@kph - I'm with you. I lived in Memphis for many years and I don't recall hearing it. If I did, it must not have been often enough to make an impression. What I have heard is "onto tomorrow" at the end of day to wrap it up meaning "until or 'til tomorrow" and that's ok with me.

As for ask, aks (axs) ... I always reply to the person who says, "I'm aksing you." with "Why to do you want to chop me with an ax?"

In OE the verb was ascian (the c=k) and the noun was ascung (and frain) ... in ME the verb was asken and the noun ascung had been dropped for frain and the Latinate word - question.

While the spelling in OE is steady ... it's all over the place in ME from asken to eskien, aschen, eschen, ocsien, acsien, axien, axen, and past tense asked to escade, easkede, and haxede.

In this day and age, I'd rather be clear when I say, "I'm going to ask the boss" that the person doesn't report me to security for threatening to "ax the boss"! lol

This is what my dictionary on the computer says: Gerund - a form that is derived from a verb but that functions as a noun, in English ending in -ing.

My writing proves I am an entrepreneur.
My composition proves I am an entrepreneur. *** Nothing wrong with this usage.

My writing books proves I am an entrepreneur.
*My composition books proves I am an entrepreneur.
***Here you could say "my composing books" or "my composition of books" ... regardless, and this is the point of this thread, ... "me composition of books" or "me composing books" are wrong unless you want to claim that me=my in proper usage.

I think healer would be a good word for physician. Leech made it into ME as leche with the meaning of physican. OE lâcnian - to heal, cure, treat, look after; lacnung - healing, cure: medicament, remedy; lacnigendlic - surgical. Still, the best word is healer I think ... It could be used by a physician as well as a shaman!

I've hit a couple of tuffies ... OK ... I'm looking for an OE ... or even a non-Latinate Middle English word for "trait" or "feature" ... As in, "His height, his strength, and his wit are traits wanted by many."

I've found nothing in OE; I found "alit' in Old Norse for feature; I found "trekk" and "trekket" in nowadays Norwegian for trait and "trek" in Dutch (meaning feature).

Trait is from Latin tractus ... the same root for "tract" (OE traht). I'm about to give up and accept it since it shares a root a pre-conquest Latinate or use "trekk" ... I like the extra k to make it unlike "trek" which is used for a hard trip.

I've thought about making a noun from hligan (to attribute to) ... that would kind of go with "alit" from ON.

---

The next one is 'communications' ... as in 'He is the communications officer.' Only Icelandic has a different word than a form of communication: samskipti which is similar to OE samodspræc.

Samod is an OE adverb and forefast (prefix) meaning 'at the same time' (simultaneously) also seen as sama and samo. A good forefast to bring back!

samodgang = continuous; communication between rooms (an open door?).

Update spræc to sprac or speak; thus a nowadays turning/writing of it could be:

samespeak (don't like), samespeaking, samodspeak, samodspeaking, samodsprac, samodsprak, samsprack, samsprek, samsprec ... I like the last two but I think that's my knowledge of German seeping thru.

Maybe thruspeak or thruhspeak ... thrutalk ... to speak thru or talk thru?

@cris ... I pronounce the l in walk and talk ... common in the South.

Must be a British thing ... An American would say, "England is on the attack."

I gave you the option of wiped out because I didn't know if you wanted to be clear-cut. Otherwise use 'dead'. The word 'extinct' doesn't tell us how the species died ... whether natural or by man or by accident ... just that it no longer is. In that case, it is a dead species.

No doubt that there are Latinates that are clearer and likely would have been borrowed. Just as English as taken in Scandinavian and Dutch words ... like trip. Some of the Germanic words made there way to English thru France like 'drug' likely because of the intense relationship between England and France after the Conquest.

Gotta get moving for the day but I'll leave with a series of kennings from OE that will have to be left in the dustbin.

leecher - docter
leechbook - book of prescriptions
leechcraft - practice of medicine
leechcraftig - skilled in medicine
leechchest - medicine box
leechfee - doctoer's fee ... OK, maybe we can keep that one and apply it lawyers as well! lol
leechhouse - hospital
leechwort - medicinal herb, drug

@jayles

The word 'wordstock' isn't very new. I found it brooked on blog back in 2006 ... If I tried, I could likely find it being brooked earlier. As a teacher, maybe you should take Wordstock for Teachers! http://www.wordstockfestival.com/education/workstock-for-teachers/

@Ængelfolc ... Thanks for the info. Since I'm living as an expat, I can't go to a local library to find an etymological source. It's either online or nothing for me! lol

First I saw stuff being related to stop and then stop was credited as having come from vulgate Latin probably from along the Rhine ... I thought to myself, that can't be right!

As for tally ... I thought it was a natural to go from OE tæl to tally ... tal+ly ... the source was kind of murky and I think I misread it since it mentioned Anglo-Latin talea 12c. I still think they're related since the Frankish would have have something like tal for number and it would have been known in Old French. Zahl, tal, tæl ... But then tallier supposedly comes from talea. Why not from PGmc tala? I can't say and it just may be coincidence.

@Jayles ... I see what you're saying ... but I'm not sure if that nuance is really there.

I looked at an online thesaurus:
background: experience, accomplishments, history, education, qualification, asf
experience: background, accomplishments, history, education, training, asf

I think that the rub is that often background and experience are qualified by work or education ... The frain, "What is your experience in computing" could cover anything from self-taught to university to work. OTOH, if I ask what is your work experience then it is narrowed. I can also ask what is your work background with computers ... or your education background. If you don't put the qualifier, which is a good way to be ambiguous, then it's open to interpretation. I have a background in aerospace ... Does that mean that I have work experience? A degree? Or that I'm a self-taught space nut? It's open!

But if you want to strike afaring as a new word to give that little bit of unlikeness, I'm ok with that!

An extinct species ... A lost species; wiped out species, dead species, fallen species, doused species, offed, forgone.

The dinosaurs are a dead sett/group/kind that were wiped out by a spacerock! (Or rumerock, rumestone).
It is a dead volcano ... lifeless volcano.

That's a gripping scale that you have there!

I fix the problem by writing it in the military fashion ... 01 Aug!

The rule of thumb is not to write out the ordinal after the month ... It's one that I ignore if I'm not writing the year. I write August 1st. If I add the year, then I drop the 'st' ... August 1, 2011.

This is not a biggie ... Do it the way you want!