Doesn't "libate" mean to drink yourself, rather than to give someone a drink?
It's funny that there doesn't seem to be one word to describe this action and you have to specify the giving or offering of drink. It's the same in Spanish "dar de beber", and I think possibly in French too? "donner à quelqu'un quelque chose à boire"?.
Could it be that maybe anthropologically and socially the act of giving water, the primary life-sustaining substance, was valuable as a symbolic action of goodwill, and thus stressed the offering?
I am also thinking of the Bible where it says "feed the hungry", and another line about giving drink to the thirsty. What is that line in English? In Spanish both are "give" + "food"/"drink", but I guess that's just poetics, or rhythm, or something, as we do have a separate verb for "feed".
EDIT: I had a brainwave and touched up the French.
Last edited by Marianna; 10/25/05 02:24 PM.
