quick spelling lesson
Nov. 4th, 2004 03:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ajvaGood grief, people don't half make a lot of mistakes with the word minuscule.
For the third time in two days, I've just seen it spelt starting mini-, as in mini-skirt.
Nope.
Two completely different roots, according to my office's Collins Pocket Dictionary of the English Language:
miniature - from Medieval Latin miniare, meaning "to paint red", itself deriving from minium, meaning "red lead" (red lead paint, you see).
minuscule - from Latin minuscula meaning, quite simply, "very small".
So there you go. No further excuses, now. ;o)
For the third time in two days, I've just seen it spelt starting mini-, as in mini-skirt.
Nope.
Two completely different roots, according to my office's Collins Pocket Dictionary of the English Language:
miniature - from Medieval Latin miniare, meaning "to paint red", itself deriving from minium, meaning "red lead" (red lead paint, you see).
minuscule - from Latin minuscula meaning, quite simply, "very small".
So there you go. No further excuses, now. ;o)
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-04 08:01 am (UTC)All the more ironic in context really...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-05 06:59 am (UTC)