A nice analysis

English translation follows the German text.

Hallo. Dieser Post ist leider nur auf English, weil es um so eine auf einem Wortspiel basierende englische linguistische Analyse geht. Wer ein bisschen Englisch kann, kann gerne den englischen Text lesen.
Ciao,
Herr Bench



Hi. This post is unfortunately only in English because it's about an English linguistic analysis based on a pun. If you are reading and understanding this, then that shouldn't matter as it means you are at least able to passively comprehend written English, so you should be fine with the rest of the post. Here it is.
My version of the Oxford Dictionary of English contains the following entries (here I only mean main entries) which begin with the letters 'pant':
1 pant
2 Pantegruelian
3 pantalettes
4 pantaloon
5 Pantanal
6 pantec
7 pantechnicon
8 Pantelleria
9 Panthalassa
10 pantheism
11 pantheon
12 panther
13 panther cap
14 panties
15 pantihose
16 pantile
17 Pantisocracy
18 panto
19 panto-
20 Pantocrator
21 pantograph
22 pantomime
23 pantomime dame
24 pantomime horse
25 Pantone
26 pantothenate
27 pantothenic acid
28 pantoum
29 pantry
30 pantryman
31 pants
32 pantsuit
33 pantsula
34 pantun
35 panty girdle
36 pantyhose
37 pantywaist

That makes 37 entries in total.
Of those, the following have an ORIGIN given.
1 pant: Middle English: related to Old French pantaisier 'be agitated, gasp', based on Greek phantasioun 'cause to imagine', from phantasia (see FANTASY).
2 Pantagruelian: late 17th cent.: from Pantagruel (the name of an enormous giant in Rabelais's novel Pantagruel (1532)) + -IAN.
4 pantaloon: late 16th cent.: from French pantalon, from the Italian name Pantalone 'Pantaloon'.
6 pantec: 1970s: abbreviation of PANTECHNICON.
7 pantechnicon: mid 19th cent.: from PAN- 'all' + tekhnikon 'piece of art', originally the name of a bazaar in London for all kinds of artistic work, later converted into a furniture warehouse.
9 Panthalassa: late 19th cent.: from PAN- 'all' + Greek thalassa 'sea'.
10 pantheism: mid 18th cent.: from PAN- 'all' + Greek theos 'god' + -ISM.
11 pantheon: late Middle English (referring especially to the Pantheon, a large circular temple in Rome): via Latin from Greek pantheion, from pan 'all' + theion 'holy (from theos 'god').
12 panther: Middle English: from Old French pantere, from Latin panthera, from Greek panther. In Latin, pardus 'leopard' also existed: the two terms led to confusion: until the mid 19th cent. many taxonomists regarded the panther and the leopard as separate species.
16 pantile: mid 17th cent.: from PAN1 + TILE, probably suggested by Dutch dakpan, literally roof pan'.
17 Pantisocracy: late 18th cent.: from PANTO- 'all' + Greek isokratia 'equality of power'.
19 panto-: from Greek pas, pant- 'all'.
20 Pantocrator: late 19th cent.: via Latin from Greek, 'ruler over all'.
21 pantograph: early 18th cent.: from PANTO- 'all, universal' + Greek -graphos 'writing'.
22 pantomime: late 16th cent.: (first used in the Latin form and denoting an actor using mime): from French pantomime or Latin pantomimus, from Greek pantomimos 'imitator of all' (see PANTO-, MIME).
25 Pantone: 1960s: an invented name.
27 pantothenic acid: 1930s: pantothenic from Greek pantothen 'from every side' (with allusion to its widespread occurence).
28 pantoum: late 18th cent.: Malay pantun.
29 pantry: Middle English: from Anglo-Norman-French panterie, from paneter 'baker', based on late Latin panarius 'bread seller', from Latin panis 'bread'.
31 pants: mid 19th cent.: abbreviation of pantaloons (see PANTALOON).
33 pantsula: perhaps related to Zula p(h)antsula 'strike sharply (with a whip)', reference to elements of the dance style.
37 pantywaist: 1930s: extended use of the term's literal sense 'child's garment consisting of panties attached to a bodice'.

That makes 22 entries with a specified origin. The others either have an origin self-evidently related to one of the others e.g. pantomime horse being related to pantomime, or they have an origin which we can assume to be related e.g. Pantanal is probably somehow also related to one of the others, or at least to PAN- or PANTO-. So we're at 22 for the moment.
Now, some of the origin descriptions further reference other words, so, being thorough linguists, we should really see what their origins are to make sure we don't miss out anything important. Here we go.
1 pant --> FANTASY: late Middle English> from Old French fantasie, from Latin phantasia, from Greek 'imagination, appearance', later 'phantom', from phantazein 'make visible'. From the 16th to the 19th cents the Latinized spelling phantasy was also used.
7 pantechnicon, 9 Panthalassa, 10 pantheism --> PAN-: from Greek pan, neuter of pas 'all'.
16 pantile --> PAN1: Old English panne, of West Germanic origin: related to Dutch pan, German Pfanne, perhaps based on Latin patina 'dish'.

