Lesson - Section 2: The Verb Classes and their Present Tense Conjugations

[aFrenchie]

Originally Posted by Seapaddler

ah but isn't a train something you ride?

Yes but the word has nothing to do with trains here . It's just an expression and another meaning... Maybe etymologically, it had to do with trains but I don't know.

[CFHollister]

Originally Posted by aFrenchie

Yes but the word has nothing to do with trains here . It's just an expression and another meaning... Maybe etymologically, it had to do with trains but I don't know.

There's an expression in English that might preserve this concept a bit: "train of thought." For example, "All that racket is interrupting my train of thought." Where "train of thought" means "what I am thinking about right now." I wouldn't be surprised is the two expressions were related somehow. I wouldn't be surprised if the vehicle train was derived from an earier meaning of "train" which simply meant any number of things that were both connected and moving.

In the French it came to be used to describe temporally related actions.
In the English it came to be used to describe temporally related thoughts.
And in the case of the vehicle, if refers to physically connected moving objects.

[aFrenchie]

Originally Posted by CFHollister

I wouldn't be surprised if the vehicle train was derived from an earier meaning of "train" which simply meant any number of things that were both connected and moving.

In the French it came to be used to describe temporally related actions.

Could be. Etymology is always odd and funny when very old expressions are concerned