Judith, I hope you know that we simply cannot resist having a little fun with this. We're awfully curious as to the question that you asked the spirit. It could then have wowed you with its etymological knowledge. Mike has gone off to the living room where he is attempting to channel some single-malt Scotch. We discussed other descendants of the root ten- in Issue 25 .
Different languages adapt foreign words so that they are pronounceable using familiar phonemes.
Marble comes ultimately from Greek m rmaros which one source suggests originally referred to any kind of hard stone. Latin borrowed m rmaros as marmor , and Old French took it from Latin in the form marbre . That mutated to marble , which English borrowed directly from French in the 13th century at the very latest. English also used the Latin form until as late as the 17th century. Yes, we've heard from many readers who have indicated that they were told the same thing.