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
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