Auto-antonym
Encyclopedia
An auto-antonym or contranym (originally spelled contronym), is a word with a homograph
(a word of the same spelling) that is also an antonym
(a word with the opposite meaning). Variant names include antagonym, Janus word (after the Roman god
), enantiodrome, self-antonym, antilogy, addad (Arabic, singular didd). It is a word with multiple meanings, one of which is defined as the reverse of one of its other meanings.
For example, the word "fast" can mean "moving quickly" as in "running fast," or it can mean "not moving" as in "stuck fast." To buckle can mean "to fasten" when used transitively
or "to bend then break" intransitively. "To weather" can mean "to endure" (intransitive) or "to erode" (transitive). However such terms are just how one relates to the meaning of an object enduring or having endured weather, whether it is standing up against said weather unchanged, or being influenced negative by said weather, it is still either way being weathered and the additional valuation of its resultant meaning makes it an auto-anyonym only subjectively; when in actuality the word means simply how an object relates to the influence of weather for better or worse. That is an example of our perception adding meaning to the word where it may not initially imply such a meaning generally that would make it an auto-antonym. "Weedy" can mean "overgrown" ("The garden is weedy") or stunted ("The boy looks weedy"). "To overlook" can mean "to inspect" or "to fail to notice". The verb "to sanction" means "to permit", and also "to punish". "Refrain" means both non-action and the repetition of an action. "Strike", in baseball terms, can mean "to hit the ball" or "to miss the ball". This phenomenon is also called "enantionymy" or "antilogy."
The terms "autantonym" and "contronym" were originally coined by Joseph T. Shipley in 1960 and Jack Herring in 1962, respectively. A related term, pseudo-contronym, was coined by David Morice in 1987.
Some pairs of contronyms are true homographs, i.e., distinct words with different etymology
which happen to have the same form. For instance cleave "separate" is from Old English
clēofan, while cleave "adhere" is from Old English clifian, which was pronounced differently. This is related to false friend
s, but false friends do not necessarily contradict.
Other contronyms result from polysemy
, where a single word acquires different, and ultimately opposite, senses. For instance quite, which meant "clear" or "free" in Middle English
, can mean "slightly" (quite nice) or "completely" (quite beautiful). Other examples include sanction — "permit" or "penalize
"; bolt (originally from crossbow
s) — "leave quickly" or "fixed"; fast — "moving rapidly" or "unmoving". Many English
examples result from noun
s being verbed
into distinct senses "add to" and "remove from"; e.g. dust, seed, stone (or pit).
Some contronyms result from differences in national varieties of English. For example, to table a bill means "to put it up for debate" in British English
, while it means "to remove it from debate" in American English
.
Often, one sense is more obscure or archaic, increasing the danger of misinterpretation when it does occur; for instance, the King James Bible often uses "let" in the sense of "forbid", a meaning which is now obsolete, except in the legal phrase "without let or hindrance" and in tennis and squash.
An apocrypha
l story relates how Charles II (or sometimes Queen Anne
) described St Paul's Cathedral
as "awful, pompous, and artificial", meaning in modern English "awe-inspiring, majestic, and ingeniously designed."
Auto-antonyms also exist in other languages. For example, in French
hôte may mean either "host" or "guest"; the same is true for the Italian
cognate
ospite (both deriving from the Latin
hospes). (kal kəl) may mean either "yesterday" or "tomorrow" (disambiguated by the verb in the sentence). Italian ciao, Greek γειά and Hawaiian
aloha, meaning both “hello” and “goodbye”. In Korean
as spoken in South Korea, the words for "field marshal" and "enemy", "wonsu", are homophones. The two separate meanings are written distinctly in hanja
, but appear as homographs in hangul
. In North Korea, the latter meaning is pronounced as wonssu.
Sometimes an apparent opposition of senses comes from presuming the point of view of a different language. Latin altus can be translated "high" or "deep" in English, but in Latin had the single meaning "large in the vertical dimension". The difference in English between "high" and "deep" is in the speaker's point of view: a mountain is "high" because we are conceptually at the bottom of it, and the ocean is "deep" because we are conceptually at its top, but both were altus in Latin. This is still true in Italian, but the other Romance languages
retain only the meaning "high".
In addition various neologisms or other such words that contain simultaneous opposing meanings when in the same context rather than alternate meanings depending on context, such as coopetition
.
Homograph
A homograph is a word or a group of words that share the same written form but have different meanings. When spoken, the meanings may be distinguished by different pronunciations, in which case the words are also heteronyms. Words with the same writing and pronunciation A homograph (from the ,...
(a word of the same spelling) that is also an antonym
Antonym
In lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in an inherently incompatible binary relationship as in the opposite pairs male : female, long : short, up : down, and precede : follow. The notion of incompatibility here refers to the fact that one word in an opposite pair entails that it is not...
(a word with the opposite meaning). Variant names include antagonym, Janus word (after the Roman god
Janus
-General:*Janus , the two-faced Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings*Janus , a moon of Saturn*Janus Patera, a shallow volcanic crater on Io, a moon of Jupiter...
