[Lexicog] suffix -dom

[Fritz Goerling]

Well, Chaz,

 

I thought you were pulling my leg as Neal did with 'seldom' and 'random'? 

You are guessing right: the -tum in Datum has absolutely nothing to do with
-tum in Heiligtum.

An unmentioned scholar shared with me off-list: Datum is a result of the
substantivation of a participle datus, data, 

datum. As a rule for the new nouns formed this way the form of neutrum 

is selected. It is participle of the verb do, dedi, datum, dare. He thought
it was me who  had suggested 'Datum' (which I would never do) so I pass that
information on to you. As your wife is German, you certainly know that
'Datum' in German means 'date' (like 'What date is today'?)

 

For those who don't understand the incident from your German class, here is
the explanation: Dung = manure, and 'Kuhdung' is 'cow manure'. The latter is
not used in the figurative sense as 'a load of bull' like in American
English. 

 

Fritz

 

Chaz wrote:

I mean, is the -tum in Datum anologous to the -tum in Heiligtum? (I am
guessing it isn't.)

 

One of my fellow German teachers from years ago grew up in Texas. He took
German class in school anyway and once his teacher said "all words ending in
-ung are feminine nouns." He then raised his hand and said "What about der
Dung?" And the teacher said, "OK, all nouns except that one are feminine."
He raised his hand again and asked "What about der Kuhdung?" Then the
teacher kicked him out of class!

 

-Chaz

 

On Oct 15, 2008, at 5:13 PM, Fritz Goerling wrote:





 

What d'you mean, Chaz?

 

Dom da dom dom... ?

 

- Fritz

 

Fritz,

 

What about Datum?

 

-Chaz

 

On Oct 14, 2008, at 7:09 AM, Neal_Brinneman@ <mailto:Neal_Brinneman at sil.org>
sil.org wrote:






princedom
freedom
dukedom
boredom
serfdom
kingdom
sheikhdom
sheikdom
officialdom
thraldom
seldom
earldom
random
Christendom
stardom
martyrdom
wisdom
topsy-turvydom
Neal

http://www.ncbrinne <http://www.ncbrinneman.com> man.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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