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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Where do we get the word "understand" to mean "comprehend"? This seems like an unusual construction. I guess I need an overview before I can understand.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I guess that it so old that the beginnings are lost. German has very similar word: "Verstehen".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Perhaps because when you stand under something you have a better view of it? [this-is-a-serious-question emoticon]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I've searched high and low for the etymology of "understand" to no avail. The best I could come up with was "origin unknown."
O tsuwm where are thou?
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old hand
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old hand
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Perhaps because when you stand under something you have a better view of it?
When you stand under something you get a different perspective, but certainly not always a better one. It's usually pretty dark underneath things.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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understand, to step/stand under > to take upon oneself, to venture, presume > to grasp the idea of; comprehend
[OE. understondan, -standan (under-1 8a), = OFris. understonda, MDa. understande, MSw. undi(r)standa, OIcel. (as a foreign word) undirstanda. Cf. MLG. understân to understand, to step under, MDu. onderstaen (Du. -staan), MHG. understân, -stên (G. unterstehen), to take upon oneself, to venture, presume, etc. With a different prefix, the same use of stand appears in OE. forstandan, OS. farstandan, OHG. far-, firstantan (firstân), and MHG. verstân, -stên (G. verstehen), MDu. verstaen (Du. -staan).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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J.R. Clark-Hall's Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary defines understandan as to understand, perceive, observe, notice, take for granted, which fits in (sort of) with tsuwm's range in his post. Clark-Hall also references the Latin subsistere leading me to suppose that it was taken as a loan-translation from the Latin, but according to tsuwm's etymology citation this must have happened well before English hit the British Isles.
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old hand
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old hand
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This is a fascinating thread! On one hand, understanding can also mean "agreement among parties", this would be Verständigung in German. On the other hand German unterstehen now means "to be subordinated to", "to belong to the domain of..". Could it be that there was a root of "consensus" in the word "understand"?
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old hand
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old hand
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As Bill has already pointed out, understand is similar to verstehen in German, but nevertheless the closest literal partner to 'understand' in German would be unterstehen (to be subordinate to), <scratching head>.
English and German both have other words with '-stand' / '-stehen', e.g. 'withstand' or 'bestehen', 'entstehen', respectively. When one considers that Alex's alternate verb for understanding (to comprehend) derives from 'to grasp' in Latin, it isn't much of a stretch to discern the common link of firmly embracing a concept or the nature of sth... or as AHD puts it .. 'To take in the meaning of' IMWO <g>.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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English and German both have other words with '-stand' / '-stehen', e.g. 'withstand' … The with in withstand is, of course, a remnant of the old meaning of with meaning against, the original word for indicating combination, accompaniment, presence, or addition * was mid. *From Merriam-Webster On-line ( http://www.m-w.com/)
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