Abstract
The following is a case study delineating the pathway of two Latin factitive
support verbs towards a specialized denotative use. An overview of committere and admittere, both of them initially (and subsequently) wide-ranging as to their direct objects, outlines their collocation with event and result nouns that signify misdeeds and crimes (specific and generic ones alike), and the ensuing acquisition of a narrower sense, considerably more ephemeral and atypical than current lexicographic information claims. Yet a full semantic shift is shown to have indeed taken place singularly in one paradigm member
only towards a fully transformed meaning, this one form having adopted the sense of perpetrated negative deeds, illegal as well as immoral.
support verbs towards a specialized denotative use. An overview of committere and admittere, both of them initially (and subsequently) wide-ranging as to their direct objects, outlines their collocation with event and result nouns that signify misdeeds and crimes (specific and generic ones alike), and the ensuing acquisition of a narrower sense, considerably more ephemeral and atypical than current lexicographic information claims. Yet a full semantic shift is shown to have indeed taken place singularly in one paradigm member
only towards a fully transformed meaning, this one form having adopted the sense of perpetrated negative deeds, illegal as well as immoral.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 111-122 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Linguarum varietas |
| State | Published - 2021 |