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    Your Elvenar Team

Absolutely Nothing Unusual or Suspicious Happening Here

Who is the best mastermind with the best plot to execute The Great Heist?


  • Total voters
    19
  • Poll closed .

MaidenFair

Chef - Head Philologist
I really feel like I should have entered this, as the owner of the Accomplish button.
Now that's a story I would love to read. :D
You guys are doing a fantastic job of selling me the idea of hosting another contest. We bring you more signature(s?) to make, legal challenges, and a new city to play! Oh, and @muffy. wants a sequel too. Is that all? Did I forget anything? :)
You should know by now that if you open the door to shenanigans, more shenanigans will find you. Most of us have plenty of mischief bubbling beneath the surface, we just need a ringleader to get us started. ;)
This contest is now under legal scrutiny, led by a philologist no less. You know she's going to pick through it with a fine-tooth comb, prob one made of elephant tusk from ancient Phoenicia. How do we know you have the Magic Accomplish button? Maybe you have one of the non-magical counterfeit Accomplish buttons. There's a lot of counterfeiting happening, especially of Get-Out-of-Jail-Free cards in circulation, ahem, or so I've heard. Maybe you should tell us how you came across this "Accomplish button".
Oooh, backstory! ...Ahem. *adjusts robes* Signature court is now in session, all rise! No badgering the witness, @crackie! I and my fine-toothed comb are prepared to take the @Queen of Snacks word concerning her property, even if it does mean I lose the recount by, er, winning. I mean, she is royalty, after all. (But don't think that lets you off the philological exploration of pilfering, hoarding, and sharing which is yet forthcoming, heehee!...) Therefore, after hurried consultation, the prosecution withdraws in light of the new evidence presented. Court adjourned!

As to the signature...I feel like anything I say can and will be used against me in the newly-formed Court of Signatures, so I think I'll let you surprise me. ;) I'm fascinated (and a little bit scared!) to see what you come up with.
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
Oh boy! Looking forward to the shenanigansheist ideas … philology lessons? Yeah, that one! ;):p:cool:
(But don't think that lets you off the philological exploration of pilfering, hoarding, and sharing which is yet forthcoming, heehee!...)
Brace yourselves. Philology is coming!
As to the signature...I feel like anything I say can and will be used against me in the newly-formed Court of Signatures, so I think I'll let you surprise me. ;) I'm fascinated (and a little bit scared!) to see what you come up with.
Dang. You guys are catching on...
What a wise and equitable ruling your honor. Can hardly wait to see the impact the aforementioned ruling will have on the forthcoming shenanigans.
While amused, between you and @MaidenFair, I don't think I've heard so much legalese floating around shenanigans before. It's as someone got caught. What? No, that would never happen...
 

MaidenFair

Chef - Head Philologist
PHILOLOGY IS HERE! (You asked for it, crackie! :D )
So, exploring the three words - Hoard is fairly straightforward: a Germanic word in origin, with existing cognates still in German, Hort, and Luxembourgish, hoart. Through a process called rhotacism, whereby 'z' or 's' sounds may be changed to 'r' sounds, it is also related to the common words 'house' (English), Haus (German), and Haut (German for 'skin'). These all convey some idea of covering: a hoard is a thing 'covered over', a house provides protection by being a cover, and skin obviously covers us. These words (and many others) all derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)keu-, 'cover, conceal'. (The asterisk in linguistics denotes a probable, but hypothetical, reconstructed form.)
Share is a little more complex. It is also Germanic, stemming from the Old English word scearu (the spelling 'sc' approximated our modern pronunciation 'sh' in this period). Scearu, meaning "a part or division, a piece cut off" also comes down to us in the modern word shear, and is cognate with the German Schar "troop, band" or more literally "a part of an army", and scheren "to cut (something) off". There are similar forms in Dutch (scheren 'to shave') and Swedish (skåra 'cut'), Greek (keirein 'to cut'), Latin (caro "flesh", which was originally used in the sense "a piece of flesh"), and even old Irish (scar(a)im "to disconnect or divide"). These all came from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker(ə)-, meaning, you guessed it, "to cut".
Finally, pilfer. This is where it gets interesting (and muddled). On first glance, a dictionary will tell you that pilfer comes through Middle English from the Old French pelfre, the origin of which is unknown. This also yielded the now archaic English word 'pelf' which means 'spoils, loot'. However, a little digging in the DEAF (Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français) database shows that pelfre is probably related to the vulgar Latin roots *faluppa or *feleppa (it's debated by scholars whether pelfre is derived from this latter or is the root of it.) In either case, it seems to be related through the process of metathesis, which refers to the switching of sounds between syllables or sound clusters in words, a common form of sound change seen in modern English in such words as nuclear (often pronounced "nookyooler") or the pronunciation of comfortable as "comfterbull". This root, which originally meant 'piece of straw; something worthless', gave rise to many varied words, but an interesting development in the word's travels to its modern day meaning is that Ancient French pelfre also meant "used clothes or linen" as well as "goods taken by violence or in battle". This shows the mental link between how a word that originally meant scraps of straw and came to be therefore synonymous with worthlessness was used to describe the spoils of war as, quite literally, "tattered clothing", and eventually shifted in meaning to the connotation of precious items, in the continued sense of "those things taken from the enemy".
I did find one further connection quite interesting: *faluppa also became vulgar Latin *infrapedare which in turn yielded modern Italian frappare which means "to cut or prune". Other derivatives in various Romance languages carry the meanings of tear, foliage, and ragged, all evoking the idea of something which has been cut or shredded, which at once hearkens back to the original meaning of worthless (and perhaps even broken shreds of straw), and also connects it remotely with our previous word "share", which came from a root meaning "to cut". In essence, although coming from different roots, both pelf and shares could be defined as "bits of something which have been cut away" but their meanings have developed through the ages into one portion of something that is taken against someone's will, and one portion that is freely given away.

