[Lexicog] mentee/mentoree

[Hayim Sheynin]

Dear David,

dedico, -avi, -atum, -are is well documented verb in classical Latin. I didn't check, but I am almost sure that use of this word is continued in vulgar Latin and from there came into English and some other European languages. There is a large number of Engish derivatives from this verb and from other Latin words of the same base dedica-/dedicat- and and among them dedicator and dedicatee.

Hayim Sheynin

David Frank <david_frank at sil.org> wrote:                                     
Actually,  dediquee is a good St. Lucian French Creole word, though we spell it  dédiké. It is listed in our dictionary as a verb meaning 'to dedicate,'  but following the pattern of French Creole verbs, it could be used as an  adjective or a noun as well, meaning '(one who is) dedicated.' We had a problem  with this French Creole word in terms of finding the source, though, because it  does not seem to be based on a French word that I have been able to find. The  French verb is dédier. So the French Creole word seems to be a  frenchified version of the English word "dedicate." I just got back from a  conference in Amsterdam where I talked about the problems of pinpointing the  origins of certain St. Lucian words like this. (Hi, Joseph  Farquharson.)
  
 In this recent  discussion, I don't think anyone has mentioned the obvious fact that the  -ee words are based on the pattern of the feminine form of the past  participle of French verbs. For example there is French employer 'to  employ' with the past tense form employé 'employed' doubling as a  masculine adjectival form and employée as the feminine adjectival  form. The corresponding French noun is employeur, from which we  evidently get English "employer."
  
 We can  expect to have some -ee words that don't have a -er or -or  counterpart, such as "divorcee" or "amputee." On the other hand, I checked an  unabridged dictionary just now and did find "divorcer" listed as "one who  divorces."
  
 -- David  Frank
  
    ----- Original Message ----- 
   From:    David Tuggy    
   To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com    
   Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 4:58    PM
   Subject: Re: [Lexicog]    mentee/mentoree
   

   -ee spawns oddities, it seems to me. Two others I have enjoyed, and seen    in fairly high-falutin’ publications, are baptee (=one who has been baptized)    and dediquee.

--David Tuggy
   

Benjamin Barrett wrote: 
   
The normal formation is to add -er/-or to get the person doing it and 
add -ee to the receiver of the action. So employ-> employer, employee, 
address -> addresser, addressee. There isn't a verb for mentor, but 
using back formation you get: mentor <- ment and then ment -> mentee. BB

Fritz Goerling wrote:
     
I discussed with David Frank, an SIL colleague on this list, whether 
”mentee” or “mentoree” is more common.
 
     
                       

       
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