Re: The opposite..

Michael Haslam wrote:

Peter T. Daniels <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

fields wrote:

Peter T. Daniels wrote:
The word "devolved" here of course has nothing at all to do with the
word "evolved".

Of course not. It's a _different_ prefix placed on the _same_ root.

As is "Matrimony" and "Patrimony", just for starters. Irrelevant.

Exactly. You chose to start an entire irrelevant thread about biological
evolution by failing to understand that words have meanings other than
those used by scientist-specialists.

And no, "matrimony" and "patrimony" do not contain different prefixes
placed on the same root. I have warned you countless times about
pretending you know anything about linguistics.

This had, of course, struck me. I don't think that Patri- and Matri-
could be considered as prefixes. Could you give us a short etymology of
matrimony and patrimony, please?

I don't know the source of the -mony part, but matr- and patr- closely
resemble the Proto-Indo-European root form (that's a coincidence, since
we got them from Latin, not directly from PIE).

Nonsense, Peter.

Yes, you spoke nonsense when you denied that "evolution" and
"devolution," in ordinary contemporary English, are not opposites.

(denied that they _are_ opposites, of course)

In ordinary comtemporary *US* English, maybe. They aren't seen as
opposites in the UK where devolution and devolved are primarily used in
relation to government systems on a more local level than the totality
of the UK and the Westminster parliament, eg the devolved Scottish
parliament and the devolved Welsh assembly. In a sense these governments
could be seen as both devolved and evolved.

Neither Matt nor I is a UKan; I believe the Mr Briggs who initially
complained is.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx
.

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