January
Surprises
Well,
two of them. I just learned that the month we’re now bidding farewell is named
after Janus. Wikipedia describes him as “the god of beginnings,
gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He
is usually depicted as having two faces.” It’s the beginnings piece that
interests us here (hence, the start of a new year). Here, courtesy of the
British Library, is Janus, key in hand:
The
second thing I learned is that he’s lent that “two-faced” quality to the world
of words. A “Janus Word” has two possible meanings that are the opposite of
each other. That’s where the fun begins.
I
already knew of cleave, which can mean split or hold together.
Same with sanction, which can mean both permit and prohibit.
Another example familiar to me is overlook or its twin, oversight.
Each of these means both to look carefully at something, or neglect
to look at something. So Americans can enjoy the double meaning of the
wording, Congressional oversight.
But a
little digging on the web yielded more examples I’d never realized were also
members of this small club of English words. They’re technically described as contronyms.
Three
examples from my favorite website on politics, Electoral-Vote.com:
- Will Lightning
Strike in New Hampshire?: Strike can mean both to hit and to
miss in an attempt to hit, as in baseball.
- Political Venue
Shopping: Shopping can mean both attempting to purchase
something and attempting to sell something (“shopping around an
idea”).
- Buckle Up!: Buckle
can mean both put together (“I buckle my seat belt”) and fall
apart (“I buckle under the weight”).
Back to Janus, whom you’ll recall Wikipedia described as “the god of beginnings…
and endings.” Beginnings and endings? So if we gave his name to January,
shouldn’t we do likewise for December? Hmmm…
[300 words]
