Anne Phillips
@annephillipssea.bsky.social
Language, education, writing systems
Reposted by Anne Phillips
Another interesting Italian word is 'codesto': "that (near you)", now archaic outside Tuscany.
It comes from Old Italian 'cotevesto'.
This word descended from Latin 'eccum tibi istum', literally something like "here's this for you".
In isolation, these words became 'ecco', 'ti', and '(qu)esto'.
It comes from Old Italian 'cotevesto'.
This word descended from Latin 'eccum tibi istum', literally something like "here's this for you".
In isolation, these words became 'ecco', 'ti', and '(qu)esto'.
Italian 'quello', Portuguese 'aquele', Spanish 'aquel', meaning "that", have an interesting origin.
The part '(a)qu-' comes from Latin 'eccum', meaning "look".
Italian even preserves it as a standalone word:
'Ecco la ragione!' (That's the reason!).
Click to learn all about Romance demonstratives:
The part '(a)qu-' comes from Latin 'eccum', meaning "look".
Italian even preserves it as a standalone word:
'Ecco la ragione!' (That's the reason!).
Click to learn all about Romance demonstratives:
January 31, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Another interesting Italian word is 'codesto': "that (near you)", now archaic outside Tuscany.
It comes from Old Italian 'cotevesto'.
This word descended from Latin 'eccum tibi istum', literally something like "here's this for you".
In isolation, these words became 'ecco', 'ti', and '(qu)esto'.
It comes from Old Italian 'cotevesto'.
This word descended from Latin 'eccum tibi istum', literally something like "here's this for you".
In isolation, these words became 'ecco', 'ti', and '(qu)esto'.
Today I saw a sign near an apartment garbage area that said, "breakdown boxes before putting in recycling". It is interesting to me that verbs + particle are so often written as closed compounds these days: "login here" or "signup for a class". 1/
January 24, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Today I saw a sign near an apartment garbage area that said, "breakdown boxes before putting in recycling". It is interesting to me that verbs + particle are so often written as closed compounds these days: "login here" or "signup for a class". 1/
Reposted by Anne Phillips
The Spanish word 'nada' (nothing) stems from a Latin word meaning "born".
'No veo nada' (I don't see anything) comes from 'nōn videō rem nātam', literally "I don't see a born thing".
Here are the origins of 'niente', 'rien', 'ninguno' and many more Romance words for "nothing" and "no one":
1/
'No veo nada' (I don't see anything) comes from 'nōn videō rem nātam', literally "I don't see a born thing".
Here are the origins of 'niente', 'rien', 'ninguno' and many more Romance words for "nothing" and "no one":
1/
January 12, 2025 at 5:44 PM
The Spanish word 'nada' (nothing) stems from a Latin word meaning "born".
'No veo nada' (I don't see anything) comes from 'nōn videō rem nātam', literally "I don't see a born thing".
Here are the origins of 'niente', 'rien', 'ninguno' and many more Romance words for "nothing" and "no one":
1/
'No veo nada' (I don't see anything) comes from 'nōn videō rem nātam', literally "I don't see a born thing".
Here are the origins of 'niente', 'rien', 'ninguno' and many more Romance words for "nothing" and "no one":
1/
Reposted by Anne Phillips
Yesterday I posted about the Romance words for "to want".
Spanish and Portuguese use 'querer' instead of a descendant of Latin *volēre.
What would *volēre have become if it had undergone the sound changes that occurred in these two languages?
Listen to its hypothetical modern outcomes:
Spanish and Portuguese use 'querer' instead of a descendant of Latin *volēre.
What would *volēre have become if it had undergone the sound changes that occurred in these two languages?
Listen to its hypothetical modern outcomes:
January 8, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Yesterday I posted about the Romance words for "to want".
Spanish and Portuguese use 'querer' instead of a descendant of Latin *volēre.
What would *volēre have become if it had undergone the sound changes that occurred in these two languages?
Listen to its hypothetical modern outcomes:
Spanish and Portuguese use 'querer' instead of a descendant of Latin *volēre.
What would *volēre have become if it had undergone the sound changes that occurred in these two languages?
Listen to its hypothetical modern outcomes:
Yep, the b in debt is an etymological insertion and English phonotactics leave it unpronounced. But pedantic insertions did sometimes lead to a change in pronunciation as with the d in 'adventure'
We have never pronounced the ‘b’ in ‘debt.’
