Speaking of the English language?? We have some mighty weird words and I was wondering about their origin. Who first used them and why.

I was reading AMN's "Whuh" thread and she used the word TEPID. Who was the first guy or gal who thunk up that particular word. Where did it originate, England, France Greese, Italy, Arabia....Whuh????

Tepid, for instance, could have come from Tea Pot...ya think?

What are some of the weird words that you wonder about and do you know how, where, when and why they originated?

That's an easy one, Sal, Latin tepidus, from tepere ‘be warm’.

I'm an etymology fanatic, so I have a deep, abiding love for the OED.

A great book is Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Check it out!

*raising hand impatiently* Mrs. Sally? Mrs. Sally? It was probably a Latin or Greek words. LOL.

I feel like I am in school again. Seriously, I am not sure but most of our language is based on Latin or Greek. There are many on this board that are very knowledgeable in linguistics that may offer more information.

Twink? Where are you? Chime in before I make a fool of myself. LOL

Wow.

The Origin of All Language.

Way too heavy a subject for me right now. (Still working on first cup of coffee).

I do know that words are funny... when I put them in the right order.

Well, I'll be derned! That's cool AMN. My sister is the same way. She blows me a way sometimes. I wonder if she has this book as her birthday is close by.

My sibling graduated (I think, 2nd in her class) with a MAJOR in Latin.

She can now speak pretty much all Latin based languages. Which came in handy when she lived in England and they'd do short trips to France and Italy occasionally. She understood just enough that they could get around.

Me, I barely passed English, and the only other languages that I know are sign languages. (ASL and SEE II, which are American Sign Language, and Signing Exact English II)


I'm going back to bed...still sleepy and my back is killing me this morning.

and sometimes there REALLY funny when put in the wrong order.
Just ask my kids, they laugh so hard when I don't put my words in the right order.

WHUH??

Wrong thread, dingbat.






Dingbat.

Yeah, yer both dingbats...Whuh ain't even a woid.

How about the word...Antidisenstablishmentarianism...Huh Huh Huh!!! were'd dat 'n' come from.