you never know where this list will lead you ...

[edie heller <edieh@zzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

now this is what i call serendipitous:  while following the threads on
"sincere sculpture", peter referenced a web site called word detective
- i immediately went to the page, which happens to be from june 11,
2002, and the 3rd entry had the following to say:
""Incent" purports to be a verb based on the noun "incentive," which
means "something which incites or motivates to action or effort." 
"Incent" is evidently a case of what linguists call "back-formation,"
the concoction of a new word which sounds like an earlier or simpler
"root" of an existing word, but really isn't.  There was no such word
as "sculpt," for example, until someone looked at the noun "sculpture"
and decided there must be a root verb lurking in there somewhere. 
There wasn't -- the word "sculpture" itself is also a perfectly good
verb, and for several hundred years it was accepted usage to say that
an artist had "sculptured" a statue.  Similarly, there is no hidden
verb "incent" underlying "incentive."  "Incentive" comes from
"incentivus," Latin for "setting the tune" (based on canere, to sing)."

  i never knew this!  it's fascinating to think that michelangelo would
spend his days "sculpturing" ... ya learn sumpin' new every day ...
love this list ... edie