Back to My 'Original Mission' - the hunt for #TheRootOfAllWords | @NLM_NIH @Google @LearnThat @ReadingRockets @YourDictionary @UW @HotForWords @d_TRIX
When I started this blog (as I've probably mentioned before ... but I'm
'reviewing it to myself'), it was inspired by 'how--when I'd look at
"etymologies" (histories) after definitions in the dictionaries--I'd see that
the history-words meant "words that were also in the dictionary," whose
etymologies meant other words in the dictionary, whose etymologies
meant ... etc., etc.... until you get to 'the word's earliest root (see
below).
As I was thinking of topic-ideas to use as the base of this blog, I remembered
how much I liked 'finding out which words provided the base/root/support for
certain words' (something that Marina "HotForWords" reminded me as she rose to
'super-stardom' (or the closest thing to-it that any word-nerd could even
hope for)).
Some inspiration also came from the
"CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE"-books
(you know; those books where you get to make certain choices in the story to
sort-of control 'what happens in the story'). And I think that's where I got
mixed-up here.
Because I thought I was going to make
each blog-entry 'one that "dug all the way down" to the
foundational-root'; and I think I did
that ... on a 'version of this blog' that got deleted (or -that I can't/don't
access anymore).
That, and I'd often get 'distracted' and stop working on one entry when
inspired by another topic (something new is brought up in politics or comedy
or science or religion etc.)
So I'd forget to tie all the words down to ... see below (the bold text,
hyperlinked to ... my primary reference for this blog (and no, it's not
HotForWords 😋)).
#TheRootOfAllWords is ... well, I don't know if my primary source says (and it might be replaced by "the web's largest word root and prefix directory").
Asking the Internet gave me (besides the new-to-me source linked above)
They say that a lot of the words' roots (some 60%-to-80%, I hear) are found
in
Greek
or
Latin; that's truly where they were first 'formulated,' but I'm pretty-sure they
originated in #Babytalk (and/or in
Onomatopoeia
(Echoic
Origins)).
I remember sitting with some friends at a church-meeting. They had an infant
child, and--when it needed something--it ("he," I think) would basically
call out, "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma ..." and his mother would know exactly what was
troubling him.
The word "Babytalk" is ... not the word I'm looking for---well, not exactly. I thought it was 'the babbling babies do,' but it's actually "the babbling parents & other caregivers do to the baby" (although that is where the babies get a lot of their words!) This may seem counter-productive, but University of Washington tells us how parents actually help their children by adopting babytalk into their #Parentese.
The phrase I'm looking for is (Speech and Language at Home tells us) the #Crying and Babbling (including #Reduplicated- (e.g. ma-ma, ba-ba, pa-pa) & #Variegated- (e.g. ma-de-pa)). That grows into Words, Phrases & #Sentences!
The word "Crying" is built on ancient words that mean #Wail.
just like #Crybaby #Cries #Cried #Cry #CryYourEyesOut
#FarCry #Crier #Criers #Crybabies #OutCry
The word "Wail" is built on ancient words that mean #Woe.
just like #Wails #Wailed #Wailer #Wailers
#Bewail #Bewails #Bewailed #Bewailing
The word "Woe" is built on the internationally-common #Interjection of one struck by Trauma or Tragedy.
just like #Woebegone #Woeful #Wae #Wa! #Oy
The word "Interjection" is built on ancient words that mean "to Throw either-from Within or -in Between."
just like #Interject #Interjectional #Introjection
The word Reduplicated is obviously Re- + #Duplicated. The word "Duplicated" is built on ancient words that mean "to Fold Double."
just like #Duplicate #Duplicates #Duplicating #Duplicaation
The word "Variegated" is built on ancient words that mean "to Vary."
just like #Variegate #Variegated #Variegates
just like #Sentence #Sentenced #Sentencing
#Sentintial #Sententially #Sententious #Sententiously
#Sententiousness
with the suffix "-ese" is built on ancient words that mean Belonging to (or Originating in).
And so it goes.
My New Mantra (one of several) |
I really enjoy sharing my unique perspectives and I'm thankful to you for
liking this enough to subscribe (FOR FREE) to get alerts when I post something new and -to comment below (to tell me how crazy or -ingenious or -foolish
or -enlightening-etc. my writing is).
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