Re: [Tinycc-devel] Segmentation fault compiling jslong.c

[Rob Landley]

On Friday 21 September 2007 4:23:11 am Dave Dodge wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 20, 2007 at 11:38:11PM -0500, Rob Landley wrote:
> > On Thursday 20 September 2007 9:35:05 pm Gregg Reynolds wrote:
> > > On 9/20/07, Rob Landley <address@hidden> wrote:
> > > > means is "doesn't move", same root as stasis.
> > >
> > > Mmm, more like "stands", which isn't quite the same.
> >
> > *shrug*  My last etymology course was in 1987, I'm not interested in
> > arguing with you.
>
> OT: (since I have OED handy): "static" comes from Latin staticus, from
> the Greek ({sigma}{tau}{alpha}{tau}{iota}{kappa}{goacu}{fsigma})
> "causing to stand" and also pertaining to [skill in] weighing.  It's
> heavily overloaded even in English; OED has 7 definitions for it just
> as an adjective.  Earliest quotations OED has are mid-1600s, mostly to
> do with weighing things though there's a rare usage describing someone
> as having a stable mental condition.  Its use in regard to
> electricity, and in physics as the opposite of "dynamic", dates from
> the mid-1800s.

Since Mirriam Webster is online:

http://m-w.com/dictionary/stasis

> Main Entry: sta·sis
>  Pronunciation: 'stA-s&s, 'sta-
>  Function: noun
>  Inflected Form(s): plural sta·ses  /'stA-"sEz, 'sta-/
>  Etymology: New Latin, from Greek, act or condition of standing, stopping,
> from histasthai to stand -- more at STAND 1 : a slowing or stoppage of the
> normal flow of a bodily fluid or semifluid: as a : slowing of the current
> of circulating blood b : reduced motility of the intestines with retention
> of feces 2 a : a state of static balance or equilibrium : STAGNATION b : a
> state or period of stability during which little or no evolutionary change
> in a lineage occurs

Seems like the same greek word to me.

Can we go back to my "don't want to argue about it" bit now?

Rob
-- 
"One of my most productive days was throwing away 1000 lines of code."
  - Ken Thompson.