The Word “Fond”

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文 -- The Word “Fond”，文章讲述在英语发展的1500年历史中，英语可以分为三个时期：古英语，从450到1140年；英语，从450到1140年。从1150年到1500年的中级英语和从1500年至今的现代英语。在英语的三个阶段中，由于许多社会因素，许多单词的含义和用法发生了变化。一些单词的含义已经发生了很大变化，在本文中，我将探讨形容词“喜欢”的含义变化过程。

The Word “Fond”

During the 1500 years history of English development, English can be divided into three periods: Old English, from 450 to 1140; Middle English, from 1150 to 1500 and Modern English, from 1500 until now. In the three periods of English, a lot of words have undergone a process of changing in meaning and usage owing to many social factors. Some words’ meanings have changed a lot, and in this essay, I am going to explore the meaning changing process of the adjective word “fond”.

In the 14^th century, the word “fond” originally means “foolish, silly”, it is the past tense of “fonnen” (“fond”). Shakespeare once said “I am a very foolish fond old man, Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less; And to deal plainly, I fear I am not in my perfect mind” (fond quotes). In this sentence, the word “fond” is similar to “foolish”

Then, “fond” developed into another meaning “indulgent” (British Dictionary Definition), for example, a fond parent means a parent who is overindulgent with his or her kid.

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Nature, there writes:

As a fond mother, when the day is o’er,

Leads by the hand her little child to bed,

Half willing, half reluctant to be led,

And leave his broken playthings on the floor,

Still gazing at them through the open door,

Nor wholly reassured and comforted

By promises of others in their stead,

Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;

In this poem, the word “fond” does not mean the tolerance and indulgence towards the child. It fully expresses a mother’s tender love towards her child. And the rest of the poem proves and gives a detailed explanation to “fond”. Readers can be deeply moved by the tender love of the mother. Since then, the meaning of the word “fond” is gradually approaching the meaning that we use today.

Later, “loving” is attached to the meaning of “fond” (British Dictionary Definition). For example, we can say a fond embrace. In the poem Ae Fond Kiss, Robert Burns wrote:

Ae fond Kiss, and then we sever,

Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!

Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll plege thee,

Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee.

In addition, “fond” can also means (of homes, wishes, etc) cherished but unlikely to be realized (British Dictionary Definition). This meaning is similar to day dream or fancies that will unlikely come true. For example, if a young man is very ignorant and he does not understand the business world, but he wants to be a successful businessman in short time, we can say he has fond hopes of starting his own business.

The latest meaning of the word “fond” is predisposed to; having a liking for (British Dictionary Definition). The equivalent of “fond” here is “affectionate”. And the phrase “be fond of” is frequently used to express someone’s favor towards something. We can say: “I am fond of sports”. There is a very funny sentence said by Alfred North Whitehead: “If a dog jumps into your lap it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing it is because your lap is warmer” (fond quotes).

There are a lot of funny words such as “fond” changing in meaning and usage in the history of English developing process. It can be called “polysemy” today. The causes of these changes are diverse; there are historical reasons, social reasons, class reasons, psychological reasons, and reasons of language itself. There are some trends of the changing of the meanings of the words: extension or generalization, specialization or restriction, elevation or amelioration and degradation or degeneration. But in my opinion, people tend to extend the usages of the words to their convenience. Maybe later, even one simple word can have several meanings, and when you read an article, you must connect the context to judge the meaning of the word. Or maybe as the global economy develops, English will change under more influence, Chinese tones can also be a factor. We know that a Chinese sound can have at least four meanings with four tones. In this aspect, I think Chinese should be the language in which one word has the most meanings. Anyway, only god knows what will happen during the developing process of English; let’s just focus on some of the examples to study.  

Works Cited

British Dictionary Definition. 〈http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fond?s=t〉

 “fond”. Online Etymology Dictionary. 〈http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=fond&searchmode=none〉

Fond quotes. 〈http://quotes.dictionary.com/search/fond〉

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. “Nature”. The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.

Robert Burns. “Ae Fond Kiss”. 1771-1779. Poems and Songs of Robert Burns. Free Public Version, 2012.

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