J reports:
"The sign read, "Fine for parking there; and since it was fine, I parked there."
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The problem is not really tangential to Grice's "Equivocality" thesis, it seems. Let's check etymologies.
Oops. The come from the same root. As per below. So it's not a pun. It's a perfectly valid syllogism.
Q. E. D.
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'fine'
c.1300, from O.Fr. fin "perfected, of highest quality," from L. finis "end, limit" (see finish); hence "acme, peak, height," as in finis boni "the highest good." In French, the main meaning remains "delicate, intricately skillful;" in English since mid-15c. fine is also a general expression of admiration or approval, the equivalent of Fr. beau (cf. fine arts, 1767, translating Fr. beaux-arts). Related: Finely; finer; finest. Fine print "qualifications and limitations of a deal" first recorded 1960. Fine-tune (v.) is 1969, a back-formation from fine-tuning (1924), originally in reference to radio receivers.
fine (n.)
c.1200, "termination," from O.Fr. fin "end," from M.L. finis "a payment in settlement, fine or tax," from L. finis "end"
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yes, "fine" may stem from latin "finis" (sp. finito, end, fr. FIN, as in fan, etc) yet...in anglo-ish it's used as both noun (ie pay a fine) and adjectival (a fine place to park) as many words are. So it's equivocal in anglo at least, even if related etymologically , as y'all say . Many other examples could be imagined. Bank, another obvious one--a river bank is not anything like a bank with shekels, ie BOA.. But I imagine some quick googling would show the words have same or similar stem. Another obvious polyseme-- "light", as in light bulb, and "light", as in light weight. Tho look exact yet come from different words--the first like latin lux, but second...not sure. German licht vs gr leicht, ah believe
ReplyDeleteGood. You are a good Griceain. To have a Gricean like you talking German ('licht', 'leicht') is a charm. All too often, Griceans who even QUOTE different lingos are looked down! They say, "Surely the brain of a cooperative speaker need not take into account different lingos".
ReplyDeleteYes, 'fine' is a noun and an adjective. But as long as the root is the same, it's possible the same meaning.
Imagine if we have two words, 'love' qua noun, and then 'lovely' -- (adj.) and they want to convince us that 'lovely' has nothing to do with love!
I will check with 'light'. I think you are right that 'light' as in NOT-heavy does not seem too related to 'lux' -- in which case it's TWO words -- so we can hardly say a word is polysemous, since there is no such 'one' word -- there are TWO of them.
Yes, 'bank' as in financial institutional and things river have seem to derive from the Italian ("The man who broke the 'bank' at Montecarlo"). So, it's the same word --. The fact that the original sense ('bank of the river'), due to the People of Monaco, developed into a financial institution is neither here nor there!
ReplyDelete(Fleet street, which the Bank of England is near to, was originally a river -- so that may explain the location, too.)