Summary - Hoard, dictionary definition "a treasure, valuable stock or store, an accumulation of something for preservation or future use", root meaning "something which is covered or concealed"
Share, dictionary definition "portion of something belonging to an individual", root meaning "a piece which is cut off, separated"
Pilfer, dictionary definition "to steal in small quantities", root meaning "something which is torn or worthless"


Thanks for giving me a good excuse to indulge my curiosity and delve into some word histories, @crackie. You're probably regretting ever learning what a philologist was, but that's shenanigans for you! ;)
While amused, between you and @MaidenFair, I don't think I've heard so much legalese floating around shenanigans before. It's as someone got caught. What? No, that would never happen...
We have to lend an air of credibility and legality to the proceedings, in case suspicious eyes are watching. We're preserving our cover! (Plus I've been reading Cicero, whose grandiose rhetorical style is sticking in my head, so... XD )
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
Thanks for giving me a good excuse to indulge my curiosity and delve into some word histories, @crackie. You're probably regretting ever learning what a philologist was, but that's shenanigans for you! ;)
I read this thinking, "OooOoooo... @Astram is going to censor you for all your vulgar latin roots!!!" :D
However, a little digging in the DEAF (Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français)
I like that you explained what DEAF stands for. There are people here who like to drop OED like it's perfectly normal conversation.
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
Ok, it's finally done. Behold, @MaidenFair's custom sig! If you thought writing philology into a story was hard, well, coming up with visual philology jokes was even harder!

After some internal debate over which ancient language to use, I've settled on the hieroglyphics aesthetics and introduced a new deity for the ancient Egyptians to worship, the Goddess of Philology. They offer her sacred tools of the trade to do linguistic research with, a magnify glass and a brass library lamp. And in case anyone is late to the party and don't know what the heck is going on, I added a tagline to make sure nobody gets lost. Lastly, the American Philological Association has made a font apparently, so obviously, that is the official font chosen (New Athena Unicode). No vulgar Latin roots were used in the making of this sig. I hope you like your new sig. This concludes the current episode of philological shenanigans.
maidenfair-sig.png
 

Yavimaya

Scroll-Keeper
Ok, it's finally done. Behold, @MaidenFair's custom sig! If you thought writing philology into a story was hard, well, coming up with visual philology jokes was even harder!

After some internal debate over which ancient language to use, I've settled on the hieroglyphics aesthetics and introduced a new deity for the ancient Egyptians to worship, the Goddess of Philology. They offer her sacred tools of the trade to do linguistic research with, a magnify glass and a brass library lamp. And in case anyone is late to the party and don't know what the heck is going on, I added a tagline to make sure nobody gets lost. Lastly, the American Philological Association has made a font apparently, so obviously, that is the official font chosen (New Athena Unicode). No vulgar Latin roots were used in the making of this sig. I hope you like your new sig. This concludes the current episode of philological shenanigans.
maidenfair-sig.png
That's really cool!
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
I don't know what happened to @MaidenFair. Perhaps she fell into a philological wormhole deep diving into Ancient Phoenician and ran into Hannibal's ghost. I've decided to give the people (ahem, poll riggers) what they want and made @The Fairy a sig too. At least now it's less confusing without both of us in blackout. Thank you for participating in shenanigans.

the-fairy-sig-glow.png
 
Last edited:

