Tuesday, January 23, 2007

a, the first letter (contd...)

Word Origins

Dedicated to finding real origins of words in several languages
Edition 5

absent without leave (AWOL)

Origins
German ab 'away', 'down'
Latin ab 'away', 'off'
Indian Sanskrit stha 'remain', 'stay'
Indian Sanskrit vina 'without'

Mechanism
ab + Indian Sanskrit stha = English abstain 'stay away'
abstain leads into absent
Indian Sanskrit vinaa becomes English without

absinth/absinthe
strong liqueur

Origin
Arabic afsinteen

absolute alcohol
Ethyl alcohol with less than 1% water by weight

Origins
English absolute 'complete', 'perfect'
Arabic al 'the'
Indian Tamil kall 'vineous liqueur'

Mechanism
Arabic al + Indian Tamil kall = German der Alkohol, English alcohol
English absolute + Arabic al + Indian Tamil kall = English absolute alcohol

absolute magnitude
astronomical term for magnitude of stars

Origins
English absolute 'complete', 'perfect'
Indian Tamil makaa 'big'

Mechanism
One Indian Tamil consonant has both k and g sounds.
Thus Indian Tamil makaa becomes Latin and English mega.
magnitude derives from mega.

English absolute + magnitude (from Indian Tamil makaa) = English absolute magnitude

Similarities between Indian Tamil and German sound pronounciations

One Indian Tamil consonant has both k and g sounds.
One Indian Tamil consonant has both t and d sounds.

German follows the same practice.
.
German der Tag 'day' is pronounced as der Taak
German rund 'round' (from Indian Tamil undai 'sphere') is pronounced as runt.

absolute majority

Origins
English absolute 'complete', 'perfect'
Indian Tamil makaa 'big'

Mechanism
Indian Tamil consonant sound k becomes h sound in other languages.
Eg: Indian Tamil mukam 'face', Indian Sanskrit mukham 'face', Indian Hindi/Urdu muh 'face', Arabic muhayyam 'face'

Indian Tamil vikkal 'cough', Greek viho 'cough'

Spanish g and j have h sound.
Eg. Spanish Jose is pronounced as Hose.
Spanish gente 'people' is pronounced as hente.

Thus Indian Tamil makaa becomes Latin and English major
majority
derives from mega.

Interesting Fact
Many cold and cough medicines begin with the manufacturer's name Vicks, from Indian Tamil vikkal 'cough'.

absolute value
magnitude of a quantity regardless of sign (like positive or negative)

Origins
English absolute 'complete', 'perfect'
Indian Tamil vilai 'value'


Mechanism
Indian Tamil vilai becomes English value. Both have v-l sounds.

Thus English absolute + English value (from Indian Tamil vilai) = English absolute value

absolute zero
Temperature at which molecular activity stops

Origins
English absolute 'complete', 'perfect'
Arabic sifir 'zero'

Mechanism
Arabic sifir becomes English cipher and zero. c and z are sibilant (related sounds).

Thus English absolute + English zero (from Arabic sifir) = English absolute zero

absorb
take in, suck up

Origins
English prefix ab 'do'
Arabic zurb 'suck up'

Mechanism
Thus English ab + Arabic zurb = English absorb

absorbance
See absorb

absorbed
See absorb

absorbent
See absorb

absorber
See absorb

absorbing
See absorb

absorptance
See absorb

absorption
See absorb

absorption spectrum
See absorb

abstain

Origins
German ab 'away', 'down'
Latin ab 'away', 'off'
Indian Sanskrit stha 'remain', 'stay'

Mechanism
ab + Indian Sanskrit stha = English abstain 'stay away'

abstainer
See abstain

See our previous edition
http://wordorigins.wordpress.com/2006/12/22/hello-world/


Contact us
rangiranganath@yahoo.com
habbakkuk@gmail.com
kmguru@hotmail.com


See our other articles and books

http://www.geocities.com/kmguru2000/Ignorance.doc
OPOL: http://www.authorsonline.co.uk/viewbook.php?bid=419
Roots: http://www.authorsonline.co.uk/viewbook.php?bid=510


No comments: