cj Sez: Here’s a fascinating article on contronyms, explaining word usages by
Judith Herman. Did I ever mention that English is hard? The article started out as 25 words and in January
2023 became: “40 Words and Phrases That Are Their Own Opposites.” The article
is a bit too long for a single Lyrical Pens post, so today’s post will include thirteen
of the words. Watch for the rest of the words in January 2024. Can you believe
that? 2024!
Stumble into the looking-glass world of contronyms — Judith
Herman
Here’s an ambiguous sentence for you: “Because of the
agency’s oversight, the corporation’s behavior was sanctioned.” Does that mean,
“Because the agency oversaw the company’s behavior, they imposed a penalty for
some transgression,” or does it mean, “Because the agency was inattentive, they
overlooked the misbehavior and gave it their approval by default”? We’ve
stumbled into the looking-glass world of contronyms—words that are their own
antonyms.
Here are a few of them.
1. Sanction—which came to English via French, from Latin sanctio(n-) and sancire, “to
ratify,”—can mean “give official permission or approval for (an action)” or
conversely, “impose a penalty on.”
2. Oversight is the noun form of two verbs with contrary meanings: “oversee” and “overlook.” Oversee, from Old
English ofersēon (“look at from above”) means “supervise”
(medieval Latin for the same thing: super-, “over” plus videre, “to
see”). Overlook usually means the opposite: “to fail to see or
observe; to pass over without noticing; to disregard, ignore,” according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
3. Left can mean either remaining or departed. If the
gentlemen have withdrawn to the drawing room for after-dinner cigars, who’s
left? (The gentlemen have left and the ladies are left.)
4. Dust, along with the next two words, is a noun
turned into a verb meaning either to add or to remove the thing in
question. Only the context will tell you which it is. When you dust are you
applying dust or removing it? It depends whether you’re dusting the crops or
the furniture.
5. Seed can also go either way. If you seed the lawn you
add seeds, but if you seed a tomato you remove them.
6. Stone is another verb to use with caution. You can
stone some peaches, but please don’t stone your neighbor (even if he says he
likes to get stoned).
7. Trim as a verb predates the noun, but it can also mean
either adding or taking away. Arising from an Old English word meaning “to make
firm or strong; to settle, arrange,” according
to the OED, trim came to mean “to prepare, make ready.” Depending
on whom or what was being readied, it could mean either of two contradictory things: “to
decorate [something] with ribbons, laces, or the like ... to give it a finished
appearance” or “to cut off the [outgrowths] or irregularities of.” And the
context doesn’t always make it clear. If you’re trimming the tree are you using
tinsel or a chain saw?
8. Cleave can be cleaved into two
homographs, words with different origins that end up spelled the
same. Cleave, meaning “to cling to or adhere,” comes from an Old English
word that took the forms cleofian, clifian, or clīfan. Cleave,
with the contrary meaning “to split or sever (something)”—as you might
do with a cleaver—comes from a different Old English word, clēofan. The
past participle has taken various forms: cloven, which survives in the
phrase “cloven hoof,” “cleft,” as in a “cleft palate” or “cleaved.”
9. Fast can mean “moving
rapidly,” as in running fast, or “fixed, unmoving,” as in holding
fast. If colors are fast they will not run. The meaning “firm, steadfast” came first; the adverb took on the sense “strongly,
vigorously,” which evolved into “quickly,” a meaning that spread to the
adjective.
10. Off means “deactivated,” as in to turn off,
but also “activated,” as in the alarm went off.
11. Weather can mean “to withstand or come safely
through” (as in the company weathered the recession) or it can mean “to be
worn away” (the rock was weathered).
12. You'd screen a movie on this screen. Screen can mean “to show” (a movie) or “to hide” (an
unsightly view).
13. Help means “assist,” unless you can’t help doing
something, when it means “prevent.
§§
Google search info: The first night of Hanukkah 2023 started at nightfall on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, and the first candle is lit.
The final candles are lit on Thursday evening, Dec. 14, and the holiday
concludes the following day, Dec. 15.
§§
Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on,
and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for a happy and safe you and yours.
cj
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