[Lexicog] News time

[David Tuggy]

How many of these words were pronounced recognizably the same 2000 years 
ago?

btw and fwiw, World, well less than 2000 years ago, meant "age, aeon" as 
much as, or instead of, "large geographical location" or "social 
sphere". "World without end, amen." And of course "life" also often is a 
time-measuring word ("I've never in my life ..."). So in a 2000 year 
perspective they would join time, year and day—half the 10 most common 
nouns in English are or were time-words ?!

--David T

John Roberts wrote:
> It is not often that lexicographers feature on the BBC news website but 
> there is a posting there today where they do. The OUP have researched what 
> are the most common nouns in the English language. The most common is 
> "time". This is partly because of the scores of expressions in English 
> featuring time. But it is mainly because English speakers like to talk about 
> time a lot.
>
> TOP 10 NOUNS
> 1 Time
> 2 Person
> 3 Year
> 4 Way
> 5 Day
> 6 Thing
> 7 Man
> 8 World
> 9 Life
> 10 Hand
>
> But I found the most interesting comment was this:
>
> "The thing that struck me when I put together this list was that 90% of the 
> top 100 words were one syllable, and that a large proportion were actually 
> from Old English, meaning the basic words we use all the time in basic 
> sentences are from before the Norman Conquest," he said. "We always put the 
> focus on new words, changing language and words from other countries, but in 
> reality the basic language we use has been the same for hundreds and 
> hundreds of years."
>
> This means that at a fundamental level the English language hasn't changed 
> much for over 2000 years.
>
> John Roberts 
>
>
>
>
>  
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>  
>
>
>
>   


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Something is new at Yahoo! Groups.  Check out the enhanced email design.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/HKE4lB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/