eklhad@ihnet.UUCP (K. A. Dahlke) (09/19/85)
< oh no, mr. bill. Don't eat me!! > While reading an ultra-religious magazine yesterday (pleas, don't ask why I was reading such a thing), I noticed the word "prayer". Of course, I have seen the word before, but I never really considered its etymology. Usually, verbs become nouns by adding "ing", or perhaps by adding nothing. You "offer" to God, and hence you give an "offering". You "praise" God, and hence you give him your "praise". You "pray", thus saying a "prayer"? Did this "prayer" come from the days when only the priest (whoever) could read the Bible and talk to God, and therefore, you went to the temple to hear a pray-er (one who prays)? Perhaps the meaning shifted, making "prayer" the thing that was said instead of the one who was saying it. Just a hypothesis. Are there any other object-style nouns produced by "verb"er? Anyone know the real answers? -- This .signature file intentionally left blank. Karl Dahlke ihnp4!ihnet!eklhad
ljd@mirror.UUCP (09/24/85)
> /* Written 10:53 am Sep 19, 1985 by eklhad@ihnet in mirror:net.nlang */ > /* ---------- "Pray, Praying, Prayer" ---------- */ > ... You "pray", thus saying a "prayer"? > Did this "prayer" come from the days when only the priest > (whoever) could read the Bible and talk to God, > and therefore, you went to the temple to hear a pray-er (one who prays)? > Perhaps the meaning shifted, making "prayer" the thing that was said instead > of the one who was saying it. Just a hypothesis. > Are there any other object-style nouns produced by "verb"er? > Anyone know the real answers? > -- > This .signature file intentionally left blank. > Karl Dahlke ihnp4!ihnet!eklhad > /* End of text from mirror:net.nlang */ Sorry, but "prayer" does not come from "pray" + "er". In fact, it doesn't come from the English word "pray" at all, but from the French "priere". Consult the OED for fuller etymologies of "prayer" and "pray".