{"id":4024,"date":"2020-05-01T12:42:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T12:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/?p=4024"},"modified":"2024-04-20T17:55:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T17:55:13","slug":"fun-facts-51-unfriend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/blog\/2020\/05\/01\/fun-facts-51-unfriend\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Facts About English #51 – Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Fun<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, when did friend<\/em> become a verb? Actually, it’s always been a verb! The Old English word fr\u0113ond<\/em> is a derivative and the present participle of the verb fr\u0113ogan<\/em> which means \u201cto love or set free (in the slave sense).\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it sometimes happens with language, the culture had a falling out with the verb until recently. While many bemoan its social media context, it’s at least intriguing that friend<\/em> as a verb possesses a lingual impulse to resurface like a colorful bauble in social waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The verb wasn’t the only friend<\/em> to be lost over time. Old English had freondsped<\/em> “an abundance of friends;” freondleast<\/em> “a want of friends;” and freondspedig<\/em> “rich in friends.” Today, though the word friendless<\/em> is common enough, saying someone is friend-ful<\/em> may bring a conversation to a pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Friend they any, that flatter many?” — John Heywood, Proverbs and Epigrams<\/em>, 1562<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If friending<\/em> isn’t up for re-adoption in your book, there’s always befriend<\/em> and acquaint<\/em>; both perfectly good words though a bit stuffy. I have to admit, the patty-cake feel of making <\/em>friends or having a bestie<\/em> doesn’t click with what I consider to be a complex and nuanced act of human bonding. But, I’m older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, I’m going to expand my idea of friending<\/em> and see if I can re-acquaint myself with an old book or take a walk down a friendly road. Unlike fickle Facebook friends who will befoe one for the smallest difference, a familiar pathway has never un-friended me and a tree still offers its shade without a password.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There the street is narrow, and may friend our purpose well.” — Thomas Southerne, The Spartan Dame<\/em>, 1721<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in reading about the history of the word hello<\/a>, dude<\/a>, paddywhack<\/a>, rooster<\/a>, or jaywalking<\/a>! You’ll ROTFL!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See the previous<\/a> or next<\/a> Fun Facts About English<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Visit the Kinney Brothers Publishing blog<\/a> for timely and helpful information for your ESL classes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, when did friend become a verb? Actually, it’s always been a verb! The Old English word fr\u0113ond is a derivative and the present participle of the verb fr\u0113ogan which means \u201cto love or set free (in the slave sense).\u201d As it sometimes happens with language, the culture had a falling out with the verb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94],"tags":[1154,1157,103,1158,1152,1153,11,539,160,1155,1156],"class_list":{"0":"post-4024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fun-facts-about-english","8":"tag-acquaint","9":"tag-befriend","10":"tag-donalds-english-classroom-2","11":"tag-friend","12":"tag-friendship","13":"tag-human-connection","14":"tag-kinney-brothers-publishing","15":"tag-language-evolution","16":"tag-old-english","17":"tag-social-media","18":"tag-verb","19":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/051.jpg?fit=1252%2C1252&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GlQB-12U","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4024"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11033,"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4024\/revisions\/11033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinneybrothers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}