More language change on the fly (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

On 8/30/07, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: More language change on the fly (UNCLASSIFIED)
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>
> On 8/30/07, Arnold M. Zwicky <zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
> >
> > i relent, i relent.
> >
> [snip]
> >
> > AHD4 is typical of the dictionaries i consulted in giving
> > intransitive "relent" the meaning 'become more lenient,
> > compassionate, or forgiving', though it's easy to find uses (like
> > mine above) in which "relent" conveys meanings in the neighborhood of
> > 'yield, surrender, submit, back down, give in, give up'.  (such
> > meanings should be in dictionaries as in current use.)
>
> Interestingly, OED2 has for "relent" the obsolete sense "to yield,
> give way; to give up a previous determination or obstinacy" with cites
> from the 16th-17th c. (e.g., Milton's "Paradise Lost": "To convince
> the proud what Signs availe, Or Wonders move th' obdurate to
> relent?"). So is this semantic shift a revival of sorts?

The OED2 definition still works for me. It's not obsolete in any
sense. That could very well be because "relent" is strictly a literary
term for me. I've never had occasion to speak this word and, if anyone
else has spoken it in my presence, I've failed to note it. As for the
examples from Google, I have no comment beyond "different strokes for
different folks."

-Wilson


> > the verb "relent" is probably an ideal candidate for developing new
> > senses (and syntax): pretty much everyone will have experienced the
> > verb, but at such low frequencies that they might be unsure of the
> > details, consequently assimilating the verb to the patterns of other
> > verbs in the semantic domain of "relent".
>
> Indeed, much like "abscond" and "accost" in previous threads.
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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