), enantiodrome, self-antonym, antilogy, addad (Arabic, singular didd). It is a word with multiple meanings, one of which is defined as the reverse of one of its other meanings.
For example, the word "fast" can mean "moving quickly" as in "running fast," or it can mean "not moving" as in "stuck fast." To buckle can mean "to fasten" when used transitively
Transitive verb
In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
or "to bend then break" intransitively. "To weather" can mean "to endure" (intransitive) or "to erode" (transitive). However such terms are just how one relates to the meaning of an object enduring or having endured weather, whether it is standing up against said weather unchanged, or being influenced negative by said weather, it is still either way being weathered and the additional valuation of its resultant meaning makes it an auto-anyonym only subjectively; when in actuality the word means simply how an object relates to the influence of weather for better or worse. That is an example of our perception adding meaning to the word where it may not initially imply such a meaning generally that would make it an auto-antonym. "Weedy" can mean "overgrown" ("The garden is weedy") or stunted ("The boy looks weedy"). "To overlook" can mean "to inspect" or "to fail to notice". The verb "to sanction" means "to permit", and also "to punish". "Refrain" means both non-action and the repetition of an action. "Strike", in baseball terms, can mean "to hit the ball" or "to miss the ball". This phenomenon is also called "enantionymy" or "antilogy."
The terms "autantonym" and "contronym" were originally coined by Joseph T. Shipley in 1960 and Jack Herring in 1962, respectively. A related term, pseudo-contronym, was coined by David Morice in 1987.
Some pairs of contronyms are true homographs, i.e., distinct words with different etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
which happen to have the same form. For instance cleave "separate" is from Old English
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...
clēofan, while cleave "adhere" is from Old English clifian, which was pronounced differently. This is related to false friend
False friend
False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects that look or sound similar, but differ in meaning....
s, but false friends do not necessarily contradict.
Other contronyms result from polysemy
Polysemy
Polysemy is the capacity for a sign or signs to have multiple meanings , i.e., a large semantic field.Charles Fillmore and Beryl Atkins’ definition stipulates three elements: the various senses of a polysemous word have a central origin, the links between these senses form a network, and ...
, where a single word acquires different, and ultimately opposite, senses. For instance quite, which meant "clear" or "free" in Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
, can mean "slightly" (quite nice) or "completely" (quite beautiful). Other examples include sanction — "permit" or "penalize
Sanctions (law)
Sanctions are penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the law, or with rules and regulations. Criminal sanctions can take the form of serious punishment, such as corporal or capital punishment, incarceration, or severe fines...
"; bolt (originally from crossbow
Crossbow
A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a torsion engine resembling a crossbow in appearance.Historically, crossbows played a...
s) — "leave quickly" or "fixed"; fast — "moving rapidly" or "unmoving". Many English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
examples result from noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s being verbed
Conversion (linguistics)
In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation, is a kind of word formation; specifically, it is the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form...
into distinct senses "add
Some contronyms result from differences in national varieties of English. For example, to table a bill means "to put it up for debate" in British English
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
, while it means "to remove it from debate" in American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
.
Often, one sense is more obscure or archaic, increasing the danger of misinterpretation when it does occur; for instance, the King James Bible often uses "let" in the sense of "forbid", a meaning which is now obsolete, except in the legal phrase "without let or hindrance" and in tennis and squash.
An apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
l story relates how Charles II (or sometimes Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
) described St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
as "awful, pompous, and artificial", meaning in modern English "awe-inspiring, majestic, and ingeniously designed."
Auto-antonyms also exist in other languages. For example, in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
hôte may mean either "host" or "guest"; the same is true for the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
ospite (both deriving from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
hospes). (kal kəl) may mean either "yesterday" or "tomorrow" (disambiguated by the verb in the sentence). Italian ciao, Greek γειά and Hawaiian
Hawaiian language
The Hawaiian language is a Polynesian language that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the state of Hawaii...
aloha, meaning both “hello” and “goodbye”. In Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
as spoken in South Korea, the words for "field marshal" and "enemy", "wonsu", are homophones. The two separate meanings are written distinctly in hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
, but appear as homographs in hangul
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
. In North Korea, the latter meaning is pronounced as wonssu.
Sometimes an apparent opposition of senses comes from presuming the point of view of a different language. Latin altus can be translated "high" or "deep" in English, but in Latin had the single meaning "large in the vertical dimension". The difference in English between "high" and "deep" is in the speaker's point of view: a mountain is "high" because we are conceptually at the bottom of it, and the ocean is "deep" because we are conceptually at its top, but both were altus in Latin. This is still true in Italian, but the other Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
retain only the meaning "high".
In addition various neologisms or other such words that contain simultaneous opposing meanings when in the same context rather than alternate meanings depending on context, such as coopetition
Coopetition
Coopetition or Co-opetition is a neologism coined to describe cooperative competition....
.
External links
- Antagonyms
- List of autoantonyms at fun-with-words.com
- Fun with Words at rinkworks.com