As is clear, this doesn't actually give us 3 additional origins, but rather exposes those with PAN- as the origin as being similary original to those with PANTO-.
All of that means that we are left with just the following genuinely distinct origins, which I will assign letters to so that we can keep track of them:
A: from Greek phantazein 'make visible'. (1)
B: from Pantagruel. (2)
C: from the Italian name Pantalone 'Pantaloon'. (3, 4, 14, 15, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37)
D: from Greek pas 'all'. (6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, probably 5, 8)
E: from Greek panther. (12, 13)
F: related to Dutch pan, German Pfanne, perhaps based on Latin patina 'dish'. (16)
G: an invented name. (25)
H: Malay pantun. (28, 34)
I: from Latin panis 'bread'. (29, 30)
J: perhaps related to Zula p(h)antsula 'strike sharply (with a whip)'. (33)

J is the tenth letter of the alphabet, which means that in total there are ten different types of pant. Or, as people sometimes say colloquially, ten different types of pants.
Besides that stunning revelation, I hope you've inferred correctly that leopards and panthers are the same species, which will at least give you the edge in any conversation with many of the early 19th century taxonomists you're likely to come across. You're welcome.
See you tomorrow.

Super Sunday - The corkscrew

English translation follows the German text.

Hallo. Heute ist etwas passiert, was die Welt und vor allem mein Leben da drin wirklich schöner gemacht hat. Ich beschreibe es mal. Es war nur eine ganz kleine Sache, aber eine große Freude hat sie schon ausgelöst. Also: ich war bei einem Kumpel zum Mittagessen verabredet und ich musste mit einer Bus/U-Bahn-Kombination dahin kommen. Ich brachte auch eine Flasche Wein mit, da ich seit einer Weile ihm gesagt hatte, dass ich ihm mal eine Flasche Wein mitbringen würde. Dieses Ziel verwirklichte ich also. Also war schon alles ziemlich jut, als ich losfuhr. Auf dem Weg (im Bus) ist mir dann eingefallen, dass er vielleicht keinen Korkenzieher haben würde, was der ganzen Weinmitbringerei etwas schade sein würde - er ist ziemlich neu in seine Wohnung eingezogen und Pfannen, Töpfe und Kartoffelschäler hat er, aber ich dachte, vielleicht hat er doch noch keinen Korkenzieher, denn er ist kein riesiger Weintrinker. Najut, auf jeden Fall habe ich diesen Gedanken gehabt und als ich dann an der Bushaltestelle ausstieg, die zugleich eine U-Bahnstation war, sah ich einen Flohmarkt. Ich versuchte ihn dann anzurufen, um zu erkündigen, ob er einen Korkenzieher habe, aber ich konnte ihn nicht erreichen. Also musste ich eine Entscheidung treffen: kaufen oder nicht kaufen. Ich habe dann einen gekauft, einen ziemlich schäbig aussehenden, den ich für 80 Cent (von einem Euro runtergefeilscht) bekommen habe. Den nahm ich dann mit in die U-Bahn und weiter zu meinem Gastgeber. Nachdem wir dann das Essen gekocht hatten und es zum Weinöffnungszeit kam, sah ich, wie mein Kumpel etwas zögerte, sagte ich ihm, dass ich einen Korkenzieher mit bei hatte und alles war super. Der ist auch trotz des billigen Aussehens des Plastikgriffs nicht kaputtgegangen und die Mahlzeit war gerettet. Hervorragend. Es hätte dabei viel schief laufen können - vielleicht hätte er schon einen Korkenzieher gehabt, vielleicht hätte ich 5 Mark für einen ausgegeben, vielleicht hätten wir den Wein doch gar nicht trinken wollen, vielleicht wäre der nutzlos oder gar kaputtgegangen, aber nein - gar nix ist schief gelaufen. Solche Aktionen machen mir das Leben schön - viel zu oft laufen Dinge gar nicht so glatt, aber Beispiele erwähne ich hier nicht, weil ich ja diesen durchaus Super Sonntag doch nicht verderben möchte.
Bis Morgen.
PS: Tom Huddlestone hat heute einen Elfmeter verschossen, was einem einige Zweifel an der Weltanschauung verursacht, aber dank der Korkenziehergeschichte werde ich wohl doch positiv bleiben können.


Good day. Today something happened which really made the world and above all my life more beautiful. I'll describe it for you. It was just a very small thing, but it still unleashed a great joy. Right: I had arranged to go to a mate's house for lunch and I had to use a bus-underground-combination to get there. I also took a bottle of wine with me, because I'd been promising for a while that I would at some point bring a bottle of wine with me. So I realised this aim and everything was already pretty good as I set off. On the way (on the bus) I then thought that maybe he wouldn't have a corkscrew, which would be a great shame for the whole wine-bringery - he has only quite recently moved into his new flat and he's got pans, both frying and sauce, as well as potato peelers, but I thought that he might nevertheless not yet have picked up a corkscrew, seeing as he's not a massive wine drinker. Anyway, I had this thought and then as I was getting out at the bus stop, which doubles as an underground station, I saw a flea market. I tried to give him a ring to find out whether he had a corkscrew, but I couldn't reach him. So I had to make a decision: to buy or not to buy. I went ahead and bought one, a pretty grotty looking one, which I got for 80 cents (haggled down from a euro). I took this with me into the underground and then on to my host's. After we'd cooked dinner and it came to the wine-opening time, I saw that my mate was hesitating and I said to him that I had a corkscrew with me and everything was awesome. It didn't even break, in spite of its cheap looking plastic handle,nand the meal was saved. Brilliant. There was so much that could have gone wrong - he could have already had a corkscrew, I might have ended up dropping a fiver on one, we might not have been bothered drinking the wine, the corkscrew might have been useless or even broken, but no - nothing went wrong at all. Such events really make my life good - far too often things don't come off nearly as smoothly, but I won't mention any examples here, because I don't want to put a downer on what has been a thoroughly Super Sunday.
See you tomorrow.
PS: Tom Huddlestone missed a penalty today which does make one doubt one's world view a little bit, but thanks to the corkscrew story I should be able to stay positive.