r/etymology

My daughter asked. I didn't know. Neither did her teacher. Neither did Wikipedia

Poseidisiac - makes you fall in water
Artemesiac - makes you fall in moonlight

Etc

i made a small etymology quiz for fun and wanted feedback from people who actually know this stuff,

mainly:

• are any answers inaccurate or oversimplified?
• does anything feel too generic?
• are the questions interesting enough?
• and if i accidentally drifted away at some point and completely missed the theme

i specifically do not want to rely on ai for fact-checking etymology, so i figured this subreddit would be the best place to ask

Just gonna start by saying I'm definitely not an expert so sorry if the answer is decidedly uncontested:

If the English Inept is directly derived from Latin Ineptus, but ineptus itself is derived from aptus, is Inept's Latin rootword ineptus or aptus?

I totally get that if A -> B, and B -> C, then A -> C. It sounds kind of stupid to think otherwise, but I can't help but think that because both ineptus and aptus are Latin in root, Ineptus would be considered the rootword.

Please tell me if this is an incorrect way of thinking about this! I studied Latin in school, but mainly only because it would make studying medicine easier (which I wholeheartedly agree that it did). I'm still fascinated nonetheless by language evolution. Love you big time : )

Hopefully this post fits here. I did a little research and found that most Romance languages use just Roman Gods (and the “Lord’s Day” for Sunday), and many other languages like Hebrew and Chinese just number the days for the week. I believe Scandinavian countries also use Norse names.

It seems that in the past 20 years (or 10?) socialism has become a dirty word, and every time I read someone’s posted definition of it, it’s not what I learned in high school. What’s the story here?

• English: N + eight = Night
• German: N + acht = Nacht
• French: N + huit = Nuit
• Spanish: N + ocho = Noche
• Italian: N + otto = Notte
• Portuguese: N + oito = Noite

I work in manufacturing, where route cards follow parts through the various processes. The route card is like a checklist that is signed by the operator to confirm that an operation has been carried out and can proceed to the next.

This sign-off is known as 'sentencing'.

The word is also used where we carry out testing for an operation we are not approved for. That is, we test to get an indicative value for, rather than to characterise, a material.

Assuming the value is acceptable, we might later send the material to an approved body to be 'sentenced'.

Does anyone know the etymology of 'sentence' in this context?

Hello, I was playing video games today, and it got me thinking about the English word "Boss".

Of course, it can refer to your superior in charge when at work, or in other hierarchical contexts. But then there's how it's used in Video games. With a boss being an extra powerful enemy, usually.

Which definition came first? im assuming the one referring to work, but perhaps there's a definition I dont know of.

How did the word boss evolve? Where are its roots? When did it enter English? Modern? Middle?

When did the video game definition show up? How was it received?

Any other interesting facts?

Why are summer and winter such distinct words that can only mean their seasons, yet fall and spring mean other things? (Autumn is fairly distinct, but fall is more commonly used.) It seems like we only used to consider there to be two seasons and added on the other two as interstitials, right?

For example I’ll ask her sounds like Alaska, or catch it sounds like cat shit, pastor, can sound like pasta or past her. Or ratchet sounds like rat shit or ajar sounds like a jar or elevator could be elevate her I’ve scoured the internet and but no description seems to match what I am putting out. I’ve gotten that into this I’ve started making a list of them in my phone whenever I come across a new one 🤣

I understand it may not exactly be a thing, but is there a word, which, if we mapped out its etymological history, would loop in on itself?

i know it sounds stupid because they have opposite meanings but I'm curious to know if you knew more about it. thank you so much

What are the origins of both,and if there is no relation is it just a coincidence?