Dave Shepherd and Howard Chang talk about derivatives–words that come from other words and how we came to love them.
The derivation of “derivative” (2:42)
How we became infatuated with derivatives (5:17)
Music bumper from “Court of Greedy Kings,” by Val Davis (11:07)
Word Power through derivatives (”plant that seed, watch it grow”) (11:23)
Song: “Carbon Copy” by Sister Machine Gun (21:34)
Rude word of the week: “rip-off” (24:52)
Music bumper from “Melancolica” by Mauricio Cuburu (33:00)
“Challenge words” for our listeners - use your knowledge of root words to post your best guestimates on our blog (33:36)
- anthropomorphic
- euphonious
- hecatonstylon
Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network
Theme music by Kick the Cat
Closing music from “Grapes” by Evan Stone
time: 40:02
size: 36.7 Mb (We’ve gone back to a higher bitrate to improve our sound a bit.)
rating: PG (Our featured song has a brief allusion to drinking.)
It was nice to hear Howard Chang pronounce the word “puerile” as “poo-ER-ile,” because I share his problem of having understood a written word without having heard it pronounced. When I was in high school, I learned the word “banal” through my reading. But until I was far into college, I thought it was pronounced “BAY-nul” instead of “bah-NAL”–the correct pronunciation. (I guess you could say I was “banal retentive.”)
When I heard Howard pronounce “puerile” as a Latin word, I remembered that my friend Jim Taylor has always pronounced it “PWER-ile”–not quite Howard C.’s pronunciation, but close. I suspect it’s because like Howard, Jim took Latin in high school. I’ve always said “PURE-ile,” but until my brother Dave read the pronunciation from the dictionary, I have to admit I wasn’t sure that I was right.
I have no problem with Howard’s pronunciation of puerile which to me is far more correct than the idea od ‘pwer’ where that ‘w’ comes from I wouldn’t know. The Shephard boys I know would be aware of Caesarea in Judea. I would pronounce it with the diphthong -ae that sounds like ‘i’ as opposed to the ‘Cesarea’ you hear in most churches today. I am sure you have talked about the distinction between Caesar (that is a hard C) along with the diphthong and the German Kaiser as well as the Russian Czar.
Anthropomorphic I think was propabaly the easiest especially when you answer most of your own question. Remember, your students need to be trained to think for themselves. My Greek is far more limited, I am sure, than Howard’s but I do know that anthropos means man and morphic must mean change. So literally we are talking about being changed into man. It is like when we told our students that the Greek and the Romans perceived their gods as ‘anthropomorphic’. We are not talking about a God made in the image of God, but a god with a small (g) with the attributes of man. I am also talking about the physical and sensual attributes (especially the libido if we want to bring Latin into it) of man.
I know that ous comes from the Latin suffix osus that means full of, so I guess and I am not sure I have the spelling right ‘euphomous’ must full of sound or noisy. I don’t remember your last word, and I am not sure about my assumptions or answers. When you develop a disease that affects the central nervous system and the brain, you begin to doubt how you your mind processes the simplest of thoughts. I did enjoy listening to your pod cast. Welcome the time you have in the classroom because when it is gone you have moved into another world that will never know the excitement of that interaction.
Amicus et Socius,
Bruce
Nihil Boni Est Iucundus Sine Socio.
I think I’ve already heard anthropomorphic, which means able to take the shape of a human or perhaps already having the shape of a human, and euphonious, meaning having a good or quality sound. I think based on the final hint about architechture that hecatonstylon is a 100-story building. Love the show guys. Take it easy.
Stephen
Hey Howards:
Really enjoyed this week’s episode; it’s one of your best. Perhaps it’s that derivatives is a particularly juicy topic, or maybe the time off has served you both well, either way this episode has a noticeable energy and enthusiasm that is refreshing.
And… I’ve always found the concept of anthropomorphism interesting; certainly the tradition is as old as man’s ability to wonder and reason. In particular it occurs to me that as early as the Paleolithic the female form was used to represent more general notions of fertility, and that anthropomorphism remains an irresistible urge right up through every Disney movie you’ve ever seen with talking animals/cars/monsters/plants/whatever. (Oooh, and how about the creepy trees that grab Dorothy in the haunted forest. Yikes!)
Anyhoo, thanks again for a really enjoyable 40 minutes,
Regards,
Evan in New York.
hey guys, i am a professional architect and i did struggle with hecatonstylon. i remember hadrian’s tomb and the 100 column portico, so i assume this term is directly related to this instance of a space created by exactly 100 columns on a continuous base (slab). i hope not to embarass myself and my architectural history professor.
regards.
This is my second episode to hear of your program. I really enjoyed it.
Anthropomorphic. Isn’t that the term used in theology to mean when God, or Christ, takes the form of a man? For example, the story in the book of Daniel when the Bible says something like there was a fourth person in the furnace which was supposed as being the Lord. So I would say, “taking the form of man.” But not limited to males since that is the word for mankind.
Euphonous. I agree that it is something full of sound. Though I am not sure what “eu” would mean. Would it be something like “fake” or “substitute”? So maybe a synthesizer of some kind?
Hecatonstylon. I think that was the spelling. We know the first part is 100 somethings. Isn’t stylon like “stick” or “column”? If it is architectural, then I would think column and have to agree with the idea of having 100 columns. Or a structure designed with exactly 100 “sticks”.
Pastichio is a greek dish - not italian. So the roots would have to be Greek maybe?
Wierd Al just celebrated the 25th anniversary of his first television appearance - with “Another one rides the bus” - my favorite is “Amish Paradise” (Tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1899)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNIOL8t8VL8
Julie
I really enjoyed this episode on derivatives — it’s a masterpiece — your best work yet! Keep up the good work!
Thank you for exploring an aspect of language study that I find very enjoyable. Your example of the word ‘derive’ is a perfect example of hidden gems that can be found when looking into the etymology of words.
Of course, the concept of derivation is not exclusive to English or even western languages. Chinese puts an interesting spin on it because most of its thousands of written characters are derived from other characters, which in turn are often derived from other characters. A single written Chinese character often contains derivations from multiple characters and therefore a denser meaning. The Chinese look at our alphabet based writing as thin and weak since their characters tend to be more compact. I have a Chinese/English Bible where the text is presented in both languages side by side on each page and the the Chinese side is always much shorter (sometimes by half!) than the English side.
I’m not a Chinese scholar, but I found an interesting parallel between Chinese and English in the Zhongwen.com online dictionary. The Mandarin word for ‘derive’ is composed of two characters (jiqu, or ??) that mean “draw from water” and “grab with the hand”, “choose”, “obtain”.
Anyway, keep those podcasts coming!
(I have no relation to the Zhongwen.com website; I just find it a valuable resource!)
Julie, the OED gives the etymology of “pastiche” as deriving from “pasticcio.” And in turn, it defines “pasticcio” (in definition #3) as “an Italian pie usually containing a mixture of meat and pasta.”
Of course, much of Latin vocabulary derived from Greek, and the cuisine of both of these areas of the northern Mediterranean is rather similar. But at least the OED takes “pasticcio” from Italian.
Dale, thank you for moving us beyond our customary European focus!