While I do not in any sense speak or read Latin, I do have a reasonable vocabulary of written words in the language. My curiosity is also piqued by etymology.
Therefore I kick myself twice over for having used the word "college" (or "collegium") all my life without ever noticing "co-lege"... "con-legium"... "together (by) law". Priestly colleges and burial clubs... It's Romanese for a group of people having a legal existence in its own right: Latin for "Inc."
Derp.
(It was also years after high school German that I noticed that the name of a certain watch company meant something. I can be stunningly devoid of perspicacity at times; Clouseau-like in my obliviousness. If you would like to hide something from me, I would suggest the middle of the floor as an ideal spot.)
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11 comments:
"Day- this year" always seemed like a silly name to me.i liked their original name, Leonidas.
It took me a few years to figure "Swatch" out, too.
That's okay -- I was all grown up when I learned that the distress call "Mayday" was just phonetic French for "m'aidez".
Thanks og. I never would have figured that one out (honest). I always assumed it was some fancy lad designer's name, like Calvin Klein or Antoine Bugleboy.
My current favorite is the Blog
" Vox Populi " whose author's nom-de-plume is Vox Day.
Too clever by half, that.
Hmm, perhaps it wouldn't be a good idea to color coordinate the 870 to Roseholme's interior!
Not perspicacity, boy that brings back old memories. When I was a SSgt in the AF o these many years ago I worked for an officer who would not endorse an Airman Performance Report (APR)for the Wing CC's endorsement unless the APR contained the word perspicacity in the description of the airman. Good times!
I once had a Leonidas watch. It was sitting downstairs on the coffee table the night I woke up from a sound sleep to the sound of a burglar opening my bedroom door. Fortunately, he and his buddies beat a hasty retreat when they realized someone was home. At the time I did not own a firearm, a situation which I soon rectified. Never saw the watch again.
Heuer anybody?
This is how we got Audis. The car-making firm Horch (cognate with English "hark!") was bought out from under its founder, complete with the name. When he started up again on his own, he decided to use "Audi", as back then, educated people had some Latin, and could be counted on to make the connection, as in "Listen!".
I thought AUDI stood for "Auto Union Deutsche Industrie"? The Horch/Audi thing sounds apocryphal.
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