4 ms·

many times, even etymology does not make things intuitive: e.g. 'spendthrift'. similarly, many English words are close, but their meaning diverge a lot. e.g. co

many times, even etymology does not make things intuitive: e.g. 'spendthrift'. similarly, many English words are close, but their meaning diverge a lot. e.g. condemn vs condone, or vindicate vs vindictive.

card_zero 2mo ago
Thrift was formerly a word for profits, now it makes sense. But I recognize the snowclone as a popular 16th century way to form personal verb-noun descriptors like cutpurse, upstart, sawbones, spoilsport, dreadnought. This is still productive because midwit is a recent addition. (Eh, I suppose mid isn't a verb, but I think it's the same pattern.)
- mirmor23 2mo ago
  the etymology of snowclone itself is amusing ;)
- schoen 2mo ago
  Huh! Spanish and Portuguese still use this pattern (verb+noun → noun), like Spanish matafuego 'fire extinguisher' (literally 'killfire'), Spanish rascacielos (literally 'scrapeskies'), Portguese arranha-ceu (literally 'scrape-sky'). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Spanish_verb-object_compounds https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Spanish_verb-object_... https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Portuguese_verb-noun_compounds https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Portuguese_verb-noun... (Spanish does this more than Portuguese, but also Wiktionary has been more thorough in categorizing the Spanish examples compared to the Portuguese examples.) It's cool to be reminded that this pattern also has a history in English. Another example I was thinking of, pasatiempo/passatempo, actually has an exact English equivalent, pastime.
deleted 2mo ago
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fluoridation 2mo ago
>vindicate vs vindictive I don't think this is a good example of cognates diverging in meaning. They're both more or less kinds of avenging or counter-attacking. When you vindicate something you are responding to some attack made against it, and when something is vindictive it responds to attacks with attacks of its own.

card_zero 2mo ago

Thrift was formerly a word for profits, now it makes sense. But I recognize the snowclone as a popular 16th century way to form personal verb-noun descriptors like cutpurse, upstart, sawbones, spoilsport, dreadnought. This is still productive because midwit is a recent addition. (Eh, I suppose mid isn't a verb, but I think it's the same pattern.)

mirmor23 2mo ago
the etymology of snowclone itself is amusing ;)
schoen 2mo ago
Huh! Spanish and Portuguese still use this pattern (verb+noun → noun), like Spanish matafuego 'fire extinguisher' (literally 'killfire'), Spanish rascacielos (literally 'scrapeskies'), Portguese arranha-ceu (literally 'scrape-sky'). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Spanish_verb-object_compounds https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Spanish_verb-object_... https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Portuguese_verb-noun_compounds https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Portuguese_verb-noun... (Spanish does this more than Portuguese, but also Wiktionary has been more thorough in categorizing the Spanish examples compared to the Portuguese examples.) It's cool to be reminded that this pattern also has a history in English. Another example I was thinking of, pasatiempo/passatempo, actually has an exact English equivalent, pastime.

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

fluoridation 2mo ago

>vindicate vs vindictive I don't think this is a good example of cognates diverging in meaning. They're both more or less kinds of avenging or counter-attacking. When you vindicate something you are responding to some attack made against it, and when something is vindictive it responds to attacks with attacks of its own.