Re: USAGE: Circumfixes

Christophe Grandsire wrote:

> En réponse à Nik Taylor :
>
>
>> How'd *that* happen?  :-)
>
>
> The explanation I've seen is that the affirmative "ne" after a verb of
> fear is *not* cognate to the negative "ne", but descends from the
> Latin conjunction "ne" which, used to introduce subclauses after a
> verb of fear, has an "affirmative" meaning (while it has a negative
> meaning, negating "ut", when introducing a subclause after a verb of
> will). Of course, the Latin "ne" and "non" are related (and the French
> negative "ne" descends from "non" in unstressed use), so those two
> "ne" are ultimately related, but not directly.
>
> Latin examples:
> Suadeo tibi ut legas: I advise you to read
> Suadeo tibi ne legas: I advise you not to read
> Timeo ne veniat: I'm afraid he will come
> Timeo ne non veniat: I'm afraid he will not come
>
Interestingly, English did something odd here.  'I doubt that he will
not come' originally meant 'I doubt he'll come', used in the same manner
as 'I am afraid that'.  But that meaning changed.

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