Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

AnWulf

Member Since

June 19, 2011

Total number of comments

616

Total number of votes received

571

Bio

Native English speaker. Conversant in German, Russian, Spanish, and Anglo-Saxon.

Ferþu Hal!

I hav a pilot's license (SEL certificate); I'm a certified diver (NAUI); I'v skydived and was qualified as a paratrooper in the Army (Airborne!); I was a soldier (MI, Armor, Engineer).

I workt for a corporation, was a law enforcement officer, and a business owner.

Bachelor's in Finance; minor in Economics
Masters of Aeronautical Sciences

Strong backer of English spelling reform.

Browncoat

Now I'v written my first novel [ http://www.lulu.com/shop/lt-wolf/the-world-king-book-i-the-reckoning/ebook/product-22015788.html ] and I'm working on others.

http://lupussolus.typad.com
http://lupussolusluna.blogspot.com
http://anwulf.blogspot.com

Latest Comments

“Anglish”

  • April 24, 2013, 8:53am

Amber wasn't chosen as the root for electricity for its color but for its properties ... You rub amber and you get static electricity. Amber in Latin is electrum (from Greek, ήλεκτρο (ilektro)). From that, Gilbert then made the Latin word electricus, whence electric, whence electricity.

We often call it 'power' or 'current' ... both Latinates. Sometimes one might say the 'light bill' insted of the 'electric bill'. (In Spanish, informally it's call 'luz' (light) insted of electricidad.)

He could hav chose glær and latin it ... glaeric or with a more OE ending, glaerlic, that would hav lookt latinish.

“Anglish”

  • April 23, 2013, 7:34pm

@Ængelfolc ... Here's another one for your etym skills. Here is one that has bother'd me for a long time … and I still don't know what to make of it, but I still play with it from time to time.

OE acofrian; p. ode; pp. od To recover; convalesce: -- Wunda opene raþe ácofriað (exalanf), belocene þearle wundiað
[Uorto acoueren his heale, A. R. 364. O. H. Ger. ar-koborōn.]

… swap v for f and you hav 'acover' (ME acoveren, acouren [OE cofrian, corresp. to OHG ir-koborn]) … so some shape of 'cover' is seen in OE and hints at a *cofrian … or is the OHG from a PGmc, from the PIE and thus has nothing to do with the French/Latin? I don't know. … Or the OF 'covir' is from a Frankish word (rather than Latin) from the PGmc or a blend of Frankish and Latin?

Recover is found in AN French with the same meaning as 'acover'. Is 'recover' truly from Latin recuperare or from the OE 'acover' with the re- insted of a-? I think the latter.

“Anglish”

  • April 21, 2013, 12:37am

Another fetching word I saw yestern ... riff ... upspring unknown ... might be from 'refrain' but more like a back-shaping from riffle.

Here is the passage: ... a brilliant sci-fi '''riff''' on what happens after the end of privacy nearly ruins everything.


Riff
Synonyms
interpretation, take, variation

Related Words
version; adaptation, translation
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/riff

“Anglish”

  • April 21, 2013, 12:34am

@Jayles ... I don't know if it would help to teach that -fer latinates can also be thought of as the same light as the word for ferry.

Ferian was a well noted verb in OE. (Ger. führen, Dan. føre: Swed. föra: Icel. ferja to transport)
ferian, ferigan, ferigean, fergan; to ferianne; p. ode, ede; pp. od, ed [fer = fær a journey]. I. to carry, convey, bear, lead, conduct;

As was faren (fare ... Ger. fahren, faren)
FARAN, to farenne; ic fare, ðú farest, færest, færst, færsþ, he fareþ, færeþ, færþ, pl. faraþ; p. fór, pl. fóron; pp. faren, A word expressing every kind of going from one place to another, hence I. to go, proceed, travel, march, sail

Infer (from Latin in+fer ... to bring in) means "deduce or conclude (information) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements: [ with clause ] : from these facts we can infer that crime has been increasing." ... From the thesaurus (Anglo words): gather, understand, take it; read between the lines; informal reckon.

Most ink-horn words were either taken in or put together by Englishmen, true enuff. However, most were done so willy-nilly with the ettle (purpose, intent) of bringing in more latinates ... no other true reasum. Scientific words like electricity (1600 - William Gilbert) were done so with forethought to fill a nook. It was built on the Greek word for amber ( ήλεκτρο (ilektro)). He could hav chosen the Anglo word: glær. But he didn't.

