Work Your Abs Part Three

I was reading the Twain (Mark, not Shania) novel The American Claimant and found the word abnegate (I would have expected absquatulate, but Twain likes surprises and disdains meeting expectations). It’s a good word that is simonymous (I’m trying to coin a new word) with abrogate, but has some important distinctions.

Abnegate is defined in dictionary.com as “to refuse or deny oneself (some rights, conveniences, etc.); reject; renounce.” And secondarily, to relinquish or give up. Its primary definition sounds like abstinence or abstemiousness, but the definition explains that abnegation is more about rights and position than about food and drink (or sex). The first form of the word to come to English was the noun form, abnegation, which arrived in the late 14^th century and originally referred to a negative assertion (e.g., I don’t think so). About 1500 it took on the meaning of self-denial, since the Latin word from which it derived was abnegationem, formed by adding the prefix ab- (off, away, from) to negare, which means to deny.  The verb form abnegate came to English in the 1650s.  

Abrogate arrived in English shortly after abnegation, and also came directly from Latin. While it uses our prefix of the month ab- it affixes it to the root rogare, which is the word for proposing a law or request.  (One of these days we’ll get to arrogate, which also comes from the same root word.) Abrogate still means to abolish by formal or official means, like by an act or repeal. Some Republicans campaigned last year on the idea of abrogating Obamacare.  Now they just hope to abridge it.

Abridge is the oldest of today’s words, having arrived in English about 1300 from Old French. It was originally spelled abreggen, but the Old French influenced the pronunciation and eventually the spelling came along for the ride. The Old French word from which abridge came to English is abregier, which the Old French got from the Late Latin word abbreviare.

Abridge means to shorten by omission. While originally it may had more broad usage that includes duration, scope, or authority, it is most often used now in reference to written works that have been shortened (like dictionaries).

Abbreviare is the obvious root of our word abbreviate, which means to shorten by omitting letters or reduce something in length or duration. To be safe, I would use abbreviate for something short made shorter, and abridge for something long made shorter. While in common usage they may be synonymous, I maintain they are merely simonymoun (I’m not giving up on my new word).  

How did the Old French make a dg out of a vi? Very easily and not unusually, as you’ll also see in words like assuage (which came through French from the Latin assuavidare) and deluge (which came through French from the Latin diluvium). 

We still keep the Latin form of deluge in our word antediluvian, which was coined by English physician Sir Thomas Browne as an adjective describing  anyone who lived “before the Flood,” by which capitalization he meant Noah’s flood.

Deluge can be used as a noun or a verb. In either form it refers to a large amount of something (usually water), a flood or inundation.  The noun form came through the Old French word with the same spelling and arrived in the late 14^th century. The Latin root word diluvium had the same meaning as deluge does now.

I've deluged you enough for one post. I probably should have abridged this post, but I didn't want to abnegate the opportunity to go where the words took me.