#dactylo-

[ecrirencore]

Robert Doisneau, La dactylo du Vert Galant, Paris, 1947.

[vudansmarue]

Paris, 2023

[visual-poetry]

by la dactylo

[ms-fan]

MICHAEL SHANKS as Christopher Dactylos

Eureka  s02e14  •  All That Glitters

[tournevole]

[lyslily]

Jean Boyer Dactylo, Wilhelm Thiele (1931

[frenchtwistagain]

Paris 19

[chansondereste]

[illustrations-humour]

Pahn

[vudansmarue]

Paris, 2023

[thomasmartinnutt]

Henri Chopin. Dactylo Poème (Le CRS n’était pas malade), 1990

[kvetchlandia]

Robert Doisneau La dactylo du Vert Galant, Ile de la Cité, Paris, 1947

[cisthoughtcrime]

thanks for answering my question about how “gyn” is pronounced— you really went into detail! how’d you learn so much about the roots of words?

I've studied Latin and Ancient Greek for years as part of my professional research interests, and I also just love linguistics and etymology in general

a fun etymology of the day for no reason other than this ask!

"helicopter": you might think this is from heli- and -copter, but it's actually from helico (like helix) and pteron (like pterodactyl). ἕλιξ (helix) means "spiral" and πτερόν (pteron) means "wing", so a helicopter is a spiralwing.

bonus, a pterodactyl is a "wingfinger" since δάκτυλος (dactylos) means "finger", which also gives us "dactyl", the term in poetry for a foot with a long syllable and then two short syllables (- u u) because it resembles the bones in a finger:

[er-cryptid]

Dactylo- means fingers or toes

[jamie-007]

A la fin du crétacé, les dinosaures formaient une véritable racaille spécialisée dans le vol de bicyclettes, d'où leur nom latin : vélociraptor.

Ils s'en prenaient surtout à celles des ptéro-dactylos, qui, à la sortie du bureau, ne retrouvaient souvent plus leur vélo...