tephra: Photo portrait of a doll with shaggy, dark orange and copper hair, wearing a pink slouchy hat and sky blue glasses. (Default)
Tephra ([personal profile] tephra) wrote2004-08-24 01:53 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Dictionary.com Word of the Day for Tuesday August 24, 2004

fungible \FUHN-juh-buhl\, adjective:
  1.  (Law) Freely exchangeable for or replaceable by another of like nature or kind in the satisfaction of an obligation.
  2. Interchangeable.


Okay.... So how does a word that shares an obvious root with "fungus" get this meaning?

Fungible comes from Medieval Latin fungibilis, from Latin fungi (vice), "to perform (in place of)."

Wait a minute here, "fungus" meant vice? Hmm, [livejournal.com profile] ursulav would probably come up with something about mushrooms on a vice sting, I however can only think that my taste for mushrooms now has an explanation.

(And if I remember my noun declensions correctly, "fungi" is actually the genitive form of the noun. Assuming it's part of the secoond declension anyway and not a masculine or nueter fourth declesion noun. Damn I miss my high school Latin class, wish I had a copy of the text.)

Post a comment in response:

(will be screened)
(will be screened if not validated)
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting

If you are unable to use this captcha for any reason, please contact us by email at support@dreamwidth.org