Mir fehlt der Fleiss beim Biertrinken... Ich dachte dass es ungefaehr eine alte griechische Anwendungssache (oder sowas) sei.
To be Frank, I just have to teach the difference between empirical and theoretical for students who will go on to university... otherwise I wouldn't bother:
"Hi how are you?"
"Feeling rather empirical today!"

Teacher: ... so "a" as a prefix usually means "on" as in "atop" "asleep";
but it the word is Greek it means "without" as in 'agnostic', 'atheist'.
Student: What is Greek???
.. (much explanation later) ...
Student: So "atheist" is someone like me who doesn't use "the"??

"How do you mean "inherently"?' context was domestication of horse: tame vs domesticated. "by and of itself" is quite good enough for most contexts. At the time I was thinking what is the connection with "adhere" ... sticking (which makes it no clearer)

"What will come of English?" "What is to come of English?" "the now", "the coming days" and so on
"Firsthand Betokenings" sounds good, although empiricism doesn't necessarily mean one has to experience everything firsthand oneself.
"All about porn" ??? it's easily misread!

Finally taught the word "agnostic" and made the link with "know" by changing g>>K
But really can we equate "agnostic" with 'unbeliever' and
"atheist" with 'disbeliever' .... or is that just too non-specific??

Anwulf: You are right about being downunder; the peach-blossom is out right now but we could hardly call it "harvest month", so "the ninth month" would do fine. And February??
"Expressing the idea of second ...... there wasn’t a word that could easily be adapted. Old English fell back on other, ...... . " (C) Michael Quinion So are we doomed to use "second" faute de mieux???

"inherently" .... well of course this means "per se" or "by its very nature"... but in "real" English just "of itself" is hardly enough; so what could we use instead of "nature" to make the true meaning clearer? ... "by its very ilk" ????

Aengelfolc: the word "empirical" came up again and I was wondering what the connection with "empire" was..... of course there is none. We could calque German with "experience-based" (which would be more consistent) but still not "real" English. And then there's "empiricism"...
BTW earlier you put forward "angewandt" for practical: it seems to me this really means "applied" in modern English. In which of the following could one use "angewandt" without changing the meaning, please??? I think only D or E. ???

(A) sie hat einen praktischen Verstand she's practically minded
(B) praktischer Arzt general practitioner
(C) praktisches Jahr practical year
(D) praktische Ausbildung practical or in-job training
(E) praktisches Beispiel concrete example

Aengelfolc: "incontinence" in modern usage usually refers to the inability to control one's urinary/bladder function, most often found amongst the elderly. You can get nappies for it.
"Evil lust-yearnings" I still remember from my youth.....

"The neolithic revolution had important consequences" >>
"The new stone age upheaval had far-reaching follow-ons" (or "flow-ons")
???

Angelfolc: so "geornnes" means "earnest" or horniness??