[Ads-l] "slay" (adj.)

[Amy West]

On 11/29/23 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> I should note that I am not stating that Basaa is the origin of this
> phenomenon in Native Black American Language, but that the languages of
> West Africa and Southwest Africa are the likely source; I am certain that
> there are African cognates for the Basaa*nɔl*  'to kill', 'to do something
> impressive, terrific, great, amazing', 'to be dressed flaa/fly'.
> Best,
> Z. Sohna


Yeah, I don't think we need to reach that far for the semantic extension 
for /slay, kill. /I think that once one thinks of something as a 
challenge, the metaphor of the hunt can easily inform this metaphorical 
extension.

I'll grant that this doesn't cover /murder/  or /body /uses, and I'll 
admit that I don't use either of those. The use of /murder/ as a synonym 
for /devour/ is in my personal lexicon, but the senses of "doing 
something in an excellent way" aren't.

---Amy West



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