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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009Far distant
Hello: Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted redundancies? ------- Templer I could not see, because he sat on the same side of the aisle as myself and was too far distant to be visible from my place. A Dance to the Music of Time, Spring, by Anthony Powell, p. 38 -------  SignatureThanks. Marius Hancu > Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted > redundancies? ------- > Templer I could not see, because he sat on the same side of the > aisle as myself and was too far distant to be visible from my place. > A Dance to the Music of Time, Spring, by Anthony Powell, p. 38 > ------- Maybe. "Distant" is from a present participle meaning "standing away or apart", and this use may hark back to an older meaning of the word: "separate" or "away". > > Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted > > redundancies? ------- [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > or apart", and this use may hark back to an older meaning of the word: > "separate" or "away". I think it's simply a reinforcement. Something "in the distance" is quite a way off (let's say several miles), but "in the _far_ distance" implies that the thing is right on the horizon, possibly right at the edges of visibility. Mike M >> > Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted >> > redundancies? ------- [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >implies that the thing is right on the horizon, possibly right at the >edges of visibility. What is odd to my ears about the quoted text is the use of "too far distant" to describe something in the same (large) room. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >>>> Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted >>>> redundancies? ------- [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > What is odd to my ears about the quoted text is the use of "too far > distant" to describe something in the same (large) room. Too far distant to be able to reach it, or to see it clearly? That's what it suggests to me, anyway. With best wishes, Peter. SignaturePeter Young, (BrE), Consultant Anaesthetist, 1975-2004. (US equivalent: Attending Anesthesiologist) Now happily retired. Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK. http://pnyoung.orpheusweb.co.uk >>>>> Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted >>>>> redundancies? ------- [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >Too far distant to be able to reach it, or to see it clearly? That's >what it suggests to me, anyway. "Too far" OK. "Too distant" OK. "Far too distant" OK. But "Too far distant" simply doesn't sound right. SignatureIan > Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted redundancies? > ------- [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > A Dance to the Music of Time, Spring, by Anthony Powell, p. 38 > ------- "Far distant" is very old -- Google Books shows examples in the 1600s, and I found it in Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516), although not, as it happens, in Shakespeare or the King James. And it's certainly acceptable. Probably what caused the apparent redundancy is that the very first meaning of "distant" was not "at a great distant" but more neutral, like "separated, away, in terms of distance." Example, "a mile distant." MW says that's 14th century. So the "far" is what told the size, and only later did "distant" come to mean "very far." You got me thinking about the children's book "The Far Distant Oxus" and I had to look a while to find what the title was a quote from. Answer, "Sohrab and Rustum" by Matthew Arnold. SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux > > Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted redundancies? > > ------- [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > great distant" but more neutral, like "separated, away, in terms of > distance." Example, "a mile distant." OK. MW says that's 14th century. So > the "far" is what told the size, and only later did "distant" come to > mean "very far." > > You got me thinking about the children's book "The Far Distant Oxus" and > I had to look a while to find what the title was a quote from. Answer, > "Sohrab and Rustum" by Matthew Arnold. Thank you both. Marius Hancu Donna Richoux wrote, in <1izaux2.1lzkjplwphuf3N%trio@euronet.nl> on Thu, 7 May 2009 13:26:56 +0200: > > Would you consider "far distant" one of those accepted redundancies? > > ------- [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > I had to look a while to find what the title was a quote from. Answer, > "Sohrab and Rustum" by Matthew Arnold. It reminded me of that book too and I even remembered the first name of one of the authors which made it a doddle to google for. I am sure I haven't had any reason to think of it for at least sixty years. SignatureNick Spalding BrE/IrE > Donna Richoux wrote, in <1izaux2.1lzkjplwphuf3N%t...@euronet.nl> > on Thu, 7 May 2009 13:26:56 +0200: [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > Nick Spalding > BrE/IrE Actually, there's a reasonable chance that 'far distant' is not itself a constituent in this sentence and therefore can't really be anything at all; rather the relevant constituent (complement of 'was') is 'too far distant to be visible'. It's at least as likely that 'too far' is the relevant part of that, with 'distant' added on in much the same construction as 'too far gone' or 'too far away'. As I've mentioned before, it's rarely helpful to pick out a string and draw conclusions about it without considering its syntactic constituency (i.e, the construction it's in). -John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler "Writing, Phaedrus, has this strange quality, and is very like painting; for the creatures of painting stand like living beings, but if one asks them a question, they pre- serve a solemn silence. And so it is with written words." -- Socrates (according to Plato) |
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