১৬ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০১৮

There's no "rage" in "outrage" and "courage."

I'm reading "The Freedom Trail in Mississippi Is a Chronicle of Outrage and Courage," which I recommend but won't summarize. I want to talk about a language matter, the "rage" in "outrage" and "courage." You probably already realize that there's no "rage" in "courage," that it's a combination of "cour" (which means heart) and "-age" (which is a standard way to make a noun "denoting something belonging or functionally related to what is denoted by the first element" (OED)). But you probably, like me, think "rage" is the foundation of the word "outrage" and "out" is a prefix, such as in "outside" or "outlaw." I was surprised to see that "outrage," like "courage," is using the "-age" ending, and the "r" is part of the root of the word, "outr-." It comes from the Latin ("ultra") and the French ("outre") for "beyond," signifying transgression. The OED acknowledges, "In English often reanalysed as out- prefix + rage n., a notion which affected the sense development." That is, there is no "rage" in "outrage," but we see it there anyway and it affects how we understand the word. I don't think we see "rage" in "courage," though. I'm only seeing it now because of that headline, putting "outrage" and "courage" side by side, so I don't think our understanding of "courage" is affected by the unseen "rage."

৩৩টি মন্তব্য:

Birkel বলেছেন...

Couprage is what is happening to Democrats who thought they were going to beat Donald Trump.
Sorry, Deep Staters.

Birkel বলেছেন...

Will there be enough couprage to take down Kavanaugh?

rhhardin বলেছেন...

Outrage has two senses
1. The thing which is outre, beyond what is proper
2. The reaction to it.

The word says they're one and the same, the word itself says so. Not one person in a hundred notices the equation of two entirely different things. What is beyond what is proper deserves rage is a handy hidden doctrine.

This is so useful that the word was reimported back into French.

Mike Sylwester বলেছেন...
এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।
Mike Sylwester বলেছেন...

Our English word rage is traced back to Proto-IndoEuropean *rebh which meant something an edge or an extremity.

Three related English words are rib, reef and roof.

A related Latin word is rabies, which means rage.

Latin rabies became the Old French rage, which entered the English language with the Norman conquest.

Andrew বলেছেন...

TEARS OF RAGE!!!

Mike Sylwester বলেছেন...

The Latin verb rabere meant to rage.

That Latin verb passed through Old French into English to become our verbs to rave and to rage.

Mike Sylwester বলেছেন...

Of course our English word rabies comes from the Latin word rabies, which means rage.

rcocean বলেছেন...

That's interesting, I've been reading the word "courage" for 50 years, and never saw the "Rage" there - until you mentioned it.

But yeah, "Outrage"is all about the "rage".

Does anyone see the anger in encourage? Or garage?

Fernandinande বলেছেন...

"Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself.

Basically, it's made up of two separate words — 'mank' and 'ind.' What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind."

traditionalguy বলেছেন...


French speakers see the outre age combo word. It means outside acceptible norms of conduct.. The anger at outsiders is an add on emotion trigger. As for courage, it is definitely about being lion hearted in battle and is sexist as it gets.

rcocean বলেছেন...
এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।
truth speaker বলেছেন...

VERY interesting, Professor; thanks!

rhhardin বলেছেন...

Words which are syllablfied improperly from the point of view of etymological sense
pregnant (pre-gnant)
amnesia (a-mnesia)
helicopter (helico-pter)

rhhardin বলেছেন...

Richard was a lion. You're not supposed to think of the tail, says Wm. Empson.

tcrosse বলেছেন...

I take umbrage.

gg6 বলেছেন...

You make an interesting word dissection in a 'angels on pinheads' sort of way but relevant? Not so much, imho. More to the point, in NO way do I think- as you say - "it affects how we understand the word". C'mon, at some point over the passage of Time-Place, the USAGE-MEANING of a word or phrase is the meaning of CONTEMPORARY 'general understanding-acceptance - NOT what it's etymological meaning was in the year 1066, yes? Personally, I would find it much more interesting-productive to - as befitting the current 'Kulture' - explore-define-debate how much more a "Feminine" description the word 'Rage' seems to be these days. ...Hey, there's a Sociology thesis for ya' - "TENNIS COURT AND POLITICAL RAGE AS A MARKER OF THE MODERN FEMINIST MILIEU" ...#1(mid 19th century: French, from mi ‘mid’ + lieu ‘place’."

Birkel বলেছেন...

rcocean,

I sometimes saw the rage in "garage mahal" but he is now absent.

Ralph L বলেছেন...
এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।
Ralph L বলেছেন...

Kavanaugh's panty-raiding was caused by his underage.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM বলেছেন...

out drinking-- got caught in a barrage of flying fists

tcrosse বলেছেন...

Forage for beers.

mesquito বলেছেন...

O for fuck’s sake, Althouse. Maybe it’s time to ween yourself off the goddamn New York Times?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM বলেছেন...

ok now do 'Grape-Nuts'

(sorry, Jerry)

chickelit বলেছেন...

“I sometimes saw the rage in "garage mahal" but he is now absent.”

I once called him gasrage — this was before blogger had autocorrect in comments.

chickelit বলেছেন...

Having gnawed on Kavanaugh for weeks, the rodents will now swarm after Senators.

FIDO বলেছেন...

Just saw the old I Love Lucy segment

Bough

Rough

Through

Enough

English is hard for a foreigner to learn.

Mark বলেছেন...

I've never seen the word or the idea of "rage" in "outrageous" either.

h বলেছেন...

There is no "age" in decolletage.

tcrosse বলেছেন...

Sometimes I'm so mad at myself, I'm full of inrage.

SeanF বলেছেন...

Althouse: There is no "rage" in "outrage"

Of course there is. There wasn't, when the word first came in to the English language, but there is now. We've put it there.

Char Char Binks, Esq. বলেছেন...

There's no "ade" in Meade, but there is mead in Meade.

narayanan বলেছেন...

Maybe it is competitive raging - like saying "I can out-rage you ... so take that."

which is what we are seeing happening in the emotionalist culture.

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