On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 Talpianna at aol.com wrote: >What about some form of "weorpan," "to turn," as in mouldiwarp, the >OE for "mole" (of course *I* would cite that!), which means >earth-thrower or -turner. "Warpwise" or "backwarp"? The sense I get from the OED is that the main meaning of "warp" was more something flung or ejected or expelled or emitted. It would mean "turned" more as in "turned away" or "turned from the original (into a twisted form)". There's a connotation of violence, even. So while it's appropriate for the digging-mole, flinging earth out and about, it doesn't seem quite right for the concept of recurring chemical properties, which is more of an emphasis on the regularity of the reoccurence. But I like that warp has such an ancient heritage - "Thys space-schipp doth move by a warping of space", heh.