sample sentence structure
Other words i like are redress and posthaste
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I (pron.) 12c. shortening of Old English ic, first person singular nominative pronoun, from
Proto-Germanic *ekan (cognates: Old Frisian ik, Old Norse ek, Norwegian eg, Danish jeg, Old
High German ih, German ich, Gothic ik), from PIE *eg-, nominative form of the first person
singular pronoun (cognates: Sanskrit aham, Hittite uk, Latin ego (source of French Je), Greek
ego, Russian ja, Lithuanian aš). Reduced to i by mid-12c. in northern England, it began to be
capitalized mid-13c. to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten
manuscripts.
The reason for writing I is … the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a ‘long i’ (that
is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral ‘one’
was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun. [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and
Structure of the English Language," p.233]
man (n.) Old English man, mann “human being, person (male or female); brave man, hero;
servant, vassal,” from Proto-Germanic *manwaz (cognates: Old Saxon, Swedish, Dutch, Old
High German man, German Mann, Old Norse maðr, Danish mand, Gothic manna “man”), from
PIE root *man- (1) “man” (cognates: Sanskrit manuh, Avestan manu-, Old Church Slavonic
mozi, Russian muzh “man, male”).
require (v.) late 14c., “to ask a question, inquire,” from Old French requerre “seek, procure;
beg, ask, petition; demand,” from Vulgar Latin *requaerere, from Latin requirere “seek to
know, ask,” from re-, here perhaps meaning “repeatedly” (see re-), + quaerere “ask, seek” (see
query (v.)).
The original sense of this word has been taken over by request (v.). Sense of “demand
(someone) to do (something)” is from 1751, via the notion of “to ask for imperatively, or as a
right” (late 14c.). Related: Required; requiring.
you (pron.) Old English eow, dative and accusative plural of þu (see thou), objective case of
ge, “ye” (see ye), from Proto-Germanic *juz-, *iwwiz (cognates: Old Norse yor, Old Saxon iu,
Old Frisian iuwe, Middle Dutch, Dutch u, Old High German iu, iuwih, German euch), from PIE
*yu, second person (plural) pronoun.
Pronunciation of you and the nominative form ye gradually merged from 14c.; the distinction
between them passed out of general usage by 1600. Widespread use of French in England after
12c. gave English you the same association as French vous, and it began to drive out singular
nominative thou, originally as a sign of respect (similar to the “royal we”) when addressing
superiors, then equals and strangers, and ultimately (by c.1575) becoming the general form of
address. Through 13c. English also retained a dual pronoun ink “you two; your two selves;
each other.”
restore (v.) c.1300, “to give back,” also, “to build up again, repair,” from Old French
restorer, from Latin restaurare “repair, rebuild, renew,” from re- “back, again” (see re-) + staurare, as in instaurare “restore,” from PIE *stau-ro-, from root *sta- “to stand, set down,
make or be firm,” with derivatives meaning “place or thing that is standing” (see stet). Related:
Restored; restoring.
redress (v.) mid-14c., “to correct, reform;” late 14c., “restore, put right” (a wrong, error,
offense); “repair; relieve; improve; amend,” from Old French redrecier “reform, restore,
rebuild” (Modern French redresser), from re- “again” (see re-) + drecier “to straighten,
arrange” (see dress (v.)). Formerly used in many more senses than currently. Related:
Redressed; redressing.
property (n.) c.1300, properte, “nature, quality,” later “possession, thing owned” (early 14c.,
a sense rare before 17c.), from an Anglo-French modification of Old French propriete
“individuality, peculiarity; property” (12c., Modern French propreté; see propriety), from Latin
proprietatem (nominative proprietas) “ownership, a property, propriety, quality,” literally
“special character” (a loan-translation of Greek idioma), noun of quality from proprius “one’s
own, special” (see proper). For “possessions, private property” Middle English sometimes used
proper goods. Hot property “sensation, a success” is from 1947 in “Billboard” stories.
here Old English her “in this place, where one puts himself,” from Proto-Germanic
pronomial stem *hi- (from PIE *ki- “this;” see he) + adverbial suffix -r. Cognate with Old
Saxon her, Old Norse, Gothic her, Swedish här, Middle Dutch, Dutch hier, Old High German
hiar, German hier.
posthaste (adv.) 1590s, from a noun (1530s) meaning “great speed,” usually said to be from
“post haste” instruction formerly written on letters (attested from 1530s), from post (adv.) +
haste (n.). The verb post “to ride or travel with great speed” is recorded from 1550s.