'Fractal Etymology' - /lit/ (#24540600) [Archived: 383 hours ago]

Anonymous
7/11/2025, 5:52:58 PM No.24540600
1740137983765846
1740137983765846
md5: 62a44ef8bea0bbd42297d07cc7aff1d9🔍
Has anyone had the idea of applying a Fractal sort of lens to etymology?
>what does this mean
where meaning branches recursively, where each word-root is a seed—and every suffix, prefix, shift, and sound mutation is a branching pattern; not unlike how a fractal unfolds from a base function.
>Let’s define a recursive etymology structure:

If we start with a generic constructed root (from similar generic Proto-Indo-European roots, like *dher- / *dherə-, *dreu- / *drew-, or *tragh-; all of which describe "tensive motions")
We can use this Root "DRA"
Root: DRA (to draw / pull / unfold; A prefix indicating unfolding motion)
|
|-- Prefixes (direction, intent)
|-- Suffixes (tense, role, abstraction)
|-- Lexical Drift (semantic extension)

To construct words that could not be found anywhere in a modern dictionary, yet are as real and unique as any word found in one.

draith
(n) The trail or wake left by an unfolding thing (from DRA + -ith [abstract state])
“The draith of his thought lingered in the room.” = (the unfolding residue, like smoke or echo)

dranar
(n) One who draws out or evokes hidden things (DRA + -nar [agentive])
“The dranar entered the dream with wordless threads.” = (storyteller, psychoanalyst, codebreaker—any archetype of deep drawing)

endraw
(v) To draw something from within another thing (en- + DRA + w)
“She endrew his silence into song.” = (to tease out essence through subtle unfolding)

redrave
(v) To pull back toward origin; to rewind potential
(re- + DRA + ve [ve = move/flow])
“He redraved the future into past glimmers.”

>Summary of DRA:

Its simplicity (CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) structure) makes it rootable in multiple directions: prefix, suffix, compound.

Its phonetic siblings (draw, drag, drain, druid, drama, dread, drape, dream) suggest a symbolic gravity well around acts of transition, revelation, and tension.
Replies: >>24540642 >>24540649 >>24540661 >>24541808 >>24541827 >>24541835
Anonymous
7/11/2025, 6:10:14 PM No.24540642
>>24540600 (OP)
>Fractal Principles Applied to Language
Traditional etymology traces the historical lineage of words through linear descent, typically from a single proto-language root. While effective historically, this approach limits the exploration of deeper semantic connections. Fractal Etymology shifts linguistic inquiry from linear progression to recursive, fractalized patterns of meaning, embracing self-similarity and symbolic resonance across disparate language families and historical contexts.
>Semantic Self-Similarity
Words maintain symbolic integrity through their fractal echoes in multiple linguistic and cultural contexts.
A root such as lumen (Latin: "light") recursively mirrors its semantic fields; clarity, illumination, revelation, across various derivatives (illuminate, lucid, luminary), linguistic relatives (Greek leukos, Sanskrit loka), and symbolic interpretations (enlightenment as spiritual illumination).
>Lexical and Semantic Innovation
Fractal Etymology provides a systematic method for linguistic creativity, enabling the synthesis of novel nouns, verbs, prefixes, and suffixes grounded in symbolic coherence. By selecting a fractal root; such as the hypothetical root "DRA," denoting pulling or unfolding; linguists can mine words like draith (trail left by unfolding), dranar (one who evokes hidden things), and endraw (to pull essence from within).
Replies: >>24540649
Anonymous
7/11/2025, 6:14:22 PM No.24540649
>>24540642
>>24540600 (OP)
Romans 1:20:
“His invisible attributes have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”
Anonymous
7/11/2025, 6:21:31 PM No.24540661
>>24540600 (OP)
https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/
Anonymous
7/11/2025, 8:22:28 PM No.24540960
https://actahumanitatis.com/index.php/journal/article/view/13/13
Anonymous
7/12/2025, 1:39:15 AM No.24541808
file
file
md5: b0bb2311d421f175c81c59abd7e67bca🔍
>>24540600 (OP)
Replies: >>24541820
Anonymous
7/12/2025, 1:43:10 AM No.24541820
file
file
md5: 129fb1c6be51a2f76a8699cd4e655e96🔍
>>24541808
LE ZIZI
Anonymous
7/12/2025, 1:48:18 AM No.24541827
>>24540600 (OP)
tragedy
drama
trauma

* * *

Good authors do this anyway.
Anonymous
7/12/2025, 1:54:07 AM No.24541835
>>24540600 (OP)
Peter Douglas's fractal epistemology piece.