O: Overeenkomsten

Similarities. Notably in languages.

At the start of this month, when I was trying to decide on subjects to go with all the letters of the alphabet, the first one I came up with was this one. I'd been pondering something, and while comparing some random things, I struck upon the similarities in words. Now, I don't even mean the way the Dutch 'respectabel' means the exact same thing as the English 'respectable'.

What I mean is, I was thinking of words that have multiple meanings. Like the Dutch word for couch, 'bank', is the same word we use for, well, a bank. With money. Those words have different meanings in different languages, presumably because the use of the word has evolved differently.

But then I started thinking about random words to figure out if that is always the case, and I stumbled upon this little beauty. You see, the word 'oplossing' means 'solution'. But the word solution has two different meanings. It can be the unraveling, and therefore solving, of a problem, or a fluid that contains dissolved solids. The awesome thing is that in Dutch the word 'oplossing' has the exact same two meanings.

Now, this could be purely coincidental, but it makes me wonder whether there is some inherent connection between the two things. I suppose it has to do with the breaking apart of something, like deconstruction of a problem by pondering it and finding the answer, or the deconstruction of a solid by the molecular attraction differences that occur when it is dumped into a liquid.

Or something. :'D.


~Levyathan