Morning & Evening
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2004 2:47 pm
The following are two questions I've been wondering about for a long time. I hope that someone here can be kind enough to answer them. Thanks!
1. Given the fact that the English words, morn, morning, morrow, tomorrow and the German word, morgen, are all etymologically related, how can we explain the difference in meaning between these words? Did the common ancestor of these words mean "morning" and later switched its meaning to "tomorrow," or just the opposite?
(Intriguingly enough, the German morgen means "tomorrow" as an adverb and means "morning" as a noun with the first letter capitalized)
2. The English morn, morrow, eve, and the German Morgen, Abend do not end with -ing/-ung. How and why did morning and evening get their -ing suffixes? And what does this suffix mean in terms of semantics?
1. Given the fact that the English words, morn, morning, morrow, tomorrow and the German word, morgen, are all etymologically related, how can we explain the difference in meaning between these words? Did the common ancestor of these words mean "morning" and later switched its meaning to "tomorrow," or just the opposite?
(Intriguingly enough, the German morgen means "tomorrow" as an adverb and means "morning" as a noun with the first letter capitalized)
2. The English morn, morrow, eve, and the German Morgen, Abend do not end with -ing/-ung. How and why did morning and evening get their -ing suffixes? And what does this suffix mean in terms of semantics?