About: omg, a mistake in Etymology of ALL DICTIONARIES
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:39 pmAbout.
The word ABOUT!
Yep, I'm talkin about the word ABOUT!
When I was tracking down etymologies of words, I discovered a glaring error in all of my dictionaries concerning the word ABOUT when used to describe an indefinite number of objects/subjects.
i.e.:
About time! (literally translated this sentence fragment is describing "a great deal of" time [has passed])
About fifty! (literally describing an undefined number raging in the number of 50)
This word is said to have evolved from Gothic/Germanic/Frisian/Norse (or whatever it is) uta, utan, utana, uzan.
I've tried to track the etymological tree to Uta, Utan, Utana, Uzan and I cannot find a link to any of these words in spelling/pronunciation.
In fact, the link only appears during the 19th century at the time that Queen Victoria's little men decided to "track etymologies of the world", and the conventional thought was god gave us germans, germans gave us civilization (because Queen Vic was well, had heavy german families in her tree).
But, there is something about Phonetic evolution does link the word directly to Abundans/Abundare (Latin) Abundance (todays english) And guess what, Abundance means a great deal of any specific thing.
You see, in no way shape or form can Uta become About because the wording just doesn't even begin to fit.
However, in phonetic evolution one learns these things:
1. N is a natural consonant that tends to appear with D when D follows a soft vowel. A soft vowel such as UH or EH has a good chance to create a natural N appear in front of the D because of how the tongue works against your pallet.
This phenomenon happens in ALL language, and is tried and true. It happens in Japanese, it happens in Chinese, it happens in French, it Happens
2. D is a soft form of T. D first appeared when a vowel sound such as Ah, or EH followed a word that might otherwise have a T sound.
Chop off -ANS/-ARE (pronounced -ahns/-are) from Abundans/Abundare, and you have Abund. Try to say Abund, the D sounds like an unfinished T. Replace the D with a T, and you can't say the N without great difficulty. The N automatically vanishes and you have:
Abut.
Everyone knows that when canadians or anyone with a similar thick accent says About they sound like Aboot (oo also = a hard U sound)
Now, this is where you can have the celtic/gothic connection.
If you were an illiterate Gothic/celtic/pict trying to learn to become literate, read and write Latin, would you be likely to spell out the entire word : Abundance?
Or would you be likely to abbreviate it. It only took 1 person to abbreviate Abundance to look like Abund. And it only took 1 person to pronounce it Abut (turning the D into a T is pretty natural occurance in the Gothic language, and ropping the N would've been automatic).
Another possibility is Abundance is a hybrid word with Uta. Making it a natural progression to Abuut-About prior to wide spread literacy.
In either case, even if I am wrong about About being a corrupted version of Abundans/Abundare (I seriously doubt I am), there's no way in hell it even remotely resembles Uta or Utana.
The word ABOUT!
Yep, I'm talkin about the word ABOUT!
When I was tracking down etymologies of words, I discovered a glaring error in all of my dictionaries concerning the word ABOUT when used to describe an indefinite number of objects/subjects.
i.e.:
About time! (literally translated this sentence fragment is describing "a great deal of" time [has passed])
About fifty! (literally describing an undefined number raging in the number of 50)
This word is said to have evolved from Gothic/Germanic/Frisian/Norse (or whatever it is) uta, utan, utana, uzan.
I've tried to track the etymological tree to Uta, Utan, Utana, Uzan and I cannot find a link to any of these words in spelling/pronunciation.
In fact, the link only appears during the 19th century at the time that Queen Victoria's little men decided to "track etymologies of the world", and the conventional thought was god gave us germans, germans gave us civilization (because Queen Vic was well, had heavy german families in her tree).
But, there is something about Phonetic evolution does link the word directly to Abundans/Abundare (Latin) Abundance (todays english) And guess what, Abundance means a great deal of any specific thing.
You see, in no way shape or form can Uta become About because the wording just doesn't even begin to fit.
However, in phonetic evolution one learns these things:
1. N is a natural consonant that tends to appear with D when D follows a soft vowel. A soft vowel such as UH or EH has a good chance to create a natural N appear in front of the D because of how the tongue works against your pallet.
This phenomenon happens in ALL language, and is tried and true. It happens in Japanese, it happens in Chinese, it happens in French, it Happens
2. D is a soft form of T. D first appeared when a vowel sound such as Ah, or EH followed a word that might otherwise have a T sound.
Chop off -ANS/-ARE (pronounced -ahns/-are) from Abundans/Abundare, and you have Abund. Try to say Abund, the D sounds like an unfinished T. Replace the D with a T, and you can't say the N without great difficulty. The N automatically vanishes and you have:
Abut.
Everyone knows that when canadians or anyone with a similar thick accent says About they sound like Aboot (oo also = a hard U sound)
Now, this is where you can have the celtic/gothic connection.
If you were an illiterate Gothic/celtic/pict trying to learn to become literate, read and write Latin, would you be likely to spell out the entire word : Abundance?
Or would you be likely to abbreviate it. It only took 1 person to abbreviate Abundance to look like Abund. And it only took 1 person to pronounce it Abut (turning the D into a T is pretty natural occurance in the Gothic language, and ropping the N would've been automatic).
Another possibility is Abundance is a hybrid word with Uta. Making it a natural progression to Abuut-About prior to wide spread literacy.
In either case, even if I am wrong about About being a corrupted version of Abundans/Abundare (I seriously doubt I am), there's no way in hell it even remotely resembles Uta or Utana.