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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!lucy.swin.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.edu.au!cs.mu.OZ.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.mel.connect.com.au!news.syd.connect.com.au!phaedrus.kralizec.net.au!news.mel.aone.net.au!news.mira.net.au!vic.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!news-out.internetmci.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!eerie.fr!alma.fr!oleane!weld.news.pipex.net!pipex!burn.news.pipex.net!pipex!hose.ne ws.pipex.net!pipex!warm.news.pipex.net!pipex!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!cygnus.co.uk!not-for-mail From: rosalia@cygnus.co.uk Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.x,alt.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,gnu.misc.discuss,comp.unix.solaris Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list? Date: 12 Jun 1997 22:46:24 +0100 Organization: Cygnus Solutions, Cambridge, UK Lines: 16 Sender: rosalia@masala.cygnus.co.uk Message-ID: <r7pvtrjxzj.fsf@masala.cygnus.co.uk> References: <337C64F0.41C6@cs.ucc.ie> <5lsbv4$id8@bmtlh10.bnr.ca> <3383FA57.4855@uab.ericsson.se> <EAMxy9.EF4@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> <A01469D243A414B4.60EFD3C313DDF166.4A538EC778681837@library-proxy.airnews.net> <3396D1DD.6495@qanv.pbz> <3398849a.13740572@news.dircon.co.uk> <339CA4A4.2A1A9E65@ripco.com> <r7vi3kk68t.fsf@masala.cygnus.co.uk> <5nnlvs$lc1$2@mark.ucdavis.edu> Reply-To: rosalia@cygnus.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Host: masala.cygnus.co.uk X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.4.56/Emacs 19.34 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.shell:46163 comp.os.linux.misc:180836 comp.os.linux.x:64471 alt.os.linux:22289 comp.unix.bsd.misc:3575 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:43004 gnu.misc.discuss:31811 comp.unix.solaris:109656 greg@trefoil.bogs.org (Greg Shenaut) writes: >But certainly the decomposition of 'acronym' into the Greek 'acr(o)'+'onym' is > straightforward enough. It means something like 'beginnings-name', or a name >derived from the beginnings of the words which make it up. Compare 'acropolis > and 'synonym'. I only said that my friend Andrew did not find it in the 26 volume OED. I am, in any case, only partly convinced by this and the other post. Acropolis is not the first city, or the beginning of the city, but the high peak of the city. In greek acros is the peak, not the beginning, and I don't find the connection too plausible unless more greek philological facts are produced.