Oppugnant

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Oppugnant

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:14 pm

• oppugnant •


Pronunciation: ê-pêg-nênt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Combative, antagonistic, confrontational, oppositious.

Notes: We are all acquainted with repugnant, but here is a cousin that occurs so infrequently that some of us may have missed it. It is based on the verb oppugnate, long since replaced by oppugn "to attack, oppose, resist". The noun for the adjective is either oppugnance or oppugnancy. With the suffix -ate, the G is pronounced; without the suffix, the G becomes silent and the U lengthens.

In Play: Today's word may imply violence: "On January 6, 2021 the Congress was attacked and breached by an angry oppugnant mob." It may only imply strong opposition: "The pandemic brought the fact that some people are oppugnant to vaccination into clearer focus."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a reshaping of Latin oppugnan(t)s "besieging, attacking", the present participle of oppugnare "to besiege, attack; to beat with fists". Its components are an assimilated form of ob "against" + pugnare "to fight", based on pugnus "fist". Ob is a reduction of PIE epi-/opi- "at, against", source also of Greek opi- "behind", Lithuanian apie "around, about", and Russian ob "around, about". Pugnare is a Latin makeover of PIE peuk-/pouk- "to prick", suffixed with an -n, source also of Greek pygme "fist", borrowed by English as pygmy. A metathesized form of this word (peunk-/pounk-) is found in Latin pungere "to prick", whose past participle, punctus, is at the base of the English borrowings puncture, punctuate, and punctual. This form of the PIE word descended into English via its German ancestors as bung "cask stopper".
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David Myer
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Re: Oppugnant

Postby David Myer » Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:39 am

Having been thoroughly oppugnant in my comments under 'Earmark", I should comment on this one. I have always seen those rather ugly little dogs, pugs, as vaguely oppugnant. I wonder if the words are related? Of course it might not be oppugnant specifically from which the name might have been derived - perhaps pugnacious?

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Slava
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Re: Oppugnant

Postby Slava » Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:12 am

Having been thoroughly oppugnant in my comments under 'Earmark", I should comment on this one. I have always seen those rather ugly little dogs, pugs, as vaguely oppugnant. I wonder if the words are related? Of course it might not be oppugnant specifically from which the name might have been derived - perhaps pugnacious?

I would have thought so, but then I would have been guilty of folk etymology. I am anyway, as I always thought of pug or pug-nosed as "looking like it had been punched in the face".

I were wrong; according to etymonline:
1560s, a general term of endearment (also puggy), perhaps related to or a variant of puck (n.2); one of the earliest senses of pug is "sprite, imp" (1610s). The sense of "miniature dog" is from 1749 (pug-dog); that of "monkey" is from 1660s, perhaps on the notion of having a pert, ugly face like a little imp.

Though I don't think I'd have thought of putting "pert" and "ugly" together.
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Re: Oppugnant

Postby bbeeton » Mon Jun 21, 2021 9:35 am

No comments on meaning, but since "oppugnant" stems from "oppugn", and "impugnant" from "impugn", does that imply that there was once a verb "repugn"?

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Re: Oppugnant

Postby Slava » Mon Jun 21, 2021 9:41 am

No comments on meaning, but since "oppugnant" stems from "oppugn", and "impugnant" from "impugn", does that imply that there was once a verb "repugn"?

I believe there still is such a verb, both all by its lonesome and lying at the root of repugnant.
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Re: Oppugnant

Postby bnjtokyo » Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:07 pm

Yet another related word from this route is "expunge" to "prick out, blot out"


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