>
> The 'mixed grain' meaning definitely implies mixing two
substances; so
> does the 'the act of mixing, seasoning. an ingredient'. It seems
very
> forced to deny the meaning to many of the other meanings.
>
> Richard.
>
Richard, please read again all the meanings that you can find
there...
"being of mixed birth or breed, one
whose parents belong to different castes, promiscuous, mixed grain,
an adulterator of grain, a mule, to mingle words, a mixed story,
diverse etc..."
Please take next a look of all existing compounds (and there are
some)...in all the mi`srá-compounds there is almost no trace of the
basic meaning of 'to mix'
In this acse, it's the main resulting meaning: 'to mix two liquids
or two substances in one mass' ?
For sure not...(but of course the meanings are free 'to go (in time)
up and down' in 'any direction' (even 'to come back': like "to add
an ingredient") ; what is important there, is to detect the Main
Trend of all these meanings and next to deduce the Original Meaning
of mi`srá ...this is the scope, and not to take 'a sample' from that
enumeration.
I ensure you that I didn't try any trick, the original meaning that
result from all that meanings is clearly not 'to mix two liquids or
substances in one mass' but 'to detect an object,a
situation,something similar-with this original meaning of to mix'...
Please read again also the oldest attestation in Rig-Veda where
mi`srá means : "to mingle words"...and links this with the trend of
all the above meanings and compounds to see that the conclusion
is 'not forced at all'...
Is important also to clarify here the 'main/basic' meaning of to
mix: "to mix" <=> <<to put together two liquids or two substances in
one mass usually by altering the initial identity of these
substances>>
Please see that in English we have also 2 verbs that really catch
this important nuance:
a) 'to mingle' -> 'to mix usually without fundamental loss of
identity' (url:
http://www.webster.com/dictionary/mingle)
b) 'to mix' -> 'to combine or blend into one mass'
(url:
http://www.webster.com/dictionary/mix)
It's strange that I (=> a Romanian possesing a poor English) should
arrive to explain the main meanings of 'to mix' and 'to mingle'...
This nuance is important for the discussed topic: because *mik'-ro
is a word belonging to the *meik' family: so it's normal that it
refers 'to a kind of mixture' (what else we could expect) : the
discussion here is: if 'the kind of mixture(s) represented by *mik'-
ro' is the 'basic one' or not...and if is not the 'basic one', what
kind of mixture it can designates.
Finally: I 'don't know' who has tried 'to force here' another
conclusion.
Marius
P.S. Also, but this is a detail, regrading "to mix grain" (as I
know 'the grain' is 'a seed': "a small hard particle"
(url:
http://www.webster.com/dictionary/grain), for a 'real mixture'
you would need 'to mix different types of flour" (please see also
there the meaning "an adulterator of grain")