Wednesday, May 29, 2013

In my previous post re: Dan Brown's "Inferno", I thought it peculiar that he italicized the word, behind, in his sentence on page 71: 
Several pedestrians did double takes as they passed, apparently puzzled to see a six-foot man in Brioni suit riding behind a slender woman. 
I generally use quotation marks to draw emphasis to an irony, so I questioned my technique.   One thing led to another and I ended up on the "Italics" wiki page where it gave the following example of using quotation marks to emphasize: "Smith wasn't the only guilty party, it's true". Because the sample involved the name "Smith", I did a little double take of my own.  As it turns out the "Quotations" wiki page appears to indicate that it's more proper to use quotations when it comes to emphasizing an irony.  

Just now, it suddenly dawned on me a "double irony".  The relationship between the name "Smith" and this now key word, "Irony", given that a "Smith" (occupation) is a person who works with metal-- namely, "iron".

So I thought I'd do a little etymology research:
irony (n.) Look up irony at Dictionary.comc.1500, from Latin ironia, from Greek eironeia "dissimulation, assumed ignorance," from eiron "dissembler," perhaps related to eirein "to speak" (see verb). Used in Greek of affected ignorance, especially that of Socrates.
verb (n.) Look up verb at Dictionary.com
late 14c., from Old French verbe "part of speech that expresses action or being," from Latin verbum "verb," originally "a word," from PIE root *were- (cf. Avestanurvata- "command;" Sanskrit vrata- "command, vow;" Greek rhetor "public speaker," rhetra "agreement, covenant," eirein "to speak, say;" Hittite weriga- "call, summon;" Lithuanian vardas "name;" Gothic waurd, Old English word "word").

That's audd... irony in origin meant  eirein "to speak"... the word is very close to my daughter's name, Erin
Erin Look up Erin at Dictionary.comancient name of Ireland, from Old English Erinn, dative of Eriu "Ireland" (see Irish).
Irish Look up Irish at Dictionary.comc.1200, Irisce, from stem of Old English Iras "inhabitant of Ireland," from Old Norse irar, ultimately from Old Irish Eriu (accusative Eirinn, Erinn) "Erin," which is from Old Celtic *Iveriu (accusative *Iverionem, ablative *Iverione), perhaps from PIE *pi-wer- "fertile," literally "fat," from root *peie- "to be fat, swell" (seefat (adj.)). 
fat (adj.) Look up fat at Dictionary.com
Old English fætt "fat, fatted, plump, obese," originally a contracted past participle of fættian "to cram, stuff," from Proto-Germanic *faitaz "fat" (cf. Old Frisianfatt, Old Norse feitr, Dutch vet, German feist), from PIE *poid- "to abound in water, milk, fat, etc." (cf. Greek piduein "to gush forth"), from root *peie- "to be fat, swell" (cf. Sanskrit payate "swells, exuberates," pituh "juice, sap, resin;" Lithuanian pienas "milk;" Greek pion "fat, wealthy;" Latin pinguis "fat")
What strikes me in the above re "fat", is the Latin "pinquis".  Sure sounds like "Pingo"... a topic in posts as of late.   Note the following definition http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pingo:
pingo [ˈpɪŋgəʊ]n pl -gos(Earth Sciences / Physical Geography) a mound of earth or gravel formed through pressure from a layer of water trapped between newly frozen ice and underlying permafrost in Arctic regions
[from Eskimo]
Note the following from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingo:
 The term pingo was first borrowed from the Inuvialuit by the Arctic botanist Alf Erling Porsild in 1938. Porsild Pingo in Tuktoyaktuk is named in his honor.[14]
That's audd,  I had chosen the name Erin because the baby book I had perused over 30 years ago now, claimed the name "Erin" to have the meaning of "peace" in origin.  Definitely, Pingo mounds are pretty fat... as big as vulcano's... much fatter than the smaller palsa's-- smaller hills found in permafrost land.    
iron (n.) Look up iron at Dictionary.comOld English isærn (with Middle English rhotacism of -s-) "the metal iron; an iron weapon," from Proto-Germanic *isarnan (cf. Old Saxon isarn, Old Norse isarn, Middle Dutch iser, Old High German isarn, German Eisen) "holy metal" or "strong metal" (in contrast to softer bronze) probably an early borrowing of Celt.*isarnon (cf. Old Irish iarn, Welsh haiarn), from PIE *is-(e)ro- "powerful, holy," from PIE *eis "strong" (cf. Sanskrit isirah "vigorous, strong," Greek ieros"strong").
 irony (adj.) Look up irony at Dictionary.com"of or resembling iron," late 14c., from iron (n.) + -y (2).
Other related words... as per the inner twin world's "speaking"
ferrous (adj.) Look up ferrous at Dictionary.com
"pertaining to or containing iron," 1865, from Latin ferreus "made of iron," from ferrum "iron" (see ferro-). In chemistry, "containing iron," especially with a valence of two.
ferro- Look up ferro- at Dictionary.combefore vowels ferr-, word-forming element indicating the presence of iron, from Latin ferro-, comb. form of ferrum "iron," possibly of Semitic origin, via Etruscan [Klein].
smith (n.) Look up smith at Dictionary.comOld English smið "one who works in metal" (jewelers as well as blacksmiths), from Proto-Germanic *smithaz "skilled worker" (cf. Old Saxon smith, Old Norsesmiðr, Danish smed, Old Frisian smith, Old High German smid, German Schmied, Gothic -smiþa, in aiza-smiþa "coppersmith"), from PIE root *smei- "to carve, cut" (cf. Greek smile "knife, chisel"). Attested as a surname since at least c.975.

No comments:

Post a Comment