[lit-ideas] Differant
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 19:53:40 EDT
In a message dated 10/11/2004 7:16:55 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jlye@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
Fortunately for everyone, returning to Derrida, a writer for whom I have
great respect, I have a brief web page on différance at
http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/diffr.html.
----
Thanks for the link.
"they differ, and hence open a space from that which they represent, and ii)
they defer [...]"
Well put.
So, now I'm curious as to whether 'differ' and 'defer' come from the same
Latin source.
After checking, I see the thing is not so easy. The OED recognises two
entries for 'defer', defer-1 and differ-2, respectively in the appendix.
Then there's 'differ'.
Cheers,
JL
difer-1, v. [ME. differre-n, a. OF. différer (il diffère), 14th c. in
Littré, ad. L. differ-re to carry apart, put off, postpone, delay, protract;
also,
intr., to bear in different directions, have diverse bearings, differ. Orig.
the same word as DIFFER v. (q.v. for the history of their differentiation),
and often spelt differ in 16-17th c.; but forms in de-, def-, are found from
the 15th, and have prevailed, against the etymology, mainly from the stress
being on the final syllable; but partly, perhaps, by association with delay.]
difer-2, v. [a. F. déférer (il défère), 16th c. in Littré (defferer 14th c.
in Godef. Suppl.), in same sense as Eng., ad. L. fer-re to bring or carry
away, convey down, to bring or carry with reference to destination, to confer,
deliver, transfer, grant, give, to report, to refer (a matter) to any one; f.
DE- I. 1, 2 + ferre to bear, carry.]
differ, v. [a. F. différer (in Froissart 14th c.), ad. L. differ-re to carry
or bear apart, spread abroad, distract, protract, delay, defer; also intr.
to tend apart or diversely in nature or character, to differ. The verb was
used with both senses in F. in 14th c., and has continued to be so used till
the
present day. In English, it was taken first in the transitive sense, with
stress <Nffer (cf. confer, refer, prefer), which led at length to the
transitive senses being written defer: see DEFER v.1; the intrans. use, being
closely
related in sense to different, difference, apparently followed these words
in stressing the first syllable. (Offer, suffer, which have the same stress,
have a distinct form in French and Romanic.) And one transitive use, closely
associated with the intrans., and with different, difference, has gone with
these. In this way L. differre, F. différer, ME. <Nfferre, has been split into
the two verbs defer to put off, and differ to make or be unlike. The pr.
pple. differing occurs in Chaucer's Boethius; but instances of the verb in the
form differ are rare before 1500.]
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