Subj : Ru
To   : Anton Shepelev
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Thu Sep 26 2024 22:00:52

Hi, Anton!  Recently you wrote in a message to Dallas Hinton:

DH>  I've never seen the word used as an adjective. I suspect
DH>  it's an archaic usage. The Cambridge dictionary doesn't
DH>  define it as an adjective (listing only "cowardly"),
DH>  same for Merriam-Webster, Collins, and the Britannica
DH>  Dictionary. The Oxford dictionary shows it used an
DH>  adjective but last used in 1818!

AS>  1913 Webster lists `coward' as an adjective:

AS>  <http://dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=gcide&Query=coward>


          My 1983 GAGE CANADIAN DICTIONARY also lists it as an adjective, but in my experience this usage was rare at the time of publication....  :-)



AS>  I think `coward' /can/ be an adjective by virtue of the
AS>  ability of nouns in English to become adjectives in certain
AS>  cirsumstances, such as:

AS>       systems (vs. systematic) programming
AS>       fall guy
AS>       finger man
AS>       glass (not glassy) jar.


                  or

          gravel road
          pine cone
          sob sister
          spider vein

          ... AKA noun adjectives or attributive nouns.  :-)



AS>  that said, `coward' is no more an ajective than `widow' in
AS>  the famous tautology `widow woman'.

          I ran across "widow woman" as an example of tautology as well.  But in this case "woman" is redundant because a widow is by definition female, and if a male finds himself in a similar position he is a widower where I come from.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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