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Day: January 24, 2017
Why have the words “overmorrow” and “ereyesterday” gone? Was it easier for speakers to use “the day after tomorrow” instead of “overmorrow”?
It’s very hard to know. Language change is a bunch of stuff that happens, and language does not always change in an optimal direction. Greek has certainly retained its equivalent words, proxtes and methavrio (and even one more day out: antiproxtes, antimethavrio), it’s not like the concept had become suddenly useless. The following is necessarily […]
Why does cnidarian have a silent “c”?
For the same reason knight and knee (German Knecht, Knie) have a silent k (and used to have a c: Old English cnēo, cniht). English stopped allowing initial kn– in its words in the Middle Ages. Words imported into English from other languages tend to abide by the pronunciation constraints (phonotactics) of native English words. […]
What is proper name of the sound when pushing air through nose?
As a lay term rather than a linguistic description (Vote #1 Clarissa Lohr: Clarissa Lohr’s answer to What is proper name of the sound when pushing air through nose?), I was racking my brains: I was sure English had a word, and couldn’t place it. Something to do with flared nostrils. And huffiness. Our fellow […]
Of all the Greek audio bibles out there, which one comes the closest to authentic reconstructed pronunciation?
http://www.letsreadgreek.co… That site has a review of 22 audio files, of which at least a couple are in reconstructed Koine. They’re what you’re after, rather than Erasmian or Modern Greek. That said, read the answers to: Is the modern pronunciation of Greek accurate for koine? What are the pros and cons of the Erasmian pronunciation? […]