Mesaĝoj: 22
Lingvo: English
SonicChao (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-21 18:06:15
Islander (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-21 18:48:50
From what I understand, English has a 44,000 words vocabulary, nearly double most other languages due to it borrowing a lot from them (French and German probably more than others).
SonicChao (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-21 19:15:14
Islander:I beleive the root is Latin and the English word simply borrowed the usage from a romance language. The French word is enfants.Ah, I know in Spanish it's "niños" so I wasn't able to get help from that.
From what I understand, English has a 44,000 words vocabulary, nearly double most other languages due to it borrowing a lot from them (French and German probably more than others).
![okulumo.gif](/images/smileys/okulumo.gif)
erinja (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-21 21:35:09
Islander:I beleive the root is Latin and the English word simply borrowed the usage from a romance language. The French word is enfants.Merriam-Webster says that the English "infant" comes from the Middle English "enfaunt", which is from the French "enfant", which is from the Latin "infans" (in/fans - Latin for 'not capable of speaking')
gxosefo (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-21 23:21:02
erinja:Merriam-Webster says that the English "infant" comes from the Middle English "enfaunt", which is from the French "enfant", which is from the Latin "infans" (in/fans - Latin for 'not capable of speaking')If the latin part is true, then "infano" should not mean child, but baby, like SonicChao said previously.
Islander (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-22 00:09:47
I'm only speculating on how it may have come to mean what it does but it is easy to see how several centuries ago someone speaking English saw a French person refers to their toddler as their enfant and introduce the word in the english language not knowing the Frenchman was also refering to his 16 years old child just the same.
erinja (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-22 01:05:29
Islander:The meaning of words will likely evolve with time and cultures. Not capable of speaking can easily be interpreted against the culture of Latin speaking Romans where only Adults were authorized to speak, meaning to vote.Right.
And words change meaning, anyway.
For example, a word like "disorient" - literally, it means to turn away from the east. dis- plus -orient. Of course now, the meaning is nothing like that, but that is the meaning of the Latin root.
And I think that few parents would have named their daughters "Barbara" if they realized it came from the same root as the word "barbarian" (from the Greek "barbaros", originally meaning "not Greek", but later acquiring the meaning of "foreign" or "barbaric")
Kwekubo (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-22 01:08:05
gxosefo:If the latin part is true, then "infano" should not mean child, but baby, like SonicChao said previously.Tell that to the French
![rideto.gif](/images/smileys/rideto.gif)
Islander (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-22 01:16:29
![rideto.gif](/images/smileys/rideto.gif)
Mendacapote (Montri la profilon) 2007-februaro-22 11:02:05