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Post by Tone on Jun 23, 2008 21:07:26 GMT
Moby, >wrights work with wood<So a playwright produces some rather wooden prose? Tone
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Post by Moby_Dick on Jun 23, 2008 21:13:57 GMT
Good point!
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Post by Pete on Jun 23, 2008 22:17:05 GMT
Logically, though, a wright makes things, such as ships, carts, wheels and arks. Oh yes, and plays. A smith makes things with his material, so a blacksmith makes things with iron, a goldsmith makes things with gold and a wordsmith makes things with words, such as songs, plays, poems. That falls over a bit when with songsmiths, doesn't it? Finally, in general a monger sells things, which I think we have already covered.
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Post by goofy on Jun 23, 2008 22:26:54 GMT
wrought is from wroht, the past participle of wyrcan "to work, labour; to make". smith is from smiþ "a worker in metals or in wood"
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 23, 2008 22:42:59 GMT
Is that the same as wright?
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Post by Bertie on Jun 24, 2008 0:00:47 GMT
I have been asked why a fishmonger and an ironmonger are so called, and I've found that monger means "seller of specific items" and probably stems from the Latin for "mango trader". I think it's more likely from Latin mangō "dealer in slaves". The term "costermonger" was, I believe, used for someone purveying goods - of any type - from a barrow. Maybe specialisers used terms such as "fruiterer" to dissociate themselves from that, perhaps disreputable, image.
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Post by goofy on Jun 24, 2008 0:20:05 GMT
Is that the same as wright? It's related. I meant to give the origin of wright but I got confused and looked up wrought instead. wright is a metathised form of wyrht "doing, work", which is derived from the same Proto-Germanic source as wrought.
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Post by Rajesh Valluri AKA Raj on Jun 24, 2008 1:10:29 GMT
Guru is Indian( all twenty-four of it's languages) for a teacher. Interestingly, it doesn't even have that connotation of smart or intelligent in our languages. It means quite literally someone that teaches and we do have instances where the "guru" is a complete idiot. "pundit", on the other hand is used to describe someone that is learned, wise and perhaps smart.
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Post by goofy on Jun 24, 2008 1:15:26 GMT
Guru is Indian( all twenty-four of it's languages) for a teacher. Only 24? More like... I don't know, there's a lot. guru comes from a Proto-Indo-European form meaning "heavy", and it's cognate with gravity.
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Post by Dave on Jun 24, 2008 3:45:55 GMT
Uh-oh! Let's try its.
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Post by Dave on Jun 24, 2008 3:56:35 GMT
The terms warmonger and whoremonger are used--and maybe even confused!
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Post by Pete on Jun 24, 2008 10:47:03 GMT
Guru is Indian( all twenty-four of it's languages) for a teacher. Interestingly, it doesn't even have that connotation of smart or intelligent in our languages. It means quite literally someone that teaches and we do have instances where the "guru" is a complete idiot. "pundit", on the other hand is used to describe someone that is learned, wise and perhaps smart. Interesting, thank you. In the context of my work role, I am expected to both have knowledge and to pass it on, which strikes me as a working definition of "teacher". As you point out, that doesn't mean I am wise, merely well informed! As it happens, I am also usually assumed to be a pundit, at least in the field of UK taxation. Outside that, well, I know what my wife thinks!
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 24, 2008 11:24:21 GMT
The terms warmonger and whoremonger are used--and maybe even confused! On a morality level, I'd rate a whoremonger somewhat higher than a warmonger - but neither very high at all.
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 24, 2008 17:51:58 GMT
guru comes from a Proto-Indo-European form meaning "heavy", and it's cognate with gravity. Is that guru the English word or guru the Indian word? I had assumed the British English word came as a loan-word from the Raj, as so many of our words did ( verandah, bungalow, thug, tiffin, gymkhana).
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 24, 2008 17:53:55 GMT
Pundit, great word! I'd forgotten that comes from the Indian, thanks Vallurirajesh.
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