Jack's Daily Etymology Lesson
Sep. 28th, 2011 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackshoegazerI am studying for a French test and I saw that the French word for Christian is chrétien which I thought suspiciously sounded like 'cretin' and I thought that was kind of funny. So, I looked up the etymology of 'cretin' and found this: "From "chretien," French for "Christian" or "Christlike," because those affected were so mentally handicapped that they were considered incapable of sinning."
By the way, this is what my brain feels like when I study French:
By the way, this is what my brain feels like when I study French:
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-28 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-28 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-29 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-29 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-29 03:13 am (UTC)From creta, Latin for chalk, because of the pallor of those affected.
From "Crete", where iodine insufficiency (hypothyroidism) was common prior to the modern era.
From cretira, Grisson-Romance creature, from Latin creatus.
From cretine, French for alluvium (soil deposited by flowing water), an allusion to the affliction's suspected origin in inadequate soil.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-29 05:19 pm (UTC)