bishop

Leo A. Connolly connolly at memphis.edu
Mon Jul 2 23:01:36 UTC 2001


petegray wrote, in response to Ed Selleslagh:

> Why do you claim, Ed, that eis te:n polin > istambul involves rules jumping
> languages?   Wasn't the contemporary Greek pronunciation /i:sta:mbulin/?  It
> would simply be taken over as a meaningless phonetic string.

<eis te:n polin> should already have been something like [is ti(m)
bolin], as in current Greek.  The vowels would be all wrong.  And why on
earth would the Greeks have given something meaning 'to the city' as the
name of their capital?  Ed is right: that etymology is a fable, but it's
so bad I'd be reluctant to blame it on a linguist.  It's in a class with
_tip_ 'gratuity' < T(o) I(nsure) P(rompt) S(ervice), or **** < F(or)
U(nlawful) C(arnal) K(nowledge).  It's amazing how many people accept
such things, but linguists shouldn't.

Leo Connolly



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