Talk:O
O, who would inhabit this bleak world alone?
editWhat sense of etymology 2 is this: "O, who would inhabit this bleak world alone?" (Moore). It is neither vocative (as far as I can tell) nor addressing a revered person or deity. It is more like the modern oh. Equinox ◑ 22:16, 11 September 2013 (UTC)
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Rfv-sense: "(slang, usually preceded by the big) orgasm". Isn't this always seen in the set phrase "the big O"? This, that and the other (talk) 10:14, 22 November 2014 (UTC)
- I've added four citations that support "O" by itself, outside of the phrase "the big O". —Mr. Granger (talk • contribs) 15:31, 22 November 2014 (UTC)
- Thanks; that settles it for me. This, that and the other (talk) 04:45, 23 November 2014 (UTC)
English etymology of the vocative particle
edit- "Compare the Old Saxon gloss o (950s) of the Lambeth MS (957) of the Gallican Psalter and the ó, o (post-1000) of the Durham Hymns, regularly seen in the redundant forms "o eala þu" and "ó eala þu" by proper names."
That appears to be Anglo-Saxon (ang), not Old Saxon (osx).
- "Compare also the Anglo-Norman O (about 1200) of the manuscripts of Saints Juliana and Katherine, and other religious writs."
(a) At the provided link it appears that it's O at the beginning of a sentence, thus not revealing whether it's O or o. Thus by the provided source it should be "O (at the beginning of a sentence)" or something similar.
(b) One of the results is this: "c1225(?c1200) St.Juliana (Bod 34) 45/483: O ihesu, godes sune, þe hauest þin hehe seotel o meiðhades mihte." That looks quite Germanic (compare with New English O Jesu, God's son, thou havest thy ... or NHG O Jesu, Gottes Sohn, du hast dein- ...) and not Romance which Anglo-Norman (xno) is.
- "In Middle English, O is found in Acts 13:10, Romans 9:20, and Galatians 3:1, and ò is found in Romans 2:1,3, of John Wycliff's Newe Testament (1382)"
Source? en:s:Wycliffe Bible (The Wycliffe Bible (1395)) - although less reliable - have "A" in Acts 13:10. Additionally, the place doesn't necessarily reveal whether it's O or o (or A or a), as it's at in same way at the beginning of a sentence. In New English interpunctuation, it would be He said: "Words ..." with a capital W as if it's the beginning of a sentence. In Middle English interpunctuation it could be He said, Words ... lacking quotation marks but still capitalising the the first word of the speech as if it's the beginning of a sentence. -80.133.98.20 19:37, 20 April 2018 (UTC)
Slang sense
editWhat does "O" mean here?
- I got lots of O's, put my name right next to Al Capone.