"Neurotic, adj. sense 4, 1907, antedates 1917--

[Jonathan Lighter]

To persons, or so it seems to me.

Ancestry here = 'ancestors.'  Ancestors 'afflicted with one or more
neuroses.'  Certainly an hereditary element is implied, but that doesn't
seem to be part of the denotation of "neurotic," even here.

JL
On Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 4:32 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Neurotic, adj. sense 4, 1907, antedates 1917--
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> That's a part of the confusion for me. But "neurotic ancestry" is
> perhaps deeper--ancestry is a human "characteristic" but the phrase
> shows a history of the disease, I presume, in the family. So does it
> pertain to persons or the disease? A different interpretation (not in
> the same context) might suggest that some symptomatic manifestation has
> /its/ ancestry in neurosis. This one would be unambiguously 2., not 3.
>
>     VS-)
>
> On 3/6/2011 4:11 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > 2 and 4 seem to me to say virtually the same thing.
> > But because 3 is applied to persons, the meaning is different.
> >
> > Cf.:
> >
> > 1. a neurotic symptom ('caused by neurosis')
> > 2. a neurotic person ('afflicted with one or more neuroses')
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 6, 2011 at 3:55 PM, Victor Steinbok<aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
> >
> >> I'm somewhat confused by some of the distinctions between neurotic 2.
> >> ("Of the nature of neurosis"), neurotic 3. ("Of a person: suffering from
> >> or affected by a neurosis") and neurotic 4. ("Symptomatic of or
> >> associated with a neurosis; characteristic of a neurotic").
> >>
> >> How does one classify "neurotic ancestry" (p. 480, 567) or "neurotic
> >> family history" (p. 548) or "neurotic parentage" (p. 555)?
> >> http://goo.gl/cGcBq
> >>
> >> I would expect the latter two to be 3. (or 2.??), but not sure about
> >> "ancestry"?
> >>
> >> And if they do fall under 3. rather than 2., then should "neurotic
> >> inheritance" ("hereditary descent" of "a truly nervous character") as
> well?
> >> http://goo.gl/Hmsgm
> >>
> >> On the other hand, shouldn't "neurotic predisposition" fall under
> >> "symptomatic of neurosis"?
> >>
> >> I am hopelessly confused...
> >>
> >>      VS-)
>
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