Also known as mercy. Sorry to say I won't really be talking about that. You see, when I was thinking of this word, it struck me that, while the positive form of the word is 'mededogen', the negative version (merciless) is 'meedogenloos'. Somewhere along the way, we lost the 'd'. This happens with more words, it is in fact quite a common occurrence. When, in olden times, the right Dutch word for leather would've been 'leder', today almost everyone uses the word 'leer'. The meaning hasn't changed.
This is not always the case, however. When we examine the affiliations of the word 'teder' (which is basically tender) we think of tenderly saying something, caressing someone. The other form of the word, 'teer', which should technically mean the same thing, is a lot more associated with 'fragile'; as in, a form of physical or psychological weakness rather than a feeling of emotional 'softness' towards someone.
I just found it really cool when I started thinking about it. :'D.
~Levyathan
That is kind of cool, but now I can no longer say that there is Dutch word for mercy. I'm still kind of pretty sure there isn't one in Klingon. Over here it's mainly the t's that disappear from words, and h's. They're still spelled the same though, it's just an accent thing.
ReplyDeleteI... What? Dude, there IS a dutch word for mercy. What have you been reading? x'DDD.
DeleteAnd yeah, we also have different accents that pronounce words differently, but the actual word stays the same. The ones mentioned in this post have evolved over the years, for whatever reason. (I nominate laziness).
It's interesting how languages evolve. I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs this month. You can see mine at myqualityday.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteDutch lingual history. How interesting.
ReplyDeleteActually no it's pretty stupid. Old Dutch was sort of dignified, but it lost that over time. ):
EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGES YAY
ReplyDeleteSorry, I'm a big nerd. u_u I would actually like to study that. Especially the relationship between ancient Norse, English, and German.
Very interesting! New follower here. I’m enjoying reading my fellow “A to Z”ers. I look forward to visiting again.
ReplyDeleteSylvia
http://www.writinginwonderland.blogspot.com/
sometimes it is a shame when certain words change
ReplyDelete