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Nemeski@lemm.ee to Linguistics@mander.xyz · 1 year ago

Five common English words we don't know the origins of—including 'boy' and 'dog'

phys.org

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Five common English words we don't know the origins of—including 'boy' and 'dog'

phys.org

Nemeski@lemm.ee to Linguistics@mander.xyz · 1 year ago
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The naming process, the act of naming the items of the world, is as old as the first words spoken by our ancestors. We can reconstruct the stages of this process through etymology, which studies the historical development of the lexicon of a language.
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  • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago
    1. Bird
    2. Boy
    3. Girl
    4. Dog
    5. Recorder (Instrument)
    • dditty@lemm.ee
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      English
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      1 year ago
      1. 🐦
      2. 👱‍♂️
      3. 👧
      4. 🐕
      5. 🪈
      • 🇸‌🇵‌🇪‌🇨‌🇺‌🇱‌🇦‌🇹‌🇪‌🇷‌@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Case solved!

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago
      1. https://www.etymonline.com/word/bird
      2. https://www.etymonline.com/word/boy
      3. https://www.etymonline.com/word/girl
      4. https://www.etymonline.com/word/dog
      5. https://www.etymonline.com/word/recorder
  • MadBob@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    “The naming process, the act of naming the items of the world, is as old as the first words spoken by our ancestors.” is the least said with the most words I’ve seen in a fair while!

  • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
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    1 year ago

    The first 4 I can understand. Single syllable words, hard to trace or make guesses about.

    Recorder has always puzzled me. It’s such a specific word, and never made any sense to me. I hope the article author succeeds in finding an answer.

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