More words with fun Etymology

Catholic: Literally "Universally accepted" in Middle French

Cabbage: "Head" in Middle French

Dolphin: "Fish with a womb" in Old French

Phony: From "Fawney" in Middle English, inspired from Gilt Rings, rings sold by swindlers by advertising them as gold.

Quarantine: From French "About Forty"

Big: Origin unknown, even for such a small, basic word.

Dog: Appeared out of nowhere as "dogca" in Old English, replacing "hund" for an unknown reason

Word Time, Fun Time!

Words are not as they seem. Of course, we all take them for granted. But from where every word comes from is a story in itself. For example, in my session with Mr. Leathem the other day, I learned that most words that are considered swears come from Old English and Germanic roots, and words that are similar in definition but considered 'clean' come from Middle French and Latin, which provides evidence of the influence of the Catholic Church (Latin), and the French Government (French). But what does this all really mean? Well, it proves that French and Latin were more desirable than English was long ago. Which is interesting, as our own language shuns words that are actually part of one of the languages that founded the one that we all speak today.

Well, that was a mouthful, wasn't it? Wait, it gets better.

Let's talk about meats and the animals that they come from. For example, let's choose 'venison' and 'deer'; venison being the meat which comes from the animal, deer. Let's check the roots of those words.

Venison: Old French veneson, veneisun, venison, venoison (modern French venaison, = Provençal venaizo,venazo, obsolete Spanish venacion, Portuguese veação, Italian venagione) < Latinvēnātiōn-em hunting, < vēnāri to hunt.

Well, there's Old French again. We're also seeing some Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian in there too. Let's try 'deer' next.

O.E. deor "animal, beast," from P.Gmc. *deuzam, the general Germanic word for "animal" (as opposed to man), but often restricted to "wild animal" (cf. O.Fris. diar, Du. dier, O.N. dyr, O.H.G. tior, Ger. Tier "animal," Goth. dius "wild animal," also cf. reindeer), from PIE *dheusom "creature that breathes," from root *dheu- (1) "cloud, breath" (cf. Lith. dusti "gasp," dvesti"gasp, perish;" O.C.S. dychati "breathe;" cf. L. animal from anima "breath"). Sense specialization to a specific animal began in Old English (usual O.E. for what we now call a deer was heorot; see hart), common by 15c., now complete. Probably via hunting, deer being the favorite animal of the chase (cf. Skt. mrga- "wild animal," used especially for "deer"). Deer-lick is first attested 1778, in an American context.

Ignoring that long wall of text, I can tell you that this word comes from Old English and Germanic. But when it comes to food and the animals they come from, it really falls to personal preference. Some people may say they are eating venison, some people may say that they are eating deer. It also works with other words too, like poultry and chicken. Let's check those out too.

Poultry: mid-14c., from O.Fr. pouletrie "domestic fowl" (late 13c.), from poulet "young fowl" (see pullet). Poulterer (1630s) is a redundancy, but has largely ousted original poulter (c.1400), from O.Fr. pouletier "poulterer," with agent suffix -er. Poeticpoulter's measure (1570s) is of fanciful origin.

Well, well, this one comes from Old French. Now, let's try chicken.

Chicken: O.E. cicen "young fowl," which in M.E. came to mean "young chicken," then any chicken, from W.Gmc. *kiukinam (cf. M.Du.kiekijen, Du. kieken, O.N. kjuklingr, Swed. kyckling, Ger. Küken "chicken"), from root *keuk- (echoic of the bird's sound and possibly also the root of cock (n.1)) + dim. suffixes. Adjective sense of "cowardly" is at least as old as 14c. (cf. hen-herte "a chicken-hearted person," mid-15c.); the verb meaning "to back down or fail through cowardice" is from 1943, U.S. slang; as a game of danger to test courage, it is first recorded 1953. Chicken feed "paltry sum of money" is from 1904. Chicken lobster"young lobster," is from c.1960s, American English, apparently from chicken in its sense of "young."

Aha, this one comes from Middle English and West Germanic.

Seeing a pattern here? I know I am. So the next time you look at a word, look at it a little closer, and you'll see how interesting our language actually is.

A New Book, a New Word

I have recently come in contact with Professor Sirles, who has recommended a book on Etymology, Where Do Words Come From: An Introduction to Etymology. While this book is not in print, I can potentially have him send it to me in a PDF format within the next few days.

