Backup of my old LiveJournal blog
בקטגוריות: Uncategorized
3 Dec 20061. Macabre – derived from “Maccabees”. The common meaning is derived from their gruesome martyrdom at the hands of the greeks.
2. Mesmersize – from Franz Anton Mesmer, Austrian physician and hypnotist
3. Matrix – from Latin. matrix (gen. matricis) “pregnant animal”.
(via the Online Etymology Dictionary – and I was just trying to verify Mesmer!)
פעם היה לי לייבג'ורנל. עכשיו הוא כאן, מגובה.
6 תגובות על Random Etymologies of the Day – M
velfadar
3 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 17:46
Naturally,
That managed to extract a great big “Wow”, in the most unrelated sense of the word, on account of the Maccabean issue.
Now about that Matrix – elaborate, possibly? What has one got to do with the other? Is this to indicate the roundish shape of a pregnant animal?
yggdrasil
3 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 22:21
Re: Naturally,
Etymonline has this to say, quoted verbatim:
Merriam-Webster agrees with the etymology, and has quite a few other meanings that seem to stem much more naturally from it.
Special bonus for playing:
madsamrackham
5 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 16:46
That’s definitely weird
The leap between the two meanings, while fundamentally clear, is hard to imagine actually happening: That thing that we use as an operator to rotate 3-dimentional axial-systems? Doesn’t it remind you of a womb?
Also: Do I have to link you to ‘Mung’ again (or will bringing the word up be enough for now)?
yggdrasil
5 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 19:22
Re: That’s definitely weird
For your first point, allow me to quote Tom Lehrer. I think it adequately explains everything:
“some of you may have had occasion to run into mathematicians and to wonder therefore how they got that way, and here, in partial explanation perhaps, is [this] story”.
As for your second point – no, please don’t. I never appreciated that word in the first place and I really don’t feel like hosting it in my LJ.
Anonymous
4 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 12:20
Pregnant Animal?
That’s very probable. NOT!!!
what’s the f… ?
yggdrasil
4 בDecember, 2006 בשעה 13:39
Re: Pregnant Animal?
I’ll elaborate then. The earlier meanings of Matrix revolve around “something within or from which something else originates, develops, or takes form” – whether we’re talking about soil in which crystals are formed, extracellular substances in which cells are embedded, or machine-wrought pods in which humans dream their dreams of a lost civilization. The mathematical concept of matrices is a much later formation. I’m not sure how the jump was made, but I’m guessing the mathematical definition of matrix – “a rectangular array of mathematical elements that can be combined to form sums and products” – is a hint. The matrix exists only to give birth to new sums and products.