thy thigh etc.

[Eduard Selleslagh]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Martin" <semartin at pacifier.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 4:49 PM

[snip]
> He also mentions the proliferating use of -wise. This is a productive
> bound particle, rather than a derivative suffix. Sentence-wise it can go
> anywhere, syntax-wise. Usage-wise, I have collected some delightful
> examples, wise-wise. Notice that "street-wise" can have two different
> meanings: "street-wise youngsters" has the derivative suffix, but
> "Street-wise, this city is a mess!" has the particle.
[snip]
> As a particle the -wise can attach to
> a plural, and I could have substituted "Streets-wise" for "Street-wise" in
> the example above. [snip]
> Structure-wise the particle belongs with focus devices, I think.

[Ed Selleslagh]

Of course, the two 'wise' words are originally two homonyms, one an adjective
meaning 'knowing, savvy,...' like in 'wise men', the other a noun meaning 'way,
manner' (Cf. Ger. Weise, Du. wijze).

In 'street-wise' it is the adjective, with a prepositioned qualifier, in
'streets-wise' it is the noun with the second meaning, and serves as a
adverb-forming particle meaning something like 'when speaking of, in the
context of...'. Whether you can call this a focus device, I don't know. One
thing is certain: there has been a slight semantic shift away from the original
meaning '(in the) way/manner (of)'.

It looks rather American to me, if I ignore the usual world-wide
'contamination' phenomena that accompany American neologisms.

Ed.