LINGUIST List 12.3128

Tue Dec 18 2001

Qs: Data Base/First Use of Word, "decide/cut"

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

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Directory

  1. Jackie Waylen, Help Needed tracing first use of a word
  2. Guy Deutscher, 'decide' from 'cut'

Message 1: Help Needed tracing first use of a word

 Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 11:06:47 +1300
From: Jackie Waylen <j.waylenlibr.canterbury.ac.nz>
Subject: Help Needed tracing first use of a word

Dear List

We have a user who is looking for a database on the web which has all
of the poetry and prose from as far back as there are records. She
has been told that on this website, you can type in a word and it
retrieves every instance of the use of that word. The word she is
currently researching is "priorities". The earliest use of the word I
have been able to find is on a full-text CD-ROM, English Verse Drama
(Chadwyck-Healy Ltd). There is one instance of it being used in an
anonymous play, published in 1659.

I would be very grateful if anyone can tell me of any full-text
database which helps to trace particular uses and dates of a word.
The Oxford English Dictionary does not give priorities (in the plural
form) as a head word.

Many thanks

Jackie Waylen
Music & Languages Librarian
Information Services
Central Library Fax 03-364 2055 
University of Canterbury ext 8751
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Message 2: 'decide' from 'cut'

 Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 16:59:39 +0000
From: Guy Deutscher <gd116hermes.cam.ac.uk>
Subject: 'decide' from 'cut'

Dear Linguists,

I am trying to gather examples of languages in which the verb 'decide'
originates from a verb like 'cut', 'cut off', 'separate', or something
similar. I have a few examples already (including, of course, English
'decide' from Latin 'decidere': 'cut off'), but would be very grateful to
find out about as many languages as possible.

Many thanks, 
Guy Deutscher.

St John's College
Cambridge CB2 1TP			
England

Email: gd116cam.ac.uk
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