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bask
Fast Mash Bask comes from Old Norse, baðask (bathe oneself), with middle syllable lost The Scandinavian word joins baða (bathe) and reflexive verbal suffix –sk (self) Suffix –sk traces back to Proto-Indo-European *swe– (self) via Old Norse pronoun sik In 1300s, bask meant “to wallow/bathe,” but especially in blood; evolved to refer to “in sunshine” and metaphorical sunshine I took our… Read more.
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self & other
Fast Mash Self is rooted in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *swe-, meaning “separate” or “apart,” whose derivatives range from idiot and seclude to ethics and gossip. Other is rooted in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *al-tero-, the base of which is *al-, meaning “beyond.” Derivatives range from allegory and alien to ultimate and else. I don’t know about you, but I have plenty of… Read more.
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on knock-knock jokes & word origins
Before moving on to the second part of my citrus series, I want to take a break from specific etymologies to reflect on them as such. Last post, I ended on quite the corny pun: “Orange you glad I didn’t squeeze them all into one?” This, of course, evokes a classic lemon of a knock-knock… Read more.
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citrus, part I
Fast Mash Citrus referred to the “citron tree” in Latin; possibly related to the Greek word for the cedar tree, kedros, and whose scent apparently can evoke citron Lemon (via French) and lime (via Spanish) come from Arabic laimun/limah, which may in turn trace back to Persian limun/lim (citrus) I hate to get too personal on this blog, but… Read more.