Curious about the word Etymology, I did the natural thing and Googled it. I discovered that the word means "the study of the history of words and their origins." So, my topic has shifted from English specifically to etymology, which I think is good. More word on the book and its contents will be delivered soon.

Edit: For those curious, I recommend reading the Wikipedia article for further information. Also, another change to the mission statement has gone live.

Narrowing Down of my Topic

My topic used to be simply English, but I have decided to narrow it down a little bit. I am going to simply be acting within the fields of word development and English history, since these topics are the things that I have been doing this whole time.

Just a heads up.

Edit: Change to Mission Statement going live.

Fishing Continues

I've got a ton of lines cast out to potential experts who can assist me with my topic. Until then, the first minute or so of this video explains the formation of the word 'cute.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=m-ch-fea&v=Z0zConOPZ8Y

Professor Paul Breslin Responds!

I just recieved an E-mail from Professor Paul Breslin from Northwestern College asking for assistance on my topic. He responded:

Dear Jordan,

Well, "the English language as a whole" is an enormous subject, beyond the
grasp of any one expert, let alone a high school student.  You'll need a
more focused version of the topic.

That means finding

1) a less all-inclusive object of study (for example, 19th century slang
in the U.S. rural south, the standardization of British English in the
18th century, or or the globalization of English in the 20th-21st century,
and

2) a question about it, such as "When African Americans migrated from the
rural south to northern cities, was their usage resisted or adopted by
white northerners?; "Why were more English dictionaries compiled in the
18th century than in previous times?"; "What has been the effect of the
internet on the use of English in the U.S?"

You don't have to be know the answer to your question, and you might end
up revising the  question itself in the light of what you find out.

Finally, you'll need to anticipate the "so what" question from your
reader.  What makes your question interesting--does it explain something
we're interested in having explained?  Using the sample questions above,
you might say (again, these are only examples):

--"What might the answer to this question about language tell us about
race relations; did whites back then think it was cool to talk black, as
many do now, or did they avoid language they thought of as 'black'"?

--"Might the growth of dictionary-writing tell us something about changing
ideas of correctness in speech or writing?

--"Are the many national and regional versions of English beginning to
merge into one, and if so, should we welcome or resist this trend"?

One book you might look at is _The Craft of Research_ (3rd edition) by
Wayne C. Booth, Joseph Williams, and Gregory Colomb, University of Chicago
Press, 2008.  It's meant for college and graduate students, but it is
clearly written and gives good advice on how to narrow a topic, design a
question, and define an interesting problem that your work is meant to
solve.

If you write to me again with a more clearly defined topic, I will try to
point you toward some good sources.  Remember that I am not a specialist
in linguistics or the history of English, though I do know something about
those fields.

Hope your work goes well,

Best,

Professor Breslin

Top Three English Words

Apparently, the top three words in the English Language are...

Make
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gA3WWc0iWI

Have
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgt4mQHGQ_c

Get
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7QvMFXXXw

For any speaker of the language, knowledge of the different uses of these words is pivotal to completely understanding it.

Outliers Analysis

Over the past several weeks, I have devoted a large portion of time to reading Malcom Gladwell's Outliers. I have finished it, and I have also noticed that its contents apply very well to my study and my entrance into R199 Critical Thinking.

In the first section, a point is made that when one is born dramatically effects the placement in academics, sports, and many other activities. Being born in September is helpful to being placed in higher classes, because being born during this month gives me more time to learn the material. I am also older than 80% of my peers. Also, there is a certain point where one's IQ plateaus, meaning that after a certain level of intellect, nothing else higher matters. One's opportunity also dramatically affects one's success. If one is never presented opportunity, one can never get any better than their peers.

This information is very relative to my performance in school and the goal of my personal research. This class was given to me as an opportunity, an opportunity which I have seized. I was admitted to take the placement test to get into this course because of my academic success, which is directly related to my birth month, September, which is a prime date for academic success. And that isn't even half of the information in the book. There is still plenty more, but none of it I can directly identify to my topic of research or my admission into this class.

Information such as, those who work the hardest have the greatest success, which was touched upon in the KIPP chapter and the rice paddy chapter. The students at KIPP were presented an opportunity and seized it, being forced into an environment where they must work harder than the average individual and achieved more successful results than other students. The rice paddy farmers need to work extremely hard to have the same crop upkeep as wheat or other plant farmers because there is so much work that is involved in the process of rice farming. These individuals work extremely hard and achieve great results for their work.

In conclusion, The Outliers was an extremely informative and entertaining read, and has helped me better understand myself, my project, and other people.