Author Topic: negation words (Read 1585 times)

Porter · « **on:** May 28, 2006, 08:29:54 PM »

Where are there so many words in the English language which are the negation of words that either don't exist or which are not used? Why would the negative form survive better than the base form?

I'm talking about words like uncouth, uncanny, disgrunteld, dissheveled, and incorrigible.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1 on:** May 28, 2006, 09:12:57 PM »

Why? That's a complicated question. Some words are borrowings or modern coinings, so the positive form never existed in English. Others may have had a positive that fell out of use just because it wasn't a very useful word.

For example, incorrigible was coined around 1340, and corrigible appeared about 150 years later and seems to have lasted through the mid-1800s. The OED hasn't marked it as obsolete or even rare, though it certainly seems to be.

However, I can't really think of an instance when I would really want to use the word corrigible (except to be funny). Even incorrigible doesn't have very widespread use; it's mostly heard when someone's yelling, "You're incorrigible!"

And conversely, there are probably many positive forms that lack a negative.

Porter · « **Reply #2 on:** May 28, 2006, 09:15:47 PM »

Examples, please?

Jonathon · « **Reply #3 on:** May 29, 2006, 10:55:53 AM »

unmany
unbase
unmodern
unuseful
unobsolete
unrare
unwidespread
unconversely

Those are taken from words in this thread.

Teshi · « **Reply #4 on:** May 29, 2006, 11:12:02 AM »

"Gruntled" sounds just like it means exactly the same thing as "disgruntled", same with "shevled" and "disshevled". Perhaps that's why the other word doesn't exist anymore- it's the same as flammable and inflammable. One colours the other until they both mean the same thing and the 'weaker' word goes out of use.

I'm just speculating, of course.

I've heard "canny". ("You're a canny one, aren't you?), and "couth"- although rarely.

Porter · « **Reply #5 on:** May 29, 2006, 03:39:12 PM »

Ah. Now I see what you mean, JB.

pooka · « **Reply #6 on:** May 31, 2006, 11:56:13 AM »

There's disuse and useless. Baseless. But yeah, the others need to be part of a phrase to be negated.

saxon75 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 03, 2006, 06:45:12 PM »

Yes, I believe "canny" is a word, although I've no idea whether or not it was a back formation.

saxon75 · « **Reply #8 on:** June 03, 2006, 06:47:27 PM »

Actually, now that I think of it, too, "canny" isn't used as the opposite of "uncanny." "Uncanny" is usually used like "incredible" or "unbelievable," whereas "canny" means "clever" or "skilled."

Porter · « **Reply #9 on:** June 03, 2006, 08:34:58 PM »

You're right.

pooka · « **Reply #10 on:** June 03, 2006, 09:14:18 PM »

"ken" is a word meaning know in some parts of England. Though I always associate it with the 16 going on 17 song in "The Sound of Music." I think it might be related to that. As a noun it meant "range of knowledge."