Subject: sum : words that are their own opposites , pt . 1

in november , i posted a query about what i referred to as " auto-antonymy " , the semantic state of a word being its own opposite , either changing its meaning through time or having two opposite meanings at the same time . an example of the former is " resent " which used to mean " appreciate " as in the following quotations taken from the oxford english dictionary : 1702 c . mather magn . chr . iii . i . iii . ( 1852 ) 309 if she gratefully resented that small thing for the sake of the hand it came from . 1765 warburton in w . & hurd lett . ( 1809 ) 360 , i was sure that this instance of his friendship to you would ever be warmly resented by you . 1829 webster lett . ( 1902 ) 617 , i shall resent through life ( to use an expression of boyle 's ) your unwearied and affecting kindness to me . a word that has two opposite meanings simultaneously is " fast " , which means steady , not moving , and at high speed . i asked what the proper term for this phenomenon is , and made a call for other examples of this phenomenon in english and other languages . additionally , i asked whether this a phenomenon that can be rightfully classed with other regular forms of polysemy ( metonymy , metaphor ) and language change , or is it always a curious accident . thanks to the kind responses of linguists around the world , i now know six established names for " auto-antonymy " , i have a collection of many interesting examples , and i have been apprised of a dual phenomenon : synonyms that look like antonyms . these linguistic riches will be shared in the following screens . first , the terminology . dirk geeraerts writes that the phenomenon " is known in the older tradition of historical semantics as ( antiphrasis ) or < enantiosemy > " . miriam shlesinger and m . lynne murphy noted that such words are sometimes called ( janus words ) , after the two-faced greek mythic figure . larry horn , renowned historian of negation , said the phenomenon had been dubbed ( antilogy ) by john train in his 1980 book " remarkable words with astonishing origins . david gamon offered the term ( enantiodromia ) for : the diachronic process of acquiring an ' opposite ' meaning , and i suppose a : word having two such meanings would be an ( enantiodrome ) . i learned this , : by the way , from professor matisoff here at berkeley . bob fradkin noted that arabic has a word ( didh ) ( plural < addhaadh > ) for " a whole category of words that mean ' itself and its opposite . ' " frankly , i think that all of these terms - - antiphrasis , enantiosemy , janus word , antilogy , enantiodromia ( not to mention didh ) - - are quite opaque to the modern english ear , and the word i coined , " auto-antonym " just says it all , and that 's the term i ' ll use for the remainder of this post . now that i ' ve whetted your appetite for some auto-antonymy , here are the examples i received : the top entry , submitted by practically everybody , is the classic example ( cleave ) which means to bring together as well as to cut apart . < splice > and ( clip ) , mentioned less often , operate the same way . another popular word was ( sanction ) , which as a noun means a punitive action and as a verb means to endorse . ( let ) is similar , also meaning to allow , but formerly meaning to prevent . the latter meaning survives in the idioms " without let or hindrance " and in " a let ball " . kevin rottet notes a similar phenomenon in french , with the word ( defendre ) meaning ' to defend ' and ' to prohibit ' . many mentioned " overlook " or " oversight " which can mean to look at something carefully as well as to miss something . jane edwards notes that german translation ( versehen ) has the same properties . speaking of german , bernd moebius writes : in german , ' kontrahent ' today means ' opponent ' ( e . g . , often used in sports ) [ . . . . ] there is , however , the rather uncommon use of ' kontrahent ' for two parties sharing a contract , like the english ' contractor ' . karen baumer wins the prize for sending in the most entries . these had been collected by her colleagues at the apple newton project . i give you a selection of the ones not mentioned previously : ) > > aught = all , nothing ) > > bill = invoice , money ) > > comprise = contain , compose ) > > custom = usual , special ) > > dust = to remove , add fine particles ) > > literally = actually , figuratively ) > > model = archetype , copy ) > > moot = debatable , academic ) > > note = promise to pay , money ) > > peer = noble , person of equal rank ) > > put = lay , throw ) > > puzzle = pose problem , solve problem ) > > quantum = very small , very large ( quantum leap ) ) > > ravel = entangle , disentangle ) > > resign = to quit , to sign up again ) > > sanguine = murderous , optimistic ) > > scan = to examine closely , to glance at quickly ) > > set = fix , flow ) > > skin = to cover with , remove outer covering ) > > strike = miss ( baseball ) , hit ) > > table = propose [ british ] , set aside ) > > temper = calmness , passion ) > > trim = cut things off , put things on ) > > a very short list of homophones : ) > > aural , oral = heard , spoken ) > > raise , raze = erect , tear down ) > > ) > > a pair of french words which can be very confusing : ) > > la symetrie ( symmetry ) and l ' asymetrie ( asymmetry ) . ) > > ) > > latin : ) > > immo = yes , no baumer also notes : an example that comes to mind is the word ' prove , ' whose older meaning ' to test ' has been pretty much lost , giving rise to an apparent paradox in the expression " the exception proves the rule . " there were quite a few examples from shakespeare . julie vonwiller explains , ( presently ) in shakespeare meant ' immediately ' whereas now it means ' not immediately but i ' ll get round to it ' . roger hurwitz reminds us of shakespeare 's ( nunnery ) , which , in the phrase " get thee to a nunnery " referred not to a place of piety , but a house of ill repute . sue blackwell , pointed me to " as you like it " , wherein jacques de boys complains : " rumination wraps me in a most ( humourous ) sadness . " not at all funny . blackwell adds that ( silly ) used to mean " blessed " . here are some examples in other languages that have no parallels in english : an example from dutch : " ettelijk " . most native speakers ( everybody ) thinks it means " many , much " , but the authoritative dictionary ( van dale ) says it means " ( a ) little , ( a ) few " . or at least that is what the dictionary said 10 or 15 years ago ( and our professor of dutch used to " catch " us on this one ) . now for the sake of this message i went to look again in a new version of van dale and it says both ! see the evolution ? - - patricia haegeman a swedish example is the verb " maximera " ( ' maximize ' ) . the traditional meaning is 's et an upper limit to ' , but now it is also being used in the sense ' make as large as possible ' , probably due to english influence . - - mats eeg-olofsson there 's a strange case in the sahidic dialect of coptic : " ehrai " means both " upwards " and " downwards " . the former derives from egyptian h . ry " upper part " ( in which h . represents a pharyngial fricative ) , the latter derives from egyptian h _ ry " lower part " ( in which h _ was probably a palatal fricative ) . the distinction between h . and h _ was lost in coptic . - - lance eccles , maquarie university , australia i think that 's enough for now . in a future posting i will summarize the linguistic wisdom on the regularity of the phenomenon . - - alex eulenberg ( aeulenbe @ indiana . edu ) - - indiana university
