Re: from 2 roots meaning the same thing ! --- ( Cas- (cadere) + Kad- )

On 2024-11-25, wugi <wugi@brol.invalid> wrote:

A word apparently meaning the same as its opposite is *guur/onguur*. But
the shorter form stems from its negative, in different registers:
Guur weer. Een onguur type. Bleak weather. A sinister bloke.
Same in German, it would seem: geheuer, ungeheuer.

No, those are opposites in German.  Nowadays, "geheuer" is only
used in explicitly negated form, though, "nicht geheuer".  Meanwhile,
"ungeheuer" as a negation of "geheuer" can be found in older
literature but is otherwise obsolete, its meaning has shifted to a
general intensifier.

However, the prefix "un-" can serve both as an intensifier and a
negation in German.  The textbook example is "Untiefe", which can
mean both 'shallows' and 'abyss'.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy@mips.inka.de