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BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO

11/29/2016

4 Comments

 
Buffalo is one of my favorite words in the English language, partly because of its three definitions. The first, meaning "a kind of ox", arises from Greek boubalos, meaning "a kind of antelope". This was then passed into Latin, then Portuguese, then adopted in English as another kind of large animal, but not exactly an antelope. The second definition is a little more obscure, but still utilized daily: "to intimidate or bully". This most likely originates from the first, because of the tendency of oxen to panic or posture. The third definition, a city in western New York, is completely different in origin, coming from either a portmanteau of French for "beautiful river" (this makes more sense, since it sits on the beautiful Niagara River) or a Native American chieftain's name. Combined, these three homographs create the longest grammatically correct sentence using only one word: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. This might make no sense, but it's AMAZING and it means "Oxen from Buffalo, NY who are bullied by other oxen from Buffalo then bully more oxen." THIS IS WHY ETYMOLOGY AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS AWESOME.
4 Comments
MckimmeCue link
5/25/2022 09:57:40 am

What an exquisite article! Your post is very helpful right now. Thank you for sharing this informative one.
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Juan Gibson link
5/1/2023 12:20:41 am

Buffalo is known as the City of Trees due to the vast amount of parks.

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dk
6/30/2023 06:25:52 pm

can you help me understand how the 5th and 6th 'buffalo' makes semantic sense? I was googling the origins of the word 'hysteria' and found your blog. awesome stuff :D

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Demetrius J Kent
6/30/2023 06:26:26 pm

make*

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    Hello! I'm Adam Aleksic. This year, I graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Government and Linguistics. There, I co-founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society and wrote a thesis on Serbo-Croatian language policy, ​magna cum laude. In addition to etymology, I also really enjoy philosophy, trivia, vexillology, geography, board games, conlanging, art history, and law. 
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