[haiku-commits] Re: r35416 - in haiku/branches/developer/colin/wireless/src/add-ons/kernel/network/devices/ ieee80211/stack: . interfaces mac_data mac_data/frames mac_management/services ...
- From: Colin Günther <coling@xxxxxx>
- To: haiku-commits@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:52:19 +0100
Hi Jonas,
Jonas Sundström schrieb:
The only internet dictionary I semi-trust is en.wiktionary.org
One popular method is to search for some word combintation, e.g.
"to fragement" - 549 000 hits
"to fragmentate" - 758 hits
I usually consult my paper copy of Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English. Best dictionary I've ever had. No mention
there of either fragementate or fragmentize. (Granted, my copy
is from 1995, but at least they did have an actual "computational
linguist"(sic) contribute to it.)
thanks for taking the time to look into your hard copy for this word.
I did more research on the fragmentate word, and found out that it is a
back-formation, originating in the early 1940s. A process in language
evolution where new words are created out of older once. In this case
the old word would be fragmentation. This happened for other words, too,
like donate originating in donation
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_back-formations).
If I had an examplar of "Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of
English Language" I could verify that "fragmentate" actually is a
back-formation (so a seldom used one I guess), but maybe someone other
owns one.
In conclusion I would say I'm just pushing progress of the english
language a bit.
I would prefer fragmentate over fragment as the first one
sounds more like an activity to me. Google also spotted the
word fragmentize, which I could live with, too if you get
quite a shiver when reading "fragmentate".
I have my doubts about fragmentize. If this form is accepted
I'm guessing it's likely best used to describe something that
sort of just happens, which might work to describe what happens
over time in a file system. Not, I think, a word that you could
use to describe what some part of a netstack does actively. But
I'm not a linguist by any stretch of the imagination.
/Jonas.
Yeah, I see what you mean. So I'm counting this wanne-be back-formation out.
-Colin
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