28.3312, Qs: Question about History of the Word: Cleave

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LINGUIST List: Vol-28-3312. Fri Aug 04 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.3312, Qs: Question about History of the Word: Cleave

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Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2017 11:29:28
From: Mark Burns [mburns_08109 at comcast.net]
Subject: Question about History of the Word: Cleave

 
If you look up the English verb cleave online you will find two diametrically
opposing meanings.

One is essentially ''to split apart'', and the other is ''to hold together''.

I find this dichotomy curious, and I'm wondering which meaning is the
predecessor of the other? What is it (about us, or about our use/abuse of
language) that can lead to the same word having such dual and diametrically
opposing meanings?
 

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics
                     General Linguistics
                     Historical Linguistics
                     Linguistic Theories
                     Morphology
                     Psycholinguistics
                     Sociolinguistics



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