I saw a synonym that I recognized the other day and started wondering how I recognized it?
The word I had in mind was “student” and the synonym was “pupil.”
Attempts to recognize synonyms:
- spelling: student, pupil – No.
- length: student 7 letters, pupil 5 letters – No.
- origin: student – late 14c., from O.Fr. estudient , pupil – from O.Fr. pupille (14c.) – No. [1]
- numerology: student (a = 1, b = 2 …) student = 19 + 20 + 21 + 4 + 5 + 14 + 20 = 69 ; pupil = 16 + 21 + 16 + 9 + 12 = 74 – No [2].
But I know “student” and “pupil” to be synonyms.[3]
I could just declare them to be synonyms.
But then how do I answer questions like:
- Why did I think “student” and “pupil” were synonyms?
- What would make some other term a synonym of either “student” or “pupil?”
- How can an automated system match my finding of more synonyms?
Provisional thoughts on answers to follow this week.
Questions:
Without reviewing my answers in this series, pick a pair of synonyms and answer those three questions for that pair. (There are different answers than mine.)
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[1] Synonym origins from: Online Etymology Dictionary
[2] There may be some Bible code type operation that can discover synonyms but I am unaware of it.
[3] They are synonyms now, that wasn’t always the case.
Well, as a linguist I would say that you recognize them as synonyms because they both refer to the same (generalized, abstract) object. If an object has a set of characteristics (an ontology, perhaps?), and then if “student” and “pupil” ontologies have a certain threshold overlap, they’re synonyms.
That what you’re looking for?
Comment by Kirk Lowery — October 24, 2010 @ 4:08 pm