Samstag, 15. Juni 2013

Wort des Tages: Wahrscheinlich

Wahrscheinlich: (adj.) probably.  Coming from 'wahr-' which is the first half of 'wahrheit,' or 'truth.'  '-schein-' comes from 'scheinen' which is 'to shine' or 'to appear/seem.'  '-lich' is the adjectival ending, almost an '-ing' to English gerunds that one uses as adjectives, too (the running man, etc.).  

What you end up with wahr-schein-lich is truth-appear-ing(ly) or essentially 'truthseeming.'  Since it means 'probably' and since I never exactly know for sure what's going on with the course, the trips, or the other people in the dorm, it's the answer I give most often to the most questions.  

A cool word, anyway, I think.

Keine Kommentare:

Kommentar veröffentlichen