"perceptibity" is it a word?

Question

Hello,I was wondering, my translating dictionary states that the word "perceptibity" is an English word, although when I google for it, nothing is found. It means almost (not exactly) the same as perceptivity, if I should believe the dictionary. For those who are doubting me. (Dutch translation) what is remarkable, is that in German, there's the same difference for the same word. Once with a "b", and once with a "v". Can anyone give me a source that can affirm the existence of this word, and if possible explain the difference with "perceptivity"? It's gotten this far, that me and a friend are arguing about it, having betts, ... ;-)Thanx in advance!greetz aka wEEdpEckEr

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hello, I was wondering, my translating dictionary states that the word "perceptibity" is an English word, although when I google ... that me and a friend are arguing about it, having betts, ... ;-) Thanx in advance! greetz aka wEEdpEckEr[/nq]
It's a mistake for "perceptibility". Buy a more "professional" dictionary.
John Briggs

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John Briggs at (Email Removed) says in:
[nq:2]Hello, I was wondering, my translating dictionary states that the ... betts, ... ;-) Thanx in advance! greetz aka wEEdpEckEr[/nq]
[nq:1]It's a mistake for "perceptibility".[/nq]
I agree. A syllable seems to be missing. The first meaning of "perceptibility" that's given by the dead-trees 1993 edition of The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is "the faculty of or capacity for perceiving", and so in that meaning we can see that it's a synonym for "perceptivity".
The NSOED 's second and somewhat clashing meaning is "the state or property of being perceptible".
So the NSOED 's first meaning relates to the entity that does the perceiving, and its second meaning relates to the entity that's perceived.
[nq:1]Buy a more "professional" dictionary.[/nq]
I agree. And/or politely ask the people who run "Euroglot Professional 4.01" to hire a professional troubleshooter of dictionaries.

(German) show that Euroglot Professional gives the Dutch noun for "perceptibity" (which we now guess is trying to mean "perceptibility") as "perceptievermogen" and the German noun as "Wahrnehmungsfähigkeit".
Perhaps a Dutch-speaking or German-speaking reader of this thread will tell us whether either of those mouthfuls refers to the entity that does the perceiving or whether it refers to the entity that's perceived.

Or perhaps both the Dutch language and the German language share the English language's love of allowing mutually contradictory meanings for some words.

Quentin Burward

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Weedpecker's pic-files at (Dutch) and [/nq]
(German) show
[nq:1]that Euroglot Professional gives the Dutch noun for "perceptibity" (which we now guess is trying to mean "perceptibility") as "perceptievermogen" and the German noun as "Wahrnehmungsfähigkeit".[/nq]
Rather more to the point, it gives "Perzeptibilität" in German and "Perceptibiliteit" in Dutch.
For "Perceptivity" it gives "Perzeptivität" in German and "Perceptiviteit" in Dutch.
If someone doesn't understand the distinction in German and Dutch, they are hardly likely to in English.

John Briggs

Usenet · Answer

Quentin Burward (Email Removed) schreef op vr, 30 jan 2004 21:44:58 GMT in
[nq:1]Weedpecker's pic-files at [/nq](Dutch) and[/nq](German) show that
[nq:1]Euroglot Professional gives the Dutch noun for "perceptibity" (which we now guess is trying to mean "perceptibility") as "perceptievermogen" and ... of those mouthfuls refers to the entity that does the perceiving or whether it refers to the entity that's perceived.[/nq]
Well, the dutch word "perceptievermogen" refers to the entity that does the perceiving, and when looking up "percibility" I get the translation that refers to the object being perceived.
Thanks for the information. Bad dictionary! ;-)
greetz
aka wEEdpEckEr

"perceptibity" is it a word?

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