Aller au contenu
Répondre

etymology

de eb.eric, 20 août 2008

Messages : 5

Langue: English

eb.eric (Voir le profil) 20 août 2008 22:31:58

I learned at school, through studying structures in the brain, that tegmentum and tectum are latin words for floor and roof respectively, and are so the names of the bottom and top part of a certain structure.

However I know that the Esperanto word tegmento means roof in Esperanto... so... did Zamenhof make a boo-boo?

Frakseno (Voir le profil) 21 août 2008 00:00:56

According to what I've been able to come up with, tegmentum means "covering," which seems to fit a roof.

"Did Zamenhof make a boo-boo?" Haha - it is for to laugh!
(just kidding!)
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin tegumentum, tegmentum, covering, from tegere
Date: 1832
And Tectum is from tectus, the past participle of tegere.

Miland (Voir le profil) 21 août 2008 00:09:32

I can think of one reason why his decision may have been deliberate: tegumento means body cover (for living organisms), and Zamenhof may have felt that the choice of tegmento for roof was more appropriate. So it may have been the Latins that made the boo-boo, while the majstro got it right!

eb.eric (Voir le profil) 21 août 2008 00:34:32

Tegmentum
Etymology:
New Latin, from Latin tegumentum, tegmentum, covering, from tegere

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tegmentu...

Tectum
Etymology:
New Latin, from Latin, roof, dwelling, from neuter of tectus, past participle of tegere to cover

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tectum

Looks like both words come from the same root?

I don't know anything about Latin.

eb.eric (Voir le profil) 21 août 2008 18:41:08

super-griek:Tegmentum (teg-mentum, kovr-ilo) is a covering, sometimes a roof -- I once saw it used in that meaning in a text by Tacitus. It is, however, never a floor, as far as I know (after six years of high school Latin).
Looks like there may be a mistake on the Wiki article then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegmentum

Retour au début