Word of the Day

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Legs, bones, and charnel houses

Dutch been means both bone and leg. They differ in the plural form, beenderen for the former and benen for the latter. German Bein usually means leg, but in archaic usage it can also mean bone. That usage of Bein is found in Beinhaus, which is not a house for legs, but a house for bones, a charnel house.

1 comment:

Comentador said...

que tal um comentário sobre mãe/braço, pé/perna nas eslavas? =D