A word which meant something different being used in its.... 5

[Chance1234]

this caught my eye

I was reading an article on ancient plague when the author used the Line "The plague decimated the roman legions."

Im just wondering if there is a word for that kind of word usage. In the sense that decimation to a roman legion would of meant 1 in 10 men being taken out and executed which evolved to the word decimation we use today. I just found it interesting that the author chose to use that word.



Chance,

Filmmaker, gentleman and polla stilo eleous

 

[Grenage]

Decimated isn't acceptable any more? I've always used it!

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[MeGustaXL]

How many Romans died as a result of contracting the plague?
About 10 percent? <grin>

Chris

Servo vestri abbas etiam quod ego mos arcesso unguentum

 

[Grenage]

Sorry, I read that rather hastily. Isn't the English languages full of ambiguous words?

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[columb]

Unless the fatality rate is around 10%, which seems low for a plague, my description of the usage would be simply 'wrong'. However, there is a case to be made that many words, when investigated, tend to have strayed from their original meaning in a similar way and, as such, common usage has made the 'incorrect' meaning valid. The use of 'meat', for example, as a way of distinguishing animal flesh from other foodstuffs, is incorrect as meat originally meant any foodstuff - hence the mincemeat in the pies.

As a devil's advocate I could argue that any reader would understand that 'decimated', in this context, means that there was a high fatality rate and, as such, is correct in that it is comprehensible.

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[Rofeu]

would "The plague decimated the roman legions" not mean that the legions have in fact been reduced to a tenth of their original number instead having lost 10%?

Cheers,

Roel

 

[Grenage]

I think if you asked 100 people, most of them would associate decimation with carnage on a large scale, rather than one in ten being destroyed.

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[Chance1234]

absolutely, just thought it was interesting as we the reader know what the author means, but the people who the author is writing about would take it to mean something differently.



Chance,

Filmmaker, gentleman and polla stilo eleous

 

[Welshbird]

[been for a beer with Tharg so 'hic'..]

But they not gonna read it are they?

[/nap]

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[Grenage]

No doubt a Roman might call it a 'pejoration'...

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Again, if we want to resolve definitively such an issue, we can go to our Merriam-Webster friends:

decimate

Main Entry: dec·i·mate
Pronunciation: 'de-s&-"mAt
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -mat·ed; -mat·ing
Etymology: Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare, from decimus tenth, from decem ten
1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of
2 : to exact a tax of 10 percent from <poor as a decimated Cavalier -- John Dryden>
3 a : to reduce drastically especially in number <cholera decimated the population> b : to cause great destruction or harm to <firebombs decimated the city> <an industry decimated by recession>

So, the author was well within her/his literary rights to use the term as s/he did.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Grenage]

Indeed, and all of my dictionaries over here (England) list "to reduce drastically especially in number" as the primary meaning for the word.

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[Chance1234]

thats probably because theres not too much of the other sort happening!

Chance,

Filmmaker, gentleman and polla stilo eleous

 

[columb]

To reinforce Mufasa's point

—Usage note The earliest English sense of decimate is “to select by lot and execute every tenth soldier of (a unit).” The extended sense “destroy a great number or proportion of” developed in the 19th century: Cholera decimated the urban population. Because the etymological sense of one-tenth remains to some extent, decimate is not ordinarily used with exact fractions or percentages: Drought has destroyed (not decimated) nearly 80 percent of the cattle.

So those of us - myself included - who feel it should only mean one in ten are over a hundred years out of date!

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[CajunCenturion]

I would call it an anachronism because the context of the sentence and the context of the common definition are chronologically out of synch.

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[Grenage]

Ooh, good word; but does it apply if the sentence in which it was used, was not intended to be in keeping with the diction of the era?

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> but does it apply if the sentence in which it was used, was not intended to be in keeping with the diction of the era?
I don't see why not. The lack of synchronicity is independent of the author's intentions. In fact, it could have been done intentionally simply for literary effect.

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Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Grenage]

I guess so. Short of asking him, we'll never know!

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[2ffat]

I think this is one of those words thats meaning changed over time. Kinda like peruse. One definition is to study thoroughly while a modern meaning is to glance over.

James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[SantaMufasa]

The word whose usage has come to mean nearly diametrically opposite of its true meaning is the word "moot".

The word "moot" comes from the term "moot court", meaning "a venue in which lawyers in training can argue issues to gain practice in debate." The true meaning of "moot" then is "arguable".

We often hear someone say, "That is a moot point," meaning "that topic is no longer an issue." The interpretation of the sentence using the proper definition of "moot" becomes, "That is an arguable point," which takes on a meaning virtually opposite the speaker's intent.



Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]