11/11/2023 0 Comments Up and vanish meaning![]() ![]() “Vanish” is an interesting little word, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary in the usual intransitive sense as “To disappear from sight, to become invisible, especially in a rapid and mysterious manner.” Our English “vanish” is actually an aphetic, or cropped, form of the Old French “esvanir” (meaning “to disappear”), which was derived from the Latin “evanescere,” which also gave us the English word “evanescent” for those things which, like youth and low credit card interest rates, do not last long before vanishing. The original Spanish term, “los desaparecidos,” translates as “those who have been disappeared,” invoking a similarly unusual transitive use (“to disappear someone”) of a normally intransitive verb. ![]() The first thing that popped into my mind when I read your question, in fact, was the use of “the disappeared” to mean the victims kidnapped by the Argentine military junta in the 1970s and never seen again. Copperfield’s “vanishing” of the Statue of Liberty in 1983 (I’m assuming he eventually put it back), as well as whatever usage the transitive “vanish” has enjoyed since, because here in 2009 it strikes me as jarring and strange. ![]() Good heavens, man, don’t you want to be able to look up “crowdsource” and “googlebomb”? “Moofing”? “Unfriend”? “Overshare”? Yeah, me neither. That’s not true in English, where new words and new uses for old words are popping up like worms on the sidewalk after a rainstorm. But the great thing about Latin is that they’re not adding many new words to it. I still use the Latin dictionary I was given in high school. It’s true that most of the really useful words are in your trusty old friend, and I totally understand loyalty to old books. 1983? We need to get you a new dictionary. That was the first I had ever heard it used transitively, and I am curious when the transitive use first appeared. It was in 1983 that David Copperfield “vanished” the Statue of Liberty. Will it work with American Idol?ĭear Word Detective: I know that “vanish” seems like such a simple word but somewhere between 1967 (when I was in high school and my dictionary was published) and 1983, this simple intransitive verb became transitive. Vanish Stain on the Nation Report.Awesome. Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment, 2021.ĥ. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation, Science and Resources, 2020. White: At 20☌, on regular cycle vs detergent aloneġ. Pink and 0%: At 20☌, on fast cycle vs detergent alone on heavy duty cycle.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |