Tag: Sanskrit
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virus
For so many of us, a virus might spell the end of our computer–not our lives, as we are witnessing so tragically in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Sometimes a viral video is precisely what is needed to distract us from today’s feverish crises. Too often, though, a viral video may be distracting us from them. But…
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breakfast, lunch, & dinner
Fast Mash Appearing in the 15th-century, beakfast joins break and fast, with the latter indeed related to its adjective form Lunch is less clear; lunch is shortened from luncheon, which may be an extension of lunch, possibly from lump (compare bump and bunch); luncheon may have been formed on analogy to words like truncheon In the…
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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…
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the four seasons, part II (summer)
Fast Mash Summer is from Old English, sumor, meaning the same; first attested ca. 825 Probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem Abundant cognates, especially Germanic, and including the telling Sanskrit sama (half-year, year, season) This year, the summer solstice fell on June 21st at 1:04AM ET. The longest day of the year inaugurates the second and warmest…
Mashed Radish 