Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Auto-Antonyms
An antonym is a word of opposite meaning. An auto-antonym is a word that can mean the opposite of itself. There is a list of auto-antonyms here. A couple of auto-antonyms which I haven't seen on any list are the Latin adjective sacer and the English noun wold.
E.A. Andrew's Copious and Critical Latin-English Lexicon (1870) gives these contrasting definitions of sacer:
Newer› ‹Older
E.A. Andrew's Copious and Critical Latin-English Lexicon (1870) gives these contrasting definitions of sacer:
- Dedicated or consecrated to a divinity, holy, sacred.
- Devoted to a divinity for destruction, forfeited; and absol., accursed, criminal, impious, wicked.
- A wood; a forest.
- A plain, or low hill; a country without wood, whether hilly or not.
