SUBREPTION defined

[Larry Sheldon]

On 3/13/2012 12:09 PM, Ronald Butters wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ronald Butters<ronbutters at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      SUBREPTION defined
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Linguists talk funny.

>   In linguistics, SUBREPTION is defined as
> the continued existence of a signifier, while the signified changes
> either in some real or some intellectual way (i.e., in terms of its
> understanding) without a disruption or sharp break in the history of
> the word. [Anthony Arlotto, Introduction to Historical Linguistics,
> 1972: 181].
>
> Seealso<http://www.odlt.org/ballast/subreption.html>:
>
> subreption
> Definition - A semantic-change process in which a shift in a word's =
> denotation causes it to deviate from its etymological and/or literal =
> meaning.
>
> Example - Because two additional months were added to the Roman =
> calendar, the name September =97 which derives from the Latin septem, =
> seven =97 now refers to the ninth month of the year, instead of the =
> seventh.
>
> Etymology - The word derives from the Latin subreptio, a snatching away.
> Note: In English the word was originally a term from ecclesiastical law =
> that denoted either the suppression of the truth or the concealment of =
> facts so as to obtain a dispensation.
>
>
>
> On Mar 13, 2012, at 2:55 AM, W Brewer wrote:
>
>> Ron, I do not know what subreption means in this context. (Wp: =
> philosophy
>> xxx a creeping or tacit assumption(s) that is not explicitly given but =
> is
>> hidden either purposefully (as in sophistry) or not (as in a visual
>> illusion).
>
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