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Sometimes, archaeologists dig to a certain level, and leave the lower levels intact. Occasionally, they dig a very deep hole on one place, to have an impression of what is below. For instance, in Baalbek, research is concentrated on the Roman age, but at the center of the Great Court, there's a deep pit reaching into the Chalcolithic.
AFAIK, such a hole is called a sounding. But what's the verb that belongs to it. Are they performing, digging, executing a sounding?
Jona Lendering
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It sounds like it should be a verb or adjective (it appears as both through google), but it seems clear that it exists officially as a noun, and therefore you would dig a sounding, just as you would a hole, pit, or trench.
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Quote:It sounds like it should be a verb or adjective (it appears as both through google), but it seems clear that it exists officially as a noun
Exactly what makes me insecure.
Quote:therefore you would dig a sounding, just as you would a hole, pit, or trench.
OK. THANKS!
Jona Lendering
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The Archaeolgists are just digging deeper than the expected target depth (level of activity) to try and determine just how deep total activity there was. It is the same or similar meaning as sounding a river or bay with a weighted line, "how deep is it?".
Manius Acilius Italicus
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I think the verb should be just "sound", but it's archaic in that use. Sounding is a participle, which requires that the root verb be sound. However, being a participle, it becomes a noun-like word, so really, your question is not as simple as it seems.
M. Demetrius Abicio
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I think it would be a variety..
Roit, wee're doin a soundin' to see what's really 'appanin' 'eer!!
We're digging a sounding pit...
We're going to sound out this spot....
Etc, english has a wide and rich vocabulary of colloquialisms,
and the ymust all be 'roit'!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
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Byron Angel
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Isn't the term sondage? In which case it would be to excavate/dig or excavating/digging a sondage.
Moi Watson
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Quote:Isn't the term sondage?
Yup, that's what I would have expected. But I really heard them say "a sounding". It's one of those expressions that you remember because they're so unusual; compare "a boring campaign".
Jona Lendering
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Ha!
A sounding in my vocabulary is the old fashioned way of finding the depth at sea with a weight. (Leading to bathymetry).
Perhaps they have got their environments mixed up or they are excavating under water :wink:
Moi Watson
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
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Quote:Perhaps they have got their environments mixed up or they are excavating under water :wink:
It looks like a 'sounding' is closer in meaning to what you're referring to - it's meant to find the 'bottom' of the archaeology after all, and is distinct in meaning from sondage...
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Well, as an archaeologist I dig sondages not soundings.
Moi Watson
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
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Sailors "make" soundings. Could that be a parallel construction?
"Fugit irreparabile tempus" (Irrecoverable time glides away) Virgil
Ron Andrea
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The Oxford English Dictionary says:
Quote:sondage [origin French = sounding line, borehole.] ARCHEAOLOGY. A trench dug to investigate the stratigraphy of a site.
sound noun… 2 A hole, an excavation. Only in E17.
sounding noun… C ARCHAEOLOGY. A trial excavation of limited scale made on a site to gain preliminary information. M20
Edit: Sorry, you were asking about the verb. I don’t see where the OED gives anything specific for archaeology, but it seems that “to sound” could be used as the verb in question.
Quote:Sound verb intrans. Sink in, penetrate…
Sound verb intrans. MEDICINE Orig., probe (a wound etc.). Now, examine (a body cavity, esp. the bladder) using a sound.
Sound verb intrans. A Of a sounding lead: go down; touch bottom.
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