[Ads-l] horse beast

W Brewer brewerwa at GMAIL.COM
Thu Nov 6 18:03:42 UTC 2014


horse beast:  Anglo-Saxon <horse> + Norman French classifier <beast>; works
for <rother beast>; creature/critter
Cf. explanatory tautological compounds/phrases characteristic of older
legalese.
Tuna fish:  Taiwanese wife says <salmon fish>  (cf. Mandarin <tuna-yu,
samen-yu; sha-yu (shark), shading-yu (sardines), mo-yu (cuttle fish),
xia-yu (shrimp), zhang-yu (octopus), shan-yu (eel)>, etc. ad *noseum*).

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