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Day: January 26, 2016

Why is the word “all” spelled this way instead of “aal”?

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Posted in categories: English, Linguistics

Billy Kerr’s answer to Why is the word “all” spelled this way instead of “aal”? is right, but lemme add a bit to it. While English spelling looks pretty random, there is a predictability to it if you assume that it used to make sense in Middle English. So through a particular vowel change in […]

Who are the hardest Greek and Latin authors to read?

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Posted in categories: Ancient Greek, Literature

Second hand answer, based more on what I’ve heard than what I’ve read.  Agreed with Dimitra Triantafyllidou in general, but it’d be good to hear from more classicists. Homer is extremely far away from Attic in time and (to some extent) dialect. So in terms of vocabulary and grammar, it might as well be Phrygian […]

What is the etymology of “archetypal”?

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Posted in categories: Ancient Greek, Linguistics

As the Googles will tell you, from Greek arkhetypon (ἀρχέτυπον):  arkhē, meaning start, beginning, and typos, stamp, impression (originally: a blow). Literally: an initial stamp, an initial impression. And  the meaning the word had  was pretty close to “archetype” from the beginning: LSJ Adjective: “first-moulded as a pattern or model, archetypal”, used by Philo  to […]

What is the difference between Illocutionary act and Illocutionary force?

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Posted in categories: General Language, Linguistics

Per Illocutionary act  and What is an illocutionary act? , it’s always been messy. One take is: The illocutionary act is a speech act: something that the speaker does by speaking. It often expresses an intention that the world matches what the speaker says—that their assertions are accurate, their promises sincere, their commands obeyed. But […]

What are the difference between illocutionary acts and implicature given the sense that both suggest implied meaning or are they just the same?

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Posted in categories: General Language, Linguistics

Implicature is a kind of implied meaning. It’s a default assumption underlying what you are saying, though it can be cancelled out. An illocutionary act is what kind of change in the world you are trying to realise through what you are saying. The implied meaning is not really part of it; it’s more about […]

Is there anywhere on the Internet a scheme of the Greek names and of the elements of which they are formed?

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Posted in categories: Ancient Greek, Linguistics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_name Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, University of Oxford , the online dictionary of all attested Ancient Greek names (which are overwhelmingly from inscriptions) has some materials on their publications list and announcements list, but nothing as methodical as what you have in the Wikipedia page you gave. The most awesome Dr. W. PAPE’s Wörterbuch […]