Several things:

It still amazes me how some etymologies can be traced:[From Latin invius, from in- (not) + via (road).]

Can anyone "translate" the poem into today's English for me, please? How can somebody confide to do something? And what's oppugn?
"If nothing can oppugn love
And virtue invious ways can prove,
What may he not confide to do
That brings both love and virtue too?"
Samuel Butler; Hudibras; 1662.

Also: The rising popularity of "definately" appears to be inspired by the sound rather than the meaning.
Augh! How can anybody pronounce this in any way other than def-in-ATE-ly?? That 'a' changes everything.

Lastly: Purists might agonize over the "decay" of the English language, but the best way to handle language change is this: be conservative in what you send and generous in what you accept. In other words, be punctilious in your own grammar and spelling, but overlook others' solecisms.
Yeah, yeah; daggone it. I don't think Anu wants me to have any fun!

Without any attempt to make the 'translated' poem scan or rhyme or anything of that sort:

If nothing can oppose love and virtue can prove the worth of untrodden paths, somebody who can bring both love and virtue can have the confidence to do anything.

Bingley

The confidence to do anything sounds frustrating

I was expecting to see a post here about the word "invious" not showing up in Visual Thesaurus, but all I found so far was this post. To be honest, I don't "get" how to read the poem either. "Oppugn" is "to challenge the accuracy of".

I agree with Jackie about how the "a" changes everything. I also tend to wish to "correct" people when they misspell this, and other words like supposably, seperate, miniscule, judgement, ect. (sic), etc.

But alas, language is so organic. We must bend to allow it to flow and grow past us.

So why isn't "invious" in the Visual Thesaurus?




"Eventually, everything connects."
~ Charles Eames

>So why isn't "invious" in the Visual Thesaurus?

because it's an archaic word, at best?! [OED2 marks it obs.]

Weclome, lagunaman - is the beach as glorious as ever?

> But alas, language is so organic.

Funny you should say that - it's what makes language other than mere dull code for my taste. The organic reflection of changing human need for communication gives language its breath, its spirit, its harmonics and plangent resonances, its rich and varied layers of subtlety, its striking colours and scents of long-buried memories... my 2c, of course, YRMV (he said limply)