Wednesday, August 10, 2011

transport etymology 13 - transportation

The combination of the three elements: trans (Latin meaning "across"; port ("carry", Latin portare); tion = noun suffix.  The act of carrying something or someone from one place to another.

In the UK, as well as NZ and Australia, the -ation has largely been discarded, but it is still added in America.

Historically, transportation was also a judicial sentence given to undesirables: in particular sending them from the UK to Australia, something that should be reintroduced for England's current recreational rioters (although not to Australia of course, the Gobi desert would be better).

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