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Ant_222 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

"Worthy the mentioning"

Hello, all

I am helplessly puzzled by such structures: "worthy the mentioning", "worthy the observing"... Although I do feel the meaning is the same as "worthy of mentioning" or "worth observing", the logic of these old-fashioned expressions flies my comprehension... Why the lack of "of"? Why the definite article?

Thanks in advance to everybody who contributes an explanation,
Anton
  

Top answer

com is mainly dedicated to. ' The meaning is the same as 'worthy of mentioning', which we say today. The underlying reason is that the word 'mentioning' is a noun in both expressions, so although we nowadays say 'worthy of mentioning (or mention)', it has the same meaning as 'worthy the mentioning', where the definite article 'the' was used instead of the preposition 'of'.

— BillJ

  • com is mainly dedicated to.
  • ' The meaning is the same as 'worthy of mentioning', which we say today.
  • The underlying reason is that the word 'mentioning' is a noun in both expressions, so although we nowadays say 'worthy of mentioning (or mention)', it has the same meaning as 'worthy the mentioning', where the definite article 'the' was used instead of the preposition 'of'.
  • The same applies to 'observing'.
  • BillJ
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2 Answers
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I'm not sure what relevance your question about archaic literary expressions has to do with modern practical English, which EnglishForward.com is mainly dedicated to. Nevertheless, I'll try to answer your question:

I had to do some research to find the expression 'worthy the mentioning' in use, but I eventually managed to find it in this passage, which I believe comes from the novel 'Th
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Thank you BillJ.

BTW, you confused "Arthur Gordon Pym" with "Moby D-i-c-k".
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