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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: A quiz for etymology geeks
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
If I'm honest, one of my reasons for posting this is that I got 20/20 ... ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
How well do you know the origins of English words? Take the quiz here.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Autenrieth Road
Shipmate
# 10509
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Posted
That was fun. 20/20 here too, because I know French. Sounds like a French word? Not Anglo-Saxon.
Attorney/lawyer puzzled me, and it was a happy accident that I got it right. Off to consult the OED for the etymology of those words.
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Truth
Posts: 9559 | From: starlight | Registered: Oct 2005
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
19/20. A sudden madness overcame me and I picked "faith" over "belief" when I know that "be-" is a common German prefix, and fides is a Latin word. Grrr.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
19/20. I got the cry/weep one mixed up.
I suspect it's pretty easy for a native English speaker to get most of these right. The more simple, childish, short or vulgar term--the everyday term--is always the Anglo-Saxon.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
17/20 ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
Still, 85% can't be bad.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I got 18/20, but I did know the others, I just failed to go with my instinct.
Most of the non-AS ones have french words with a similar origin, which makes it easier I think. I do think it is interesting how our language has developed, and how, despite having two words for things, we tend to use them differently, to mean subtly different things. Cry and Weep, for example, while having very similar meanings, are not interchangeable.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Lucia
Looking for light
# 15201
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Posted
19/20 but again being fairly francophone gives me a good clue for most of them.
Posts: 1075 | From: Nigh golden stone and spires | Registered: Oct 2009
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
20/20. A combination of knowing a lot of the romance roots, knowing a few sounds that are unlikely to come from a romance root, and, when all else fails, guessing that lower register word as Anglo-Saxon.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
The fact that all non-Anlo-Saxon words are Romance makes it rather easy.
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
20/20
I used to read the etymolgy charts in the back of my dictionary.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
quote:
Kelly Alves: I used to read the etymolgy charts in the back of my dictionary.
It's alright, brave of you to confess that ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
Well, with 16/20 I appear to be bottom of the heap right now.
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
20/20 - like an Anglo-Saxon warrior'd be seen dead saying "odour" or "pensive".
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Kyzyl
Ship's dog
# 374
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Posted
19/20, got caught by "belief" vs. "faith"
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I need a quote.
Posts: 668 | From: Wapasha's Prairie | Registered: Jun 2001
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Stetson
Shipmate
# 9597
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Posted
I got 19/20. I don't speak French or any other latin language, but I think most English speakers probably have some idea as to which words in English have reognizable cousins in those languages.
Posts: 6574 | From: back and forth between bible belts | Registered: Jun 2005
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
I got caught by attorney / lawyer too. Apparently, law shares a common ancestor with lex / loi etc but is in fact a parallel development derived from the Nordic languages.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Kitten
Shipmate
# 1179
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Posted
18/20 for me
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
20/20. Recent holiday in France may have helped.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Wm Dewy
Shipmate
# 16712
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Posted
20/20. Most were easy a couple were toss-ups.
Cry vs Weep? Not plain to me.
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"And harmoniums and barrel - organs be miserable--what shall I call 'em ? - miserable machines for such a divine thing as music!"
Posts: 216 | From: Indiana USA | Registered: Oct 2011
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by LeRoc:
quote:
Kelly Alves: I used to read the etymolgy charts in the back of my dictionary.
It's alright, brave of you to confess that
I once made friends with a guy in school after confessing I read the dictionary for pleasure. " REALLY?? Me, too!"
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Wm Dewy:
20/20. Most were easy a couple were toss-ups.
Cry vs Weep? Not plain to me.
What popped in my head was the French " crier".
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Adam.
Like as the
# 4991
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Posted
My French is rusty enough that I'd forgotten that word. I think I'd recognize it when reading, but couldn't produce it. Now I think about it, I could have used the Spanish gritar to get the answer, as /g/ and /k/ very easily exchange (both being velar stops). But, I actually got it on the grounds that pretty much no romance word begins with a 'w,' whereas lots of Anglo-Saxon ones do.
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Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Preaching blog
Posts: 8164 | From: Notre Dame, IN | Registered: Sep 2003
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lily pad
Shipmate
# 11456
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Posted
20/20 probably because I saw the thread first. That's okay though - I'll take it.
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Sloppiness is not caring. Fussiness is caring about the wrong things. With thanks to Adeodatus!
Posts: 2468 | From: Truly Canadian | Registered: May 2006
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Pearl B4 Swine
Ship's Oyster-Shucker
# 11451
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Posted
I got 9 (that's nine).
I also got confused & forgot what the alternative to Anglo-Saxon was. HAHAHA. Hey, you'll all be old someday, too, if you're lucky.
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Oinkster
"I do a good job and I know how to do this stuff" D. Trump (speaking of the POTUS job)
Posts: 3622 | From: The Keystone State | Registered: May 2006
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jbohn
Shipmate
# 8753
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Posted
19/20 - faith/belief.
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We are punished by our sins, not for them.
--Elbert Hubbard
Posts: 989 | From: East of Eden, west of St. Paul | Registered: Nov 2004
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MSHB
Shipmate
# 9228
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Posted
20/20 - I would happily read an etymological dictionary in the same way that most people would read a novel.
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MSHB: Member of the Shire Hobbit Brigade
Posts: 1522 | From: Dharawal Country | Registered: Mar 2005
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
... 20/20 here too, because I know French. Sounds like a French word? Not Anglo-Saxon.
That was my thinking too, except I've never actually learned French. We were given the initial option of French or German and for reasons best known to himself* my father persuaded me that German would be the better bet, so I ended up doing it for five years but didn't feel inclined to take up French when the opportunity arose.
I did Latin for a year, for which I'm eternally grateful, and living in Canada I've picked up a few French words by osmosis (mostly from food packaging ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) ), and used a process of elimination if the distinction wasn't immediately obvious.
* He was the county's director of education at the time and he knew all the teachers ... ![[Paranoid]](graemlins/paranoid.gif)
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Alaric the Goth
Shipmate
# 511
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Posted
Twentig ut of twentig.
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'Angels and demons dancing in my head,
Lunatics and monsters underneath my bed' ('Totem', Rush)
Posts: 3322 | From: West Thriding | Registered: Jun 2001
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Alaric the Goth
Shipmate
# 511
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Posted
'Lawyer' might be late OE, as 'lagu' ('law') is a borrowing from Old Norse, I believe.
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'Angels and demons dancing in my head,
Lunatics and monsters underneath my bed' ('Totem', Rush)
Posts: 3322 | From: West Thriding | Registered: Jun 2001
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The5thMary
Shipmate
# 12953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
17/20
Still, 85% can't be bad.
Don't feel bad. We got the same score. And I think we got the same score on the Humanist quiz, as well. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by MSHB:
20/20 - I would happily read an etymological dictionary in the same way that most people would read a novel.
Paisano!
_____
*countryman!
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Srsly!
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
quote:
Originally posted by Wm Dewy:
20/20. Most were easy a couple were toss-ups.
Cry vs Weep? Not plain to me.
What popped in my head was the French " crier".
Not a lot of French words start with "W".
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
Too easy. That the alternative word had French or Latin roots was simple. If they had mixed it up and had alternatives which came from the old pre Saxon English, or used a Saxon derived word against a Norse derived one, that would have made things harder.
As the test stands, try saying both words in a French accent and then in a German accent. The one which sounds more German is the Anglo-Saxon.
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Last ever sig ...
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Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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