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	<title>My Etymology Blog</title>
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	<pubDate>Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:41:31 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Cousin words with different meanings</title>
		<link>http://www.myetymology.com/blog/romance-languages/cousin-words-with-different-meanings</link>
		<comments>http://www.myetymology.com/blog/romance-languages/cousin-words-with-different-meanings#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:34:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Romance languages]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Latin]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Romanian]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[word history]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Millions of words in hundreds of languages (spoken by half of the humanity) are derived from just a thousand words spoken by the tribes of the Indo-Europeans.
These inherited words have undergone through countless changes in their morphology and phonetics, have been borrowed to and fro, have been mixed with non-Indo-European languages and of course, they changed their meanings [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Millions of words in hundreds of languages (spoken by half of the humanity) are derived from just a thousand words spoken by the tribes of the Indo-Europeans.</p>
<p>These inherited words have undergone through countless changes in their morphology and phonetics, have been borrowed to and fro, have been mixed with non-Indo-European languages and of course, they changed their meanings many times.</p>
<p>Here we have an example for such a changing of meaning from a Latin word, <a href="http://www.myetymology.com/latin/magister.html">magister</a>. This Latin word, meaning &#8220;teacher&#8221; or &#8220;master&#8221;, is derived from <a href="http://www.myetymology.com/latin/magis.html">magis</a>, a word meaning &#8220;greater&#8221;.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.myetymology.com/blog/img/magister.png" alt="" class="centered" /></p>
<p>Six words in Romanian language are derived from the same Latin word, but they were borrowed at different times and have different forms and meanings:</p>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.myetymology.com/romanian/măiestru.html">măiestru</a></strong> - skilful, artful, magic (inherited from Latin)</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.myetymology.com/romanian/maistru.html">maistru</a> </strong>- a foreman (borrowed from German)</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.myetymology.com/romanian/meşter.html">meşter</a></strong> - a craftsman (borrowed from Hungarian)</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.myetymology.com/romanian/maestru.html">maestru</a></strong> - a maestro, a skilled artist (borrowed from Italian)</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.myetymology.com/romanian/master.html">master</a></strong> - master&#8217;s degree (borrowed from English)</li>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.myetymology.com/romanian/magistru.html">magistru</a> </strong>- a teacher (learned borrowing from Latin)</li>
<p>Also, Romanian has the word <a href="http://www.myetymology.com/romanian/metresă.html">metresă</a>, borrowed from French <a href="http://www.myetymology.com/french/maîtresse.html">maîtresse</a>, related in both form and meaning to English <a href="http://www.myetymology.com/english/mistress.html">mistress</a>, which, along with the word <a href="http://www.myetymology.com/english/mister.html">mister</a> is derived from this fruitful Latin word.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Old words &#8212; the origins of the words</title>
		<link>http://www.myetymology.com/blog/uncategorized/old-words-the-origins-of-the-words</link>
		<comments>http://www.myetymology.com/blog/uncategorized/old-words-the-origins-of-the-words#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:25:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.myetymology.com/?p=4</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Where do new words come from? Do people just make them up using random sounds? Surprisingly, no! Most of them are thousands of years old, but evolving: they changed the way they sound, their meaning, their form, but in a constant evolution. For new meanings, people made up new meanings for old words, often using suffixes [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Where do new words come from? Do people just make them up using random sounds? Surprisingly, no! Most of them are thousands of years old, but evolving: they changed the way they sound, their meaning, their form, but in a constant evolution. For new meanings, people made up new meanings for old words, often using suffixes and prefixes.</p>
<p>Modern technology is described using words that are perhaps more than 3000 years old: an antenna is a &#8220;sailyard&#8221;, a monitor is a  &#8220;reminder&#8221;, a computer is a &#8220;thinker&#8221; and so on. The words for &#8220;wheel&#8221; and &#8220;car&#8221; are derived from the words which our ancestors used thousands of years ago when they just acquired the new technology from Mesopotamia.</p>
<p>Most of the words used nowadays to describe technology are from Latin and Greek, <br />
the languages which were for a long time the <i>lingua franca</i>, that is, the standard language used in the sciences. So, don&#8217;t be surprised when your Digital Versatile Disc is derived completely from Latin and Greek.</p>
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