One of Mr. Nunberg's chapters is titled Ten Suffixes That Changed the World (and he only named four of them, dang it!), but my attention has fallen on a prefix.

How did 'un' come to be used for negation? Or, as my Chambers interestingly says, ...more than a mere negation, it has a positive force ..., using the example of unkind meaning "cruel", not just "not kind".

In the usage lines of today's word I read the word
unflappable:
Persistently calm, whether when facing difficulties or experiencing success; not easily upset or excited.

Is this what you mean by 'un' being a positive force in stead of being a mere negation? I'd been thinking on the meaning of your post for several days. (very amusing word 'unflappable') Unflappable ears.

If it's negating a negative thing it's going to be acting in a somewhat positive manner. The AHD has a useful usage note. There is also a separate prefix un- that is used with verbs.

Is this what you mean by 'un' being a positive force in stead of being a mere negation? It was the Chambers dictionary, not I who put it that way. I took it to mean more active than passive--er, that's not quite accurate. More in the same way that "pitch black" differs from "unlit". I just thought it was interesting that they used the word positive when talking about a negation!

Jaja, it's interesting, besides the case of un- and in- (faldage)
it seems like it depends on what adjective it is attached to.
Like unflinching is a positive quality in general. And unbending can have a positive as well as a negative content. ( and more of this) :-)

As Faldage says are two uns: the negating un- as in uncomfortable, unkind, etc. And the un- expressing reversal or deprivation, as in untie, undone, etc.


unflinching has the negating un-, but unbending has the reversing un-. At least etymologically: unbend means something like "reverse the bend, straighten". But maybe unbending has been reanalyzed to contain the negating un-, because to me it seems to mean something like "not bending".

That's what I meant. Not bending, when I understand unbending as such, can be a good as well as a bad quality depending on the context, the subject or circumstances.

unflinching has the negating un- Yeahbut--being unflinching is pretty much always a positive, isn't it? 'Nother one of those positive negations!
Unbending, on the other hand, as Branny says, can swing both ways.

I don't understand why it's a big deal that a word with a negative prefix can have a positive meaning. After all, words referring to bad qualities can be negated too. Anyway, grammatical negation isn't a bad or undesirable thing, it's just negation.

Not a big deal, just amusing.

'words referring to bad qualities can be negated too'(how do you mean this?)?

Goofy is, of course, right. The logical fallacy involved is the fallacy of equivocation. We're confusing simple negation with bad vs. good.

Well, flinching has bad connotations, right? So it shouldn't be surprising that unflinching has good connotations.

Unco was a common term back in the days when we were allowed to call each other names at school. It could mean anyone who was
Uncoordinated, uncouth, uncool, uncooperative.

"Dude, that was so Unco".

Unco is a Scots word:

Unco adjective, adverb, noun strange, unfamiliar; extremely; a marvel.