A-Z of English words with surprising origins

Giovanni Drogo wrote:
On Thu, 27 Nov 2008, Ariadne wrote:

Spelling in English is not so regular. We spell "sonata"


But "sonata" is a perfectly legitimate italian word ! There are many
cases of italian words which alternate "uo" and "o" (open o !), with the
"o" form being preferred in Tuscan or central-italian vernaculars.

Yes, nowadays almost nobody will use the verb "sonare" and everybody
will prefer "suonare" (to sound), with participle "suonato", and the
substantive "suono" (sound). But Tuscans may use it, and the term could
be found in literature until 40 or 50 years ago.

But the musical term "sonata" was "frozen" as such a lot of time ago,
and is the only proper form.


Why is "crocodile" rendered in Italian as "cocodril"?

Dick Adams wrote:
Ariadne wrote:
Part of what makes English such a beautiful language.
As beautiful as English is, what makes it most amazing
is that every English speaking nation has a different
dialect and some have many dialects.

Once on a train to London, I was in a conversation with
two men from the far north of Scotland, a Cockney, an
Irishman, and an Englishman from Newcastle. *I kept
turning to the Englishman and asking "What did he say?"

It's several nations separated by a common language.

Dick

I'm very pleased that "Estuary" hasn't taken
over. But dialect words are certainly being
lost.