Jump to content

Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2010 February 14

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Language desk
< February 13 << Jan | February | Mar >> February 15 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.


February 14

[edit]

Old English

[edit]

What character is this, found in an etymology from Old English in the OED? 149.169.223.67 (talk) 00:29, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think that's an eth. --Tango (talk) 00:38, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It looks to me like a representation of the letter form of a "g" in insular pointed minuscule script. See also yogh, and compare the relevant letters in geardagum and þeodcyninga in the second line of this page. Deor (talk) 00:53, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note that context helps. If you tell us the full word in which it was used, you may get a more definitive answer. -- 174.21.247.23 (talk) 01:32, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In the etymology for unlaw, if that helps. 149.169.223.67 (talk) 03:01, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that's a yogh; /ʊnˈlɒgʊ/ is about how the word was pronounced. Deor (talk) 03:27, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
/ˈunlɑɣu/ is more likely, and the character isn't a yogh, it's an insular G. +Angr 11:50, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Turks

[edit]

What is a turk?174.3.98.236 (talk) 08:29, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See Amazon Mechanical Turk. The name is derived from the famous 18th century fake automaton "The Turk" (featured article). ---Sluzzelin talk 08:39, 14 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]