Re: USAGE: YAEUT: "Molten" vs. "Melted"

>Peter Collier wrote:
>[snip]
>>
>> I think there may be an aspective sense to it also.  Molten seems more
>> staive: 'This metal is molten', whereas 'melted' seems more suited to a
>> perfect aspect 'My ice cream has melted'.
>
>Not just that - the use of 'molten' as the perfect participle of 'melt'
>is quite simply archaic, like the use of 'holpen' as a perfect
>participle of 'help'.
>
>In modern English 'molten' simply can _not_ be used as a perfect
>participle. While one can say, as Peter writes, "My ice cream has
>melted", or "The ice has melted", "The cheese has melted" etc.; one
>cannot have *"The iron has molten."
>
>One can, of course, have "the iron has become molten" in the same way
>that you can have "My ice cream has become runny", "The ice has become
>brittle", "The cheese has become mo(u)ldy." In other words, 'molten' is
>purely a descriptive adjective in modern English.
>
>In the modern language, "molten" is to "melted" just as "wrought" is to
>"worked".
>
>--
>Ray
Incidentally, this is just how the distinction would be translated into
Finnish. The root _sula-_ is of the joint verbal/nominal type, and so we
have non-derived _sula laava_, _sula alumiini_ etc, but a participle in
_sulatettu muovi_ "melted plastic" etc. (Plain _sula_ can be used for
liquids such as water too, tho.)

This is just a rephrasing of the question, however. When does one use the
adjectiv "molten", and when the participle "melted"? Oddly it seems
materials described as "molten" are normally encounter'd in solid form
("molten quicksilver" seems redundant), so an actual process of melting is
required anyway. But I don't recall seeing terms such as "molten butter"
either. The observation that "molten" things are usually blazing hot I can
agree with, but as an L2 English speaker, my intuition probably doesn't count.

John Vertical

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