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Affable

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:50 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• affable •


Pronunciation: æf-ê-bêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Easy to speak with, easy-going, pleasant to be with, approachable. 2. Pleasant, inviting, comforting.

Notes: Today's Good Word feels like your favorite glove or an old soft shoe: it suggests an easy, relaxed, pleasant character or atmosphere. We simply replace the final E with Y to create the adverb affably, and to create the noun affability, we insert an I before the L, drop the final E and add the suffix -ity. For such a relaxed word, spelling its various forms requires a lot of attention to detail.

In Play: More often than not today's word makes a more precise substitute for the semi-insulting adjective nice: "Why don't you vet your idea with Janet first? She is probably the most affable person in management." The sound of this word is as comfortable as it meaning: "Dad wasn't as affable after I showed him my report card as he was before."

Word History: Today's Good English Word is nothing but Old French affable, which French inherited from Latin affabilis "easy to speak". This adjective came from affari "to speak to", built up of ad "to(ward)" + fari "to speak". The same root (fari) produced fabula "story, plot", which English borrowed as fable and, with an adjectival ending, fabulous. The same original PIE root (bha-) that became fari in Latin, turns up in Greek phanai "to speak", the source of phone "voice, sound" (sound familiar?) In Old English the original root appears as ban- in bannan "to summon, proclaim", whose meaning was overpowered by Old Norse banna "to prohibit, curse". That is it in banish, too, and bandit, which came from Italian bandito "member of a band" from bandire "to band together". The root of this verb was borrowed from English band, a group summoned together. (Let us now summon up an expression of gratitude to the most affable Loren Baldwin for suggesting today's Good Word.)

Re: AFFABLE

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 5:11 am
by David McWethy
I'm aware that this comment is doubtless an a priori indication of someone with too much time on their hands, but:

In today's missal, Dr. G. notes that:
Today's Good English Word is nothing but Old French affable, which French inherited from Latin affabilis "easy to speak". This adjective came from affari "to speak to", built up of ad "to(ward)" + fari "to speak".
If this be so, why isn't the product of such intermingling "adfari" instead of "affari"?

Or is what we have simply a typo, "d" being a next-door neighbor on the keyboard to "f".

"Gentlemen, place your bets...."

Re: AFFABLE

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:32 am
by MTC
Hazarding a guess, David, likely for the same reason the Latin prefix "ad" changes the second letter before certain letters and sounds in English; some sounds are more natural together. In English:

"2. ad- to, toward, against, intensely [ad appears also as ac-

(before c, q), af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, ar-, as-, at-, and a- (before sc, sp, st, gn).]

Examples: advent (a coming towards)

accurate (attended to)

annotate (add notes to) assent (feel to, agree)"

Someone with more knowledge of French could perhaps give you a more authoritative answer for that language, but I suspect the same process is at work.

Re: AFFABLE

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:35 am
by David McWethy
Well, I'll be blowed!

I consider as wasted every day that I don't learn something; thanks to you I can now go back to bed for the rest of the day with a clear conscience.

Mac

Re: AFFABLE

Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 4:49 pm
by MTC
Your 'umble (but not inordinately 'umble) servant, Sir.

Re: AFFABLE

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:41 pm
by George Kovac
"Affable" is an adjective that would seem to have sprouted from a root verb, like "foreseeable," or "reasonable" or "treatable." Alas, there is no verb for affable.


Apparently I am not the only one to notice this lacuna. Anthony Lane, film critic at the New Yorker, actually tried to fix the problem in a review published November 15, 2019. Here is his (tongue-in-cheek) back formation:

Fans of Mr. Rogers should have had their fill, you might think, after “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” last year’s affable documentary about him. Marielle Heller, though, is not content with affing.

(NOTE: Why, dear reader, you ask, am I perusing year-old issues of the New Yorker? On my nightstand is a guilt-inducing stack of unread New Yorkers a foot tall, casting a minatory shadow on my side of the bed. With all the sheltering-in-place over the last several months, I have no more excuses and am working my way through back issues and aspirational paperbacks.)

Re: AFFABLE

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 6:56 am
by David Myer
I believe there is a Japanese word for 'the stack of books beside the bed that I am hoping to get round to catching up on'. Sadly, I can't remember it. Perhaps one of our linguist fellows will know. bnjtokyo? Meanwhile I will aff off to bed.

Re: AFFABLE

Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:58 pm
by David Myer
Ahh! I see that bnj has indeed responded and most helpfully, to this question. Tsundoku. His answer for those interested is under the Goodword discussion on Emacity.

Re: Affable

Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:06 pm
by Philip Hudson
Affable soul that I am, I just about ran out of affability trying to comprehend the preceding responses.

Re: Affable

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 12:07 am
by David Myer
Delighted to see you back posting, Philip. Hope all is well with you.

Apologies for confusing you on this one.

My quest for the Japanese word was inspired by George Kovac's comment here, about his stack of New Yorker magazines. bnjtokyo responded but under the discussion on Emacity. I just wanted to tie up that loose end under Affable.

Does that make it clearer?

David