Thursday, May 29, 2014
Sinister: An Auto-Antonym
An auto-antonym is a word that can mean the opposite of itself. Lewis and Short, Latin Dictionary, s.v. sinister, sense II.B:
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Unlucky, injurious, adverse, unfavorable, ill, bad, etc.Id., sense II.C:
With respect to auspices and divination, acc. to the Roman notions, lucky, favorable, auspicious (because the Romans on these occasions turned the face towards the south, and so had the eastern or fortunate side on the left; while the Greeks, turning to the north, had it on their right...)
Labels: auto-antonyms
