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Prevent

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:48 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Somewhere in a fairly recent post I cannot easily locate, Philip Hudson enquired about the meaning of "prevent" in the KJV of 1 Thess 4:15. We had been discussing the tendency of some words over time to reverse their meanings. I had referred to Paul's statement to the Romans that he had often wanted to visit them but had been "let hitherto." Of course in 1611 "let" meant prevented.
Phil thought of the verse that said those alive at the Second Coming would not "prevent" those who had died. I found the answer in the first place I checked, the American Heritage, but continued through several other places to make sure. The KJV translators were using the original meaning of prevent. Pre means before, and vent come from the Latin venire meaning to come. Thus come before or precede. Modern translations reflect this saying the living will not precede the dead at the Second Coming.

Re: Prevent

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:48 pm
by Slava
Thank you for digging in to this history. It's most interesting.

Here's another one that doesn't always mean what we think it does: anticipate. It has much the same meaning as the old form of prevent, to come before.

When we anticipate something, we feel or taste it before it happens. We can also anticipate someone in achieving something, which means we got there first.

So, another, though not as explicit translation of this bit of the Bible could well be, "the living will not anticipate the dead..."

Re: Prevent

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 6:23 pm
by Perry Lassiter
your excellent reply puzzled me a bit, so I ran to the AHD again and looked up anticipate. ("Looked up" - I almost said "googled." I predict the term will become a more generalized synonym for "search" in any search engine!) Found it was compounded from ante and capo, to take. I wonder why the anti-cipate rather than ante-cipate. At first glance one thinks of against something rather than before something.

Re: Prevent

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:06 pm
by Slava
your excellent reply puzzled me a bit, so I ran to the AHD again and looked up anticipate. ("Looked up" - I almost said "googled." I predict the term will become a more generalized synonym for "search" in any search engine!)
I believe it pretty much already has, though I refuse to use it. I even figured out how to make Yahoo my default browser in Firefox. I make it a point always to say, "Do a search" or something of the kind.

Re: Prevent

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 6:29 pm
by Philip Hudson
Slava, you know I demand a new word be thoroughly vetted before I personally approve it. Even then I sometimes don't. Although I don't know why, goggle as a verb doesn't bother me. Am I going soft in my dotage?

Re: Prevent

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 7:12 pm
by Slava
Slava, you know I demand a new word be thoroughly vetted before I personally approve it. Even then I sometimes don't. Although I don't know why, goggle as a verb doesn't bother me. Am I going soft in my dotage?
Ah, but goggle is a verb. :) It's the g-double-o verb that I won't use.

Re: Prevent

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:57 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Strictly google means to search using the Google search engine, but it has expanded to refer to searching with any software. What's that word for a brand-specific name like Coke becoming a reference to any cola or coke? And Kleenext now refers to any tissue. I think Google has arrived there in record time.

Re: Prevent

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:59 pm
by Philip Hudson
To goggle or to google, that is the question.

Re: Prevent

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:43 pm
by Slava
I love to giggle, but I refuse to geegle. I don't even wish to use that search engine's name in a random post as it would add to its cumulative number of references. Phoo!

As to Perry's note; yes, I know there is a word for what we're getting at here, but I, too, cannot dredge it up from the depths of my memory.

Is it something along the lines of popularization? Xerox, Q-Tip, Kleenex, etc. have fought this trend for years on end.

What's the word? I know someone out there knows. Help?

Re: Prevent

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:57 pm
by Perry Lassiter
You might also try gargling, but it won't give you much information. Fact: you can google " gargle, giggle, goggle, and even google," but you can't gargle google. You may, however, giggle giggles. Must be bedtime.