Page 1 of 1

want

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:57 am
by M. Henri Day
Reflecting over the saying, variously attributed to Lord Chesterfield (1694 - 1773) and George Chapman (1559 - 1634), that
Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most, always like it the
least
I realised that the above word, while familiar to us all, still retains senses probably not known to everybody who from time to time have occasion to use the English language. Indeed, the sense in which it is employed above, which seems almost to be contrary to the modern use as a synonym to «desire», seems to be that which most closely corresponds to the word's origin in Old Norse «vanta», or the putative Indo-European root. Reason enough to suggest it as a Good Word ?...

Henri

Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 3:02 pm
by Apoclima
Good point, Henri!

"To want for nothing" isn't a Buddhist affirmation of Nirvana!

Apo