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Do You Say Wind Or Wind?


jacloc

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Are you serious?

 

English is essentially a Germanic language, from the Saxon invasions 1500 years ago. The words of the Lord's Prayer (except trespasses) are all from Gerrnan.

 

There are obviously some French words, and a few Celtic ones (aven = river), and also some Hindi words, like verandah. But essentially, English has the same origin as modern German.

 

Mmm ...not quite as straightforward as you make it sound. Yes, English is proto-Germanic in its origin, core vocabulary and structure, but English as we know it consists of more than 'some French words and a few Celtic ones'. According to research, c. 60% of English is not Germanic in origin.

 

" A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973)[1] that estimated the origin of English words as follows:

 

Influences in English vocabulary

Langue d'oïl, including French and Old Norman: 28.3%

Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%

Germanic languages – inherited from Old English, from Proto-Germanic, or a more recent borrowing from a Germanic language such as Old Norse; does not include Germanic words borrowed from a Romance language, i.e., coming from the Germanic element in French, Latin or other Romance languages: 25%

Greek: 5.32%

No etymology given: 4.03%

Derived from proper names: 3.28%

All other languages: less than 1%"

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Origins_of_English_PieChart.svg

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Mmm ...not quite as straightforward as you make it sound. Yes, English is proto-Germanic in its origin, core vocabulary and structure, but English as we know it consists of more than 'some French words and a few Celtic ones'. According to research, c. 60% of English is not Germanic in origin.

 

" A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973)[1] that estimated the origin of English words as follows:

 

Influences in English vocabulary

Langue d'oïl, including French and Old Norman: 28.3%

Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%

Germanic languages – inherited from Old English, from Proto-Germanic, or a more recent borrowing from a Germanic language such as Old Norse; does not include Germanic words borrowed from a Romance language, i.e., coming from the Germanic element in French, Latin or other Romance languages: 25%

Greek: 5.32%

No etymology given: 4.03%

Derived from proper names: 3.28%

All other languages: less than 1%"

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Origins_of_English_PieChart.svg

 

 

My language is derived from Alcohol most weekends. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Mmm ...not quite as straightforward as you make it sound. Yes, English is proto-Germanic in its origin, core vocabulary and structure, but English as we know it consists of more than 'some French words and a few Celtic ones'. According to research, c. 60% of English is not Germanic in origin.

 

" A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973)[1] that estimated the origin of English words as follows:

 

Influences in English vocabulary

Langue d'oïl, including French and Old Norman: 28.3%

Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%

Germanic languages – inherited from Old English, from Proto-Germanic, or a more recent borrowing from a Germanic language such as Old Norse; does not include Germanic words borrowed from a Romance language, i.e., coming from the Germanic element in French, Latin or other Romance languages: 25%

Greek: 5.32%

No etymology given: 4.03%

Derived from proper names: 3.28%

All other languages: less than 1%"

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Origins_of_English_PieChart.svg

 

Yes, but dictionaries include huge numbers of technical terms and modern words, like television.

 

If you leave out the names of modern inventions, you will find that the language is very largely based on old German.

 

That was a thoroughly misleading article by the way.

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And yet another reason I like the Thames so much, no need to find a 'ol of any type, you can turn around pretty much anywhere - but we're back on the GU now so when needing to do an "about face"; "him at the back" will be looking for the next winding 'ol (as in the clock)

 

But I have no idea if this is the correct pronunciation or not, it's how the first boater we were engaged in conversation with pronounced it and we did the same from then on.

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In the Royal Navy, when a ship is turned around such that it becomes, say, port side to the jetty rather than starboard, this is known as 'winding ship'. A helluva lot of the english language has it's roots in naval terms and the term for turning a boat would seem to be a very likely candidate. Whether winding as applied to a canal boat comes from the same term used for centuries by the Royal Navy I can't swear since I only served for 35 years, but it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility. In the RN, such 'winding' is said as 'winding a clock' so, still recovering from being thoroughly institutionalised, I say it the navy way. If you were to say it different I wouldn't be the one to correct you, and if someone told me otherwise it wouldn't take the wind out of my sails!

 

Say it how it you like: whether you're right or wrong, it's much more important to be able to do it right.

 

Happy wyndings!

  • Greenie 1
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The IWA's draft specification for winding holes says the same...

 

 

[ETA they mean complements not compliments]

 

I'm a member of the IWA, and they ought to know a bit about the inland waterways, so I was just about to try and train myself to say 'wind' their way rather than the Royal Navy's. Then I noticed that you had spotted the author's error in his use of 'complement/compliment', which means that I'd be taking the word someone who can't work out when to use 'E's and 'I's in similar sounding words. It rather undermines his authority on the weighting of the 'i' in the pronunciation of wind, doesn't it. He could still be right though....!

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Forty or so years ago, I have absolutely no memory of it ever being pronounced other than like the "wind that blows".

 

The tendency now by some to use the form like "wind a clock", is, I am absolutely convinced a modern thing born out of ignorance of the historic pronunciation.

 

I remain absolutely convinced that "like the stuff that blows" is correct and "like turning a key in a clock" is wrong.

 

We once had a good laugh at a lock where we had already indicated out intention to the boat we were sharing with that we would be turning around beyond it, and going immediately back the other way through the lock.

 

I had a windlass on a paddle, and was already putting it up, when the lady said "so you are intending to wind then?", (using the "as in clock" form of "wind"). I genuinely thought she had some objection to me putting the paddle up at that particular moment. captain.gif

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The tendency now by some to use the form like "wind a clock", is, I am absolutely convinced a modern thing born out of ignorance of the historic pronunciation.

 

I remain absolutely convinced that "like the stuff that blows" is correct and "like turning a key in a clock" is wrong.

 

captain.gif

I totally agree.

I recently read 'Idle Women' in which the author Susan Woolfitt recounts her experiences working narrow boats during WW2. I don't have the book to hand to give the exact quote but she describes winding as in "the wind that blows". I think she said "wind rhyming with pinned".

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I totally agree.

I recently read 'Idle Women' in which the author Susan Woolfitt recounts her experiences working narrow boats during WW2. I don't have the book to hand to give the exact quote but she describes winding as in "the wind that blows". I think she said "wind rhyming with pinned".

The film "Painted Boats", made in 1945, contains the line, "I say dad, I want you to wind your boat".

 

The wind is pronounced as in the stuff that blows.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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Forty or so years ago, I have absolutely no memory of it ever being pronounced other than like the "wind that blows".

 

The tendency now by some to use the form like "wind a clock", is, I am absolutely convinced a modern thing born out of ignorance of the historic pronunciation.

 

I remain absolutely convinced that "like the stuff that blows" is correct and "like turning a key in a clock" is wrong.

 

We once had a good laugh at a lock where we had already indicated out intention to the boat we were sharing with that we would be turning around beyond it, and going immediately back the other way through the lock.

 

I had a windlass on a paddle, and was already putting it up, when the lady said "so you are intending to wind then?", (using the "as in clock" form of "wind"). I genuinely thought she had some objection to me putting the paddle up at that particular moment. captain.gif

 

How do you know that the historic pronunciation of the word didn't mean "to wind" as in turn?

There are many historic pronunciations that are now archaic. For example "latts" for "laths" and "cornish" for "cornice".

 

I hope that you are consistent in your use of archaic words and continue to winned your clock. :)

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