6.0629 Rs: Further Proverbia (3/33)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 30 Mar 1993 13:50:11 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0629. Tuesday, 30 Mar 1993.
(1) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1993 15:25 EST (6 lines)
From: "Peter Graham, Rutgers U.; 908-932-5908" <GRAHAM@ZODIAC.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 6.0623 Proverbia (4/114)
(2) Date: 29 Mar 1993 15:07:55 -0700 (PDT) (14 lines)
From: YOUNGC@CGSVAX.CLAREMONT.EDU
Subject: Re: 6.0623 Proverbia (4/114)
(3) Date: Mon, 29 Mar 93 19:22:19 CST (13 lines)
From: "James Marchand" <marchand@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: verba ancipitia
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1993 15:25 EST
From: "Peter Graham, Rutgers U.; 908-932-5908" <GRAHAM@ZODIAC.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 6.0623 Proverbia (4/114)
In my family, it's "feed a cold, feed a fever."
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------28----
Date: 29 Mar 1993 15:07:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: YOUNGC@CGSVAX.CLAREMONT.EDU
Subject: Re: 6.0623 Proverbia (4/114)
"Love is blind" is another proverb whose meaning has
shifted interestingly. When Jessica apologizes for
dressing in boy's clothes to sneak out of Shylock's
house, she says, "But love is blind, and lovers
cannot see / The pretty follies that themselves com-
mit" (_Merchant of Venice_, II.vi.36-37). Nowadays
it is more commonly used to mean something like,
"lovers are blind to the faults of those they love."
Charles Young
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 93 19:22:19 CST
From: "James Marchand" <marchand@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: verba ancipitia
In answer to a private question. I borrowed the term proverbia ancipitia
from the old notion of verba ancipitia (verbum anceps). In Latin you can
say _fossa alta est_ `the ditch is deep', using the word _altus_ for `high'.
In MHG you can use the word _e^re_ to mean both `honor' (an internal
quality) and `reputation' (honor laid upon one). In a like manner _pri^s_
can be both `praise' and `praiseworthiness'. This is the way some
etymologers explain such `cognates' as _burrow_ in English and Berg
`mountain' in German. There must be many interesting examples in all
languages.