for advancement. |
               --- Snoopy

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