Re: Refrigerator

Bob Cunningham wrote:

> 
> (Crossposted to alt.usage.english.)
> 
>  On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:22:08 +0100, Frederick Williams
> <frederick.williams2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote [in alt.languages.english]:
> 
>>What is the significance of the prefix "re" in the word "refrigerator"?
> 
> As you probably know, the prefix "re-" occurs in quite a few English
> words where its meanings of "again, back" or "away" don't seem to
> offer a satisfactory reason.
> 
> The _New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary_ (_NSOED_) has one
> definition of "re-" that seems applicable to its use in "refrigerate":
> 
>    also w. frequent(ative). or intensive force, as in
>    redouble, redound, regard, research.
> 
> I suppose the prefix "re-" could be an intensifier in "refrigerate".
> 
> The etymology in _NSOED_ says "refrigerate" comes from a Latin word
> "refrigeratus", so it would seem possibly more appropriate to ask what
> meanings the prefix "re-" can have in Latin than in English.  However,
> the entry "re-" in _The Chambers Murray Latin-English Dictionary_
> (1976) has mostly the same meanings I find for the English "re-" in
> _NSOED_, and no meaning that seems to clarify its use in
> "refrigerate".
> 
> Comments from Latin scholars would be appreciated.

I think it is the same "re-" as in "refried beans" -- not "fried again",
but "thoroughly fried" -- a calque (or something very much like one) of
Mexican Spanish "refritos", which gets us one step closer to the Latin, at
any rate.



-- 
Roland Hutchinson              Will play viola da gamba for food. 

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