Year/etymology

Famous quotes containing the words year and/or etymology:

    ‘He hardly drinks a pint of wine,
    And that, I doubt, is no good sign.
    His stomach too begins to fail:
    Last year we thought him strong and hale,
    But now, he’s quite another thing;
    I wish he may hold out till spring.’

    Then hug themselves, and reason thus;
    ‘It is not yet so bad with us.’
    Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

    Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.
    Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)