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Jackson6612 Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

why does a single english word have so many different meanings?

0Hi,02br
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00I also asked this question in another post as a side-question.02br
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01b00My question was:02b02br
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00''why is it very common for almost every English word to have so many different meanings?''02br
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01b00Mister Micawber's answer was:02b02br
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00''English words have a number of meanings so that we can save money on typesetting costs. Actually, I am sure that many languages are characterized by polysemy. Japanese kanji are even pronounced in totally different ways, so that some of my students are unsure of the pronunciation of the the words of their own language.''02br
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01b00Is it really true that English words have a number of different meanings just to save money on typesetting costs or is there some other factor also involved?02b0-
  

Top answer

0Mr M was only joking. 010id2

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  • 0Mr M was only joking.
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9 Answers
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0Mr M was only joking. 02br
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00(Most words developed long before typesettting and of course, if you are printing it doesn't save on cost to print the same words lots of times instead of different words once.) 05002br
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00His real point is that this is not a feature solely of English.010id2
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0Then let me rephrase my question.02br
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01b00Why is it very common for almost every language to have so many different meanings for a single word?02b0-
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0 If language came about because people formed committees to invent each language, they probably would do it differently, and they probably would not give multiple meanings to a single word, but that's not, of course, the way languages come to exist.02br
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00 Languages have different meanings for a single word as a result of the accidents of history.02br
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0 01blockquote
01cite10CalifJim12cite12br
10 Sometimes two words sound very similar. Over the years, people start to pronounce them the same. For example, 11i10shock12i10 as used in 11i10a 11u11b10shock of grain12b12u12i10 comes from the Old Saxon word 11i
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*71*0 01p

00 A shock of grain is the same as a sheaf of grain. It's a bundle of grain (wheat, oats, rye, etc.) It's newly harvested grain tied up into easy-to-handle bundles.02p

01p

00See the following pictures.02p

01p

00The shock of grain may be a little difficult to see in the last picture. It's in the center.02p

01p

00 CJ 02p

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0 Thank you for the explanation. 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10CalifJim12cite10 11i10safe12i10 means secure from danger.12blockquote
10Following this, why do we say I'll keep it safe 01b00and02b00 secure? A very common phrase, but is it correct? Seems an unnecessary repetition. I'm sure there are other phrases like this t
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0 Perhaps, this is done to add emphasis. You will have to wait for a couple of hours because, I believe, Jim is sleeping right now. 0-
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Well thats rediculas because there are some words that have diff. Meanings yet the same langth. Two, too, to so this wouldnt save anything yet they all have different meanings. The two of us will go to the resturant too.
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