Many legal agonistes like “attorney general,” “surgeon general,” and “court martial” (pl. courts martial) come from Law French, the language of the English courts after the Norman Conquest. Normans, being Frenchmen after all, used both Old French and Old English (and sometimes Latin) in the common law courts that developed after 1066. Hence we have such nonsense legalistic redundancies as “rest, residue and remainder,” “free and clear,” and even “last will and testament.”

Agonstes include my favorite: the “negative pregnant.” It’s a negative (usually a denial) that is pregnant with meaning. Example: Plaintiff alleges Defendant "misused more than a hundred thousand dollars entrusted to him.” The Defendant denies this. Thus, the defendant did not deny the misuse, just the amount. A contemporary example might be “I did not have sex with that woman.”

I hate to pick at nits but did anyone else notice the discrepancy in today's definition?

agonistes (ag-uh-NIS-teez) adjective

One who is engaged in a struggle.


(And a hearty welcome and Merry Christmas to sshowalter)

Yes. It bugged me enough to make me come and register for these forums for the first time (after having come close several times over the years). Why a noun definition for an adjective?

Have you not heard the latest?
The NounJective is sweeping the linguistic world!

Quote:

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The NounJective is sweeping the linguistic world!

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Nothing new there. It was common enough in Classical Latin.