"transliteration " = a derived form; "occlude" = to hide from sight or knowledge; obscure

[Wilson Gray]

Does Ackroyd, by chance, specify the language(s) that is / are the
source(s) of _attalon_ and _afalxon_? Or is he just bullshitting,
figuring that no one is really going to be interested in the evidence
that sustains his claim, even though he doesn't pretend to be
providing an etymology, merely a "transliteration"?

-Wilson

On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 9:14 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "transliteration " = a derived form; "occlude" = to hide from
>              sight or knowledge; obscure
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Peter Ackroyd is the author of more than twenty substantive books, which
> pretty much shows he's smarter than I am. However:
>
> 2002 Peter Ackroyd _Albion_ (rpt. N.Y.: Anchor Books, 2004) 115: Avalon...is
> a transliteration of Attalon, apple trees, or Afalxon, apples; the apple
> tree was also one of the sacred trees of England.
>
> Same page:  "This is the first surviving reference to the occluded demise of
> the ancient king."
>
> OED revisions almost cover this kind of  "occluded," but there's nothing
> "fig." about A's use.
>
> JL
>
> "There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> Platypus"
>
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>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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