The emergence of homo sapiens was not 500 000 years ago - 200 000 at most.
Check your wikipedia.
On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 9:21 AM, Adriano Palma <Palma@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
La sapevi quella del pollo?
*From:* lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *David Ritchie
*Sent:* 15 May 2015 23:17
*To:* lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [lit-ideas] Re: Gossips in the Forests
On May 15, 2015, at 1:48 PM, (Redacted sender "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" for
DMARC) wrote:
"gossip": Old English godsibb "sponsor, godparent," from "god" + "sibb",
"relative". Extended in Middle English to "a familiar acquaintance, a
friend,
a neighbour" (first citation 1302), especially to woman friends invited
to
attend a birth, later to "anyone engaging in familiar or idle talk"
(citation: 1563). Usage extended 1811 to "trifling talk, groundless
rumour."
Similar formations in Old Norse "guðsifja", Old Saxon "guþziff".
So, literally, it's only the English and the Old Norse and the Old Saxons
who can gossip. No cognates in the Romantic Languages!
Thank you for this. I looked it up once, but had forgotten. Odd that
they added "familiar" to "acquaintance" to differentiate from a mere
acquaintance and a friend; it suggests exactly what "Gossip and Grooming"
is all about, a nuanced sense of status of the sort we find among chickens.
It all comes down to chickens.
David Ritchie,
Up to my neck in Spring
(Absurd tangential reference to "Un Chien Andalou")
