|
|
 Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:57 am Immortable: a word? |
|
|
I think the word for this is "immortal".
Let's break it down:
mort = death
mortal (n) = something that can (will) die
mortal (adj) = fatal
immortal (n) = something that will not die
immortal (adj) = perpetual, never-ending (as in "the immortal soul")
I suppose you could use immortable, but you'd be adding unnecessary letters.
Other examples:
Apathic/apathETic
Empathic/empathETic
Sympathic/SympathETic
etc.
None of the verb/noun forms of these words include the "-et":
Empathety
Sympathety
Apathety
etc.
Someone, at some point, included the -et to the adjective forms of these words, and the rest is history.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1933
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
| Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:59 am Immortable: a word? |
|
|
Hi Tom,
Thanks a lot for the et-explanation. This is really interesting!
| Quote: | | Someone, at some point, included the -et to the adjective forms of these words, and the rest is history. |
In particular, Online Etymology Dictionary gives | Quote: | | Sympathetic "sharing the feelings of another" is from 1718. |
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sympathy
About immortable – I just came across the word being referred as a name of a movie ("Immortable" (1988)) and wondered about it’s possible meaning.
Google 'provided' some (vague) links, from which I was unable to understand the current 'status' of the ‘word’.
That was why I asked.
Thanks again for your interesting answer.
_________________
It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water…
 |
|
Tamara
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 25 May 2006
Posts: 1577
Location: UK
|
 |
| Thu Feb 08, 2007 17:21 pm Immortable: a word? |
|
|
In chess, we have a game played between Anderssen and Kieseritzky in 1851, which is called the Immortal. Many believe that this is one of the best games ever played, hence the name...
_________________
Learning is a sacred engagement. |
|
Ahmadov
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 285
Location: Azerbaijan
|
|
| Thu Feb 08, 2007 19:29 pm Immortable: a word? |
|
|
both of them would have beaten me in like five moves, or fewer.
---
Tamara
Sympathetic is the "-et" adjective I'm inclined to accept. "Sympathetic" is so widely used (way more than empathic/empathetic, for instance) that my ear is used to hearing and saying it.
This raises a neat question:
Which came first, the noun or the adjective?
sympathy, empathy, apathy OR sympath(et)ic, empath(et)ic, apath(et)ic?
If the nouns came first, then whoever decided to include the -et was off, IMO, as the -et does not seem necessary in any of them. If, on the other hand, the adjectives came first, then we have to accept them as they are, I suppose.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1933
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
| Thu Feb 08, 2007 22:07 pm Immortable: a word? |
|
|
| Quote: | | Which came first, the noun or the adjective? |
Tom, unfortunately my current level in English does not allow me discussing the topic you started… 
but… even I can dig up… 
and it’s really surprising (for me) to have found that empathy and sympathy actually have come different ways before getting English words:
sympathy
1579, "affinity between certain things," from M.Fr. sympathie, from L.L. sympathia "community of feeling, sympathy," from Gk. sympatheia, from sympathes "having a fellow feeling, affected by like feelings," from syn- "together" + pathos "feeling".
(I already quoted that sympathetic is much older.)
empathy
1903, translation of Ger. Einf?hlung (from ein "in" + F?hlung "feeling"), coined 1858 by Ger. philosopher Rudolf Lotze (1817-81) from Gk. empatheia "passion," from en- "in" + pathos "feeling".
Empathize (v.) was coined 1924; empathic (adj.) is from 1909.
(c) Online Etimology Dictionary
_________________
It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water…
|
|
Tamara
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 25 May 2006
Posts: 1577
Location: UK
|
|
| Thu Feb 08, 2007 23:51 pm Immortable: a word? |
|
|
YES! EMPATHIC!
I'll emphatically use empathic henceforth.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1933
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
|
| 'It took me three hours to...' vs. 'I spent three hours to...' | Though vs. Although |
