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> "Brutalism" doesn't come from "brutal" but from "brut", meaning raw or unaltered. ...and when something has that quality, you say that it's brutal.
by boomlinde 5y ago
> "Brutalism" doesn't come from "brutal" but from "brut", meaning raw or unaltered.
...and when something has that quality, you say that it's brutal.
- tgv 5y agoNot according to the dictionary. brutal, adjective savagely violent: a brutal murder. • unpleasant or harsh • direct and without attempting to disguise unpleasantness
- robbedpeter 5y agoIf you only look at one meaning of the word and you feel like being brutally pedantic.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- klez 5y ago"Brutal" comes via the French brutal from latin brutus (brute). The "brut" in French "béton brut" which is the expression from which "brutalist" comes from, has the same root, but in that French expression "brut" has more the meaning of "raw" rather than "savagely violent".
- boomlinde 5y agoWe see "brutal" in that sense in English too, e.g. "brutal honesty" which is not meant to imply that the honesty is savagely violent, but that it's raw and unadorned.
- boomlinde 5y agoA dictionary that doesn't capture every nuance, who'd have thunk it?