Posted by giveawayboy on November 12, 2005 at 03:30:15:
In Reply to: a stone with scratchings in it shaped like letters of the Hebrew alphabet posted by PS on November 11, 2005 at 17:55:45:
: : Not to take away from the point here, but does anyone else find the word "abecedary" to be the stupidest sounding intellectualization? The thing is it is actually a very old word originating in Latin, before it was a dead language. We love to make ourselves sound intelligent no matter what era I guess.
: Before the last sentence, I was on the page with you. You have projected your feelings as a value judgment on some group called "WE".
: Abecedary the standard term used for this. Many of our terms come from Latin. Among those in a particular field who use the academic terms to convey established meanings, those terms don't make you sound any more or less intelligent than the person you are talking to.
: What else would you call it? "Alphabet" is most often use in the abstract, not as a physical written sample of the alphabet. "Inscription" doesn't say what is inscribed. And saying "inscription of the alphabet" is just too many words to be useful.
: And finally, we are dealing with an inscription from the era when Latin was used throughout the civilized world, when the word was used for this sort of thing. In finding a term for something that the greatest number of educated people will understand, the most logical thing to do is to employ a word that has already been used to decribe the thing for centuries.
: I hope I haven't sounded too intelligent for you here. ;-)
Leaving abecedaries behind, I want to know the difference between an alphabet and a syllabary. Any takers?