[Lexicog] semantic extension

MNL-Acad-Comp Philippines mnl-acad-comp_philippines at SIL.ORG
Fri May 21 15:49:01 UTC 2004


Yesterday I came home from the doctor with a diagnosis of "bursitis" in my shoulder - the inflammation of a fluid-filled sac called a "bursa".  Interesting connection with the discussion here.  This must also come from the latin word for a small bag.  Another connection is the word "bulsa" for pocket in the Tagalog language (probably borrowed from Spanish).

Allan Johnson

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Fritz Goerling 
  To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2004 9:49 AM
  Subject: RE: [Lexicog] semantic extension


  Right, John,

  Similar development in the following languages:

  French: bourse (wallet; small bag for money) >> bourse (stock market)
  Dutch: beurs (wallet: old word) >> beurs (stock market)
  Contemporary German:  Börse (stock market)

  All coming from Latin "bursa" (small bag for coins) originally

  But "you can't make a purse out of a sow's ear" (English proverb). ;-)


  Fritz Goerling



    On Wed, 19 May 2004, Wayne Leman wrote:
    > Yesterday I learned that the Cheyenne word for purse has been semantically
    > extended to mean 'budget.' Interesting!
     
    John Koontz wrote:

    This is basically the extension behind forms like borse or bursar(y) and,
    of course, expressions like "the communal purse."  I think the forms
    involved originally meant 'bag'. 




         
         
         

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