So I was thinking the other day about the word "gift". Is it basically just a corruption or evolution of like... "gived" (maybe like, give'd > gift)? Same with "script"... is it what someone has "scribed"? It's hard to word this question exactly right but do you guys know what I mean and do you have an answer?
Oh, I thought of a better (I think) way to express it... is it or was it just the perfect form of "give"?
I'm no linguist, but perhaps looking up the language of origin (and then the word it's derived from) could answer your own question for you?
---
Well, there is a new accent of n00b language. It's called: Vet LUEser goes Foreign!-MegaSpy22
Those must be the pants of the gods!-Digitalpython
Have you tried the OED? You can probably access OED Online through your local library.
---
"He is a master of 'Social Net-Working,' which, I am given to understand, is the use of certain vile technologies to advertise the existence of advertising itself, a practice which seems long overdue."
Without having a reference in front of me, I'm going to say "pretty much." Like, it's the past participle ("a thing which has been given'). I'm a little uneasy with that, because I don't think there should be a t there, but then it's late and I kind of forget how that works. In any event, there's certainly that sort of relationship between the verb and the noun.
Same thing with script, although that comes in from Latin so it's different (but not much different; Latin and Low German have lots of nontrivial morphological similarities!).
---
Willis, it seems like every other time you post, I need to look up a word that's in the OED or Urban Dictionary but not both.
-Mimir