incent : a big SOTA

Michael McKernan mckernan at LOCALNET.COM
Thu Jan 26 02:30:16 UTC 2006


 Laurence Horn wrote:

>They also don't involve back-formation the way "incent" does, FWIW.
>
>LH
and
>>>  --- Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>>>
>>>  >   Can anyone name another verb that, like
>>>  "incent,"
>>>  > is formed by dropping the "-ive" from a familiar
>>>  > English noun ?

Perhaps due to my previous flippant posts on this topic, it appears to me
that my later ex. drew no attention.  I won't pull a Popik on this, and
claim a conspiracy to ignore my humble contribution, but I will repeat it:

What about:

invect - invective

see:

http://websters.wunderdictionary.com/dictionary/def/english/invect.html

http://websters.wunderdictionary.com/dictionary/def/english/invective.html

Not having seen the a full lexicographical treatment of either word, I
suppose that the question of 'back-formation' may be resolved by a better
authority than I have handy.  But I do think this approaches an answer to
Jonathan's query.

Michael McKernan

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list