So, KT IM'ed me from her phone...
KT: On phone. what's a Naze?
Me . o O (Naze? She didn't mean "maze" did she? No, no, of course not, that's easy... er... weird spelling of nose? The Japanese for why? (Just as a note-- "Naze nani..." sometimes gets translated as "The how and why of...", but technically, the two words mean "why" and "what" respectively.) Isn't there an Indian tribe...? no, wait, that's Nez, and that's just another nose word, anyway....hm.)
Me: Context?
KT: It was a street sign... Eldman's Naze
Me: Hm. Naze is an Old Norwegian word for "headland or cape." Named for the short-form of a cape at the southern tip of Norway called Lindesnes.
KT: Heh... Interesting
That's me. The drive-by librarian.
And just to round out the "two new things" part of this-- a neat little linkie on the dictionary page revealed that "naze" is essentially the same word as the Middle English "ness" (as in Loch Ness). Cool, neh?
Posted by gris at May 29, 2005 07:45 PM