In Latin fans means
"speaking"; the Romans called them "those who cannot speak"; what do we call
them?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.
The critically-acclaimed board game
MooT
consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer:
infants
The word infant derives
from the Latin infantem , young child; this is
a noun use of an adjective that means "unable to speak" (from Latin
in , not, and fans , speak).
Please note that these are draft questions for the board game MooT.
If you spot an error or disagree with anything I've said here,
please let me know and I'll fix it.
(the Mootguy)
Feedback
That's really clever. I never would have thought of that
even though I had 4 years of Latin in High School!
x-Vcasca_juno.com
______________________________________________________________
Thanks! I did Latin for ten or more years and yet I had never
realized this
x-patrickcarey_bitcat.net
______________________________________________________________
OK: You finally stumped me:) (first time in a while). Thanks for the
challenge.
x-ewkent_yahoo.com
______________________________________________________________
The Latin verb fari means "(to) speak"
(infinitive), and the form fans (present participle) means
"speaking". But thank you for the etymology anyway!
[SOURCE:
And thank you for the correction. Change made.
]
x-niels.hovmoller_utbildning.stockholm.se
______________________________________________________________
Copyright 1998-2008 Blair Arts Ltd. All rights reserved.