‘Debt’ is derived through the Middle English word ‘dette' and from the Old French ‘dette’ or ‘dete.’
In the Middle Ages, scholars knew the word had its origin in the Latin word ‘debitum,’ so they retroactively added a ‘b.’
‘Debt’ is derived through the Middle English word ‘dette' and from the Old French ‘dette’ or ‘dete.’
In the Middle Ages, scholars knew the word had its origin in the Latin word ‘debitum,’ so they retroactively added a ‘b.’
December 13, 2024 at 9:07 AM
Yep, the b in debt is an etymological insertion and English phonotactics leave it unpronounced. But pedantic insertions did sometimes lead to a change in pronunciation as with the d in 'adventure'
Words that are pervasively misspelled are good candidates for one-off reform. "Lose" is such a word. If there were a mechanism for change, this would have happened long ago. "Lose" should be and "loose" can be . @merriam-webster.com let's do this!
December 13, 2024 at 9:01 AM
Words that are pervasively misspelled are good candidates for one-off reform. "Lose" is such a word. If there were a mechanism for change, this would have happened long ago. "Lose" should be and "loose" can be . @merriam-webster.com let's do this!
Oh wait, gruntling must be positive, so I suppose I don't have enough ruth to gruntle Hank.
I have too much ruth for that.
December 12, 2024 at 6:44 AM
Oh wait, gruntling must be positive, so I suppose I don't have enough ruth to gruntle Hank.
Controversial orthography opinion: we should use the words "long" and "short" to refer to the two most common pronunciations of each vowel letter.
December 12, 2024 at 6:09 AM
Controversial orthography opinion: we should use the words "long" and "short" to refer to the two most common pronunciations of each vowel letter.
Reposted by Anne Phillips
This manifesto could have been an email.
December 10, 2024 at 10:29 PM
This manifesto could have been an email.
It is commonly believed that the 100 most common words of English are of Germanic origin. Mostly, but not completely true. It depends on your list, but the following words are of Norman/French origin: use, very, people, person, just and the second element of "because".
December 10, 2024 at 1:58 AM
It is commonly believed that the 100 most common words of English are of Germanic origin. Mostly, but not completely true. It depends on your list, but the following words are of Norman/French origin: use, very, people, person, just and the second element of "because".
Reposted by Anne Phillips
The ancestor of 'to forget' meant "to lose hold of".
It was the opposite of 'to get'.
Speaking of 'to get', this verb is special: it only has cognates in the Nordic languages, such as Norwegian 'å gjeta'.
It was even borrowed from their Old Norse ancestor 'geta'.
Here's more:
It was the opposite of 'to get'.
Speaking of 'to get', this verb is special: it only has cognates in the Nordic languages, such as Norwegian 'å gjeta'.
It was even borrowed from their Old Norse ancestor 'geta'.
Here's more:
December 7, 2024 at 7:38 PM
The ancestor of 'to forget' meant "to lose hold of".
It was the opposite of 'to get'.
Speaking of 'to get', this verb is special: it only has cognates in the Nordic languages, such as Norwegian 'å gjeta'.
It was even borrowed from their Old Norse ancestor 'geta'.
Here's more:
It was the opposite of 'to get'.
Speaking of 'to get', this verb is special: it only has cognates in the Nordic languages, such as Norwegian 'å gjeta'.
It was even borrowed from their Old Norse ancestor 'geta'.
Here's more:
Just heard in the wild: "pivotal turning point". I think I'm in love.
December 8, 2024 at 6:18 AM
Just heard in the wild: "pivotal turning point". I think I'm in love.
I am figuring out Bluesky! It is all about "feeds". You can add "New Posts from Follows" and that lists posts by people you follow in the order they were posted. (The only thing my main feed shows me is the biggest accounts of famous people.)
December 5, 2024 at 9:08 PM
I am figuring out Bluesky! It is all about "feeds". You can add "New Posts from Follows" and that lists posts by people you follow in the order they were posted. (The only thing my main feed shows me is the biggest accounts of famous people.)