MaidenFair

Chef - Head Philologist
@crackie sorry, RL took over the last few weeks; this is my first time on the forums in a while. Wow, what a stunning sig, thanks!! I love the aesthetic, and the thought you put into the font and details. (Is it my imagination, or do I see a desk lamp in the background hieroglyphs on the right as well?) Amazing work. :D Hopefully after I finish explaining to my new Egyptian friends that I am definitely not a deity, just a duchess, they'll still be happy to share their tools with me. Papyrus is hard on the eyes without a desk lamp! ;)
 

Darielle

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, and Buddy Fan Club Member
PHILOLOGY IS HERE! (You asked for it, crackie! :D )
So, exploring the three words - Hoard is fairly straightforward: a Germanic word in origin, with existing cognates still in German, Hort, and Luxembourgish, hoart. Through a process called rhotacism, whereby 'z' or 's' sounds may be changed to 'r' sounds, it is also related to the common words 'house' (English), Haus (German), and Haut (German for 'skin'). These all convey some idea of covering: a hoard is a thing 'covered over', a house provides protection by being a cover, and skin obviously covers us. These words (and many others) all derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)keu-, 'cover, conceal'. (The asterisk in linguistics denotes a probable, but hypothetical, reconstructed form.)
Share is a little more complex. It is also Germanic, stemming from the Old English word scearu (the spelling 'sc' approximated our modern pronunciation 'sh' in this period). Scearu, meaning "a part or division, a piece cut off" also comes down to us in the modern word shear, and is cognate with the German Schar "troop, band" or more literally "a part of an army", and scheren "to cut (something) off". There are similar forms in Dutch (scheren 'to shave') and Swedish (skåra 'cut'), Greek (keirein 'to cut'), Latin (caro "flesh", which was originally used in the sense "a piece of flesh"), and even old Irish (scar(a)im "to disconnect or divide"). These all came from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker(ə)-, meaning, you guessed it, "to cut".
Finally, pilfer. This is where it gets interesting (and muddled). On first glance, a dictionary will tell you that pilfer comes through Middle English from the Old French pelfre, the origin of which is unknown. This also yielded the now archaic English word 'pelf' which means 'spoils, loot'. However, a little digging in the DEAF (Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français) database shows that pelfre is probably related to the vulgar Latin roots *faluppa or *feleppa (it's debated by scholars whether pelfre is derived from this latter or is the root of it.) In either case, it seems to be related through the process of metathesis, which refers to the switching of sounds between syllables or sound clusters in words, a common form of sound change seen in modern English in such words as nuclear (often pronounced "nookyooler") or the pronunciation of comfortable as "comfterbull". This root, which originally meant 'piece of straw; something worthless', gave rise to many varied words, but an interesting development in the word's travels to its modern day meaning is that Ancient French pelfre also meant "used clothes or linen" as well as "goods taken by violence or in battle". This shows the mental link between how a word that originally meant scraps of straw and came to be therefore synonymous with worthlessness was used to describe the spoils of war as, quite literally, "tattered clothing", and eventually shifted in meaning to the connotation of precious items, in the continued sense of "those things taken from the enemy".
I did find one further connection quite interesting: *faluppa also became vulgar Latin *infrapedare which in turn yielded modern Italian frappare which means "to cut or prune". Other derivatives in various Romance languages carry the meanings of tear, foliage, and ragged, all evoking the idea of something which has been cut or shredded, which at once hearkens back to the original meaning of worthless (and perhaps even broken shreds of straw), and also connects it remotely with our previous word "share", which came from a root meaning "to cut". In essence, although coming from different roots, both pelf and shares could be defined as "bits of something which have been cut away" but their meanings have developed through the ages into one portion of something that is taken against someone's will, and one portion that is freely given away.

Summary - Hoard, dictionary definition "a treasure, valuable stock or store, an accumulation of something for preservation or future use", root meaning "something which is covered or concealed"
Share, dictionary definition "portion of something belonging to an individual", root meaning "a piece which is cut off, separated"
Pilfer, dictionary definition "to steal in small quantities", root meaning "something which is torn or worthless"


Thanks for giving me a good excuse to indulge my curiosity and delve into some word histories, @crackie. You're probably regretting ever learning what a philologist was, but that's shenanigans for you! ;)

We have to lend an air of credibility and legality to the proceedings, in case suspicious eyes are watching. We're preserving our cover! (Plus I've been reading Cicero, whose grandiose rhetorical style is sticking in my head, so... XD )
Love this! I missed you in the contest this month, MaidenFair ... you would have been the toughest competition, and that's half the fun! :)
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
I mean the trauma involved...
Not just to her! I found myself asking, and thereby also picturing, "How does one milk a cow with tiny T-Rex hands?" Then you add a broken nail to the equation and the question changes to "How far do you think will muffy fly after getting drop kicked by a cow?" Trauma all around! Hope you have enough Pet Food to feed that Twilight Phoenix to recover.
 
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