And let's not forget all the French words (most latinates) brought in by Charles and his ilk after the "Restoration". ... They had been living in France during the years of exile.

“Anglish”

  • April 21, 2013, 12:10am

@Ængelfolc ... I thought that you might find this fetching. It's a slideshow put in a PDF file: http://vennemann.userweb.mwn.de/Vennemann_2005_07_13.pdf from a talk: rtsp://stream.lrz-muenchen.de/lmu/LingKoll_2005_07_13.mp4 about a mightlic semitic link to some Germanic/Ur-Germanic words.
It's all guesswork but then what isn't when dealing with such deep roots?

“Anglish”

  • April 19, 2013, 11:23pm

@Jayles - 'term' is likely ok. Even overlookt by the OED and others, there is OE termen, es; m — A term, fixed date

Sometimes yu come full circul (OE circul from Latin circulum) … infer: from Latin inferre ‘bring in, bring about’ (in medieval Latin‘deduce’), from in- ‘into’ + ferre ‘bring’.

To make the same word from OE then in + fer (the root of ferian - to carry, convey, bring ['ferry']) which would giv "infer". So yu'd come up with the same word!

It's late and I'm truly tire'd, but for 'suffer' as to endure; there is 'thole' and 'dree'.

A referee or umpire would be a 'daysman'.
Prefer would be to 'forebear' (not forbear') ... That pesky for-, fore-.

I'd hav to how your noting the others to get a feel for the meaning so that I could find another word. It's seldom that you get a 'one bigness (size) fits all' word swap.

“Anglish”

  • April 19, 2013, 2:48am

Fetching words:

fet (also means to fetch) ... piece
Webster's 1913: Fet \Fet\, n. [Cf. feat, F. fait, and It. fett? slice, G. fetzen
rag, Icel. fat garment.]
A piece. [Obs.] --Dryton.

sprack - activ, lively, alert ... put forth by Barnes for note insted of "active". (From Old Norse sprækr 'lively', from Proto-Indo-European *sp(h)er(e)g- 'to strew, sprinkle')

“Anglish”

  • April 19, 2013, 2:39am

@Ængelfolc ... boon also means a favor or request as well as something is helpful or beneficial (OED).

I think I'v said this before. For aft-1066 latinates:
1. Is the word short? One or two syllable word fit right in with the way of English.
2. How far has it come from the true Latin meaning? There are many words ... like 'pay' from Latin 'pac' or pax' for peace that no Roman would acknow.
2. Is it found thruout the Teutonic tungs ... family.
3. Is there another short Anglo word that was bestedded?
4. Who struck the word? Electricity was struck by an Englishman! I wish that he had chose the Anglo word for amber insted of the Greek word but nonetheless, this is an "English" word as it was made by an Englishman who took a Greek word and then Latin'd it. That doesn't mean that I won't pick another Anglo word if it is better but I'm not as hard on scientific upsprings as I am on inkhorn words that were struck willy nilly.

In the Ancrene Wisse (c1200), we find many latinates that are gloss'd with Anglo words as the priest writes out the 'wissen" (guides, rules ... wisse (n.) guide, advisor, rule) for the ancorites! For byspel, the writer glosses 'temptation' with 'fondunge' (OE fandung).

“Anglish”

  • April 17, 2013, 5:38pm

Why is that so many times, huru those Teutonic words that come thru French, the forefast a- or in- is always given as Latin? In OE, these were both Teutonic forefasts ... Why not in Frankish as well?

For byspel ... array from the Oxford Online: Old French arei (noun), areer (verb), based on Latin ad- ‘toward’ + a Germanic base meaning ‘prepare’.

Why is this not Frankish a-? Liken English ashore a- (to, towards) + shore.

a- 2 |eɪ-|
prefix
to; toward: aside | ashore.
• in a specified state or manner: asleep | aloud.
• in the process of (an activity): a-hunting.
• on: afoot.
• in: nowadays.
ORIGIN Old English, unstressed form of on.

“Anglish”

  • April 14, 2013, 8:59pm

I hav a long list of "obsolete" words that I'm working thru, like:

Whist, adj. - silent.

When all were whist, king Edward thus bespoke.
Hail Windsore where I some times tooke delight
To hawke and hunt, and backe the proudest horse.
- Peeles Honor of the Garter, 1593.

Keepe the whisht, and thou shalt heare it the sooner.
_Terence in English, 1641.

Wishness, adj. - melancholy
Witeword - a covenant
Withnay - to deny ; to resist

Questions

What can I do besides... October 8, 2011