Reposted by Anne Phillips
Folks with any reach on Bluesky, please consider reposting so I can find friends old and new:
I'm Rob; I like fantasy books, maths and physics, ancient stuff and mythology, linguistics and music, British wildlife, and a whole bunch of other stuff. And I might occasionally mention Doctor Who
I'm Rob; I like fantasy books, maths and physics, ancient stuff and mythology, linguistics and music, British wildlife, and a whole bunch of other stuff. And I might occasionally mention Doctor Who
November 12, 2024 at 7:50 PM
Folks with any reach on Bluesky, please consider reposting so I can find friends old and new:
I'm Rob; I like fantasy books, maths and physics, ancient stuff and mythology, linguistics and music, British wildlife, and a whole bunch of other stuff. And I might occasionally mention Doctor Who
I'm Rob; I like fantasy books, maths and physics, ancient stuff and mythology, linguistics and music, British wildlife, and a whole bunch of other stuff. And I might occasionally mention Doctor Who
This is the crux of the issue. It is great to research causality, and it is great to look for problems that travel together, but if you want to help a struggling reader, identify where the difficulty lies and help with that.
If the barrier is gaps in basic alphabetic code knowledge, target this.
If the barrier is blending words, target this.
If decoding is fine but the barrier is dysfluency, target this.
Identifying and addressing individual needs will *always outperform general strategies on the basis of labels.
If the barrier is blending words, target this.
If decoding is fine but the barrier is dysfluency, target this.
Identifying and addressing individual needs will *always outperform general strategies on the basis of labels.
December 5, 2024 at 8:06 PM
This is the crux of the issue. It is great to research causality, and it is great to look for problems that travel together, but if you want to help a struggling reader, identify where the difficulty lies and help with that.
Honey put down that flyswatter,
and pour me some ice water.
and pour me some ice water.
What is your favourite lyric of all time?
December 5, 2024 at 5:42 PM
Honey put down that flyswatter,
and pour me some ice water.
and pour me some ice water.
Reposted by Anne Phillips
The deep goal of bluesky is to decentralize the social internet so that every individual controls their experience of it rather than having it be controlled by 5 random billionaires. Everyone thinks they signed up for a demuskified twitter...we actually signed an exciting and bizarre experiment.
December 3, 2024 at 4:05 PM
The deep goal of bluesky is to decentralize the social internet so that every individual controls their experience of it rather than having it be controlled by 5 random billionaires. Everyone thinks they signed up for a demuskified twitter...we actually signed an exciting and bizarre experiment.
Reposted by Anne Phillips
One of the things that keeps me going back to Twitter is that I get fairly regular DMs on there asking me for advice about reading.
Just to be clear: I am more than happy for people to DM on here for the same reason.
Please repost this if you think this info might be useful to someone.
Just to be clear: I am more than happy for people to DM on here for the same reason.
Please repost this if you think this info might be useful to someone.
December 2, 2024 at 10:14 PM
One of the things that keeps me going back to Twitter is that I get fairly regular DMs on there asking me for advice about reading.
Just to be clear: I am more than happy for people to DM on here for the same reason.
Please repost this if you think this info might be useful to someone.
Just to be clear: I am more than happy for people to DM on here for the same reason.
Please repost this if you think this info might be useful to someone.
I encountered the word "accidence" for the first time today. It is an old word for 'inflectional morphology'.
December 3, 2024 at 8:05 PM
I encountered the word "accidence" for the first time today. It is an old word for 'inflectional morphology'.
Reposted by Anne Phillips
Bluesky tip for newbies: Bluesky has no real algorithm. Likes here do nothing but show the poster that you enjoyed their content.
That kindness is always going to be appreciated by creators, but if you want to help to boost something here, you have to repost it so others see it. 🙂
That kindness is always going to be appreciated by creators, but if you want to help to boost something here, you have to repost it so others see it. 🙂
November 18, 2024 at 10:27 AM
Bluesky tip for newbies: Bluesky has no real algorithm. Likes here do nothing but show the poster that you enjoyed their content.
That kindness is always going to be appreciated by creators, but if you want to help to boost something here, you have to repost it so others see it. 🙂
That kindness is always going to be appreciated by creators, but if you want to help to boost something here, you have to repost it so others see it. 🙂
Reposted by Anne Phillips
I am on a one-man campaign to introduce the word ‘niblings’ as a collective term for both (obvs modelled on ‘siblings’.)
November 19, 2024 at 7:07 PM
I am on a one-man campaign to introduce the word ‘niblings’ as a collective term for both (obvs modelled on ‘siblings’.)