Jim writes:
<< [. . .] willy-nilly (funny, Byron uses the phrase, "Will I Nill I" --
wonder where that came from? Latin?) [. . . .] >>
Latin seems improbable. I believe that both "will" and "nill" as verbs were
present in Old English, and are presumably anciently Germanic, straight from
Indo-European. No fancy hops through France are necessary.
-Robbie
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Received on Thu Nov 6 15:09:25 2003
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