Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

In our last episode,
<cda4b2b1-6970-436a-bcc3-5dc416cabfaa@g1g2000yqi.googlegroups.com>, the
lovely and talented analyst41@hotmail.com broadcast on alt.usage.english:

Two different words with dissimilar meanings.

These different words are spelled differently, reflecting their
different roots DEPEND (=hang from) and DEFEND (=fight.)

Re: 'dependent' vs. 'defendant'

It is a quirk of history and custom. The suffixes -ent and -ant have the
same meaning. They are sometimes used to distinguish between a noun and
an adjective, but one cannot look at an unfamiliar word and rely on
making this distinction.

"dependent" is the spelling of the adjective meaning 1. Hanging down,
pendent; 2. That depends on something else; 3. That depends or has to
rely on something else for support, supply, or what is needed; etc.

"dependant" is the spelling of the related noun.

However, "dependent" is an alternative spelling of the noun.

The spelling "defendant" is used for both noun and adjective.
"Defendent" is sometimes used but is considered to be a mis-spelling.

The etymological note in the OED for the suffix "-ent" says:

   In OFr. this suffix and the corresponding -ant-em of the 1st
   conjugation were levelled under -ant, the sole ending of the Fr. pr.
   pple., as riant, courant, mourant, levant (:L. levantem). At a later
   time many L. forms in -ent-, which had acquired an adj. sense, were
   adopted in Fr. as adjs. with the -ent- unchanged, as diligent,
   évident; some of these were duplicates of living ppl. forms in -ant,
   as convénient = convenant, provident = pourvoyant, confident =
   confiant. The Fr. words in -ant, -ent, which were adopted into Eng.,
   have generally retained the form of the suffix which they had in
   Fr.; but since 1500 there has been a tendency to refashion them
   after Lat., and hence several words in -ant have changed that ending
   for -ent, either entirely or in certain senses. In mod.Eng. also
   many Lat. words in -entem have been directly adopted, always in the
   form -ent.

   The conflict between Eng. and Fr. analogies occasions frequent
   inconsistency and uncertainty in the present spelling of words with
   this suffix; cf. e.g. assistant, persistent; attendant,
   superintendent; dependant, -ent, independent.

The reason for the different spellings is that they are different words.