2020-11-06 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด M - Momentarily & momently
2020-11-06
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด M - Momentarily & momently
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Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง Momentary = ‘MOH-muhn-ter-ee’
ออกเสียง Momently = ‘MOH-muhnt-lee’
ออกเสียง momentarily = ‘moh-muhn-TAIR-uh-lee’ or “MOH-muhn-ter-lee’
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for momentary
TRANSIENT, TRANSITORY, EPHEMERAL, MOMENTARY, FUGITIVE, FLEETING, EVANESCENT
mean lasting or staying only a shorttime.
TRANSIENT applies to what is actually short in its duration or stay. a hotel catering primarily to transient guests
TRANSITORY applies to what is by its nature or essence bound to change, pass, or come to an end. fame in the movies is transitory
EPHEMERAL implies striking brevity of life or duration. many slang words are ephemeral
MOMENTARY suggests coming and going quickly and therefore being merely a brief interruption of a more enduring state. my feelings of guilt were only momentary
FUGITIVE and FLEETING imply passing so quickly as to make apprehending difficult. let a fugitive smile flit across his face
fleeting moments of joy
EVANESCENT suggests a quick vanishing and an airy or fragile quality. the story has an evanescent touch of whimsy that is lost in translation
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Word History
'Momently' Once Meant 'Momentarily'
A word that had its moment
Whenever the word momentarily is discussed by language lovers,
the subject is the word’s definition and usage.
There are some who say that because momentarily was first used to mean “for a moment” (as in “We paused momentarily to look at the painting”), it cannot also mean “in a moment” (as in “We will be landing momentarily”). Of course, that’s not true—many words have different meanings and context makes it abundantly clear which one is intended. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people who would simply prefer that we had different words to use for each.
It turns out that we did. Or, rather, we might have.
Language, like time, is fleeting.
Dictionaries rarely venture into the territory of linguistic alternative history, but imagine for a moment if we had a word that clearly meant “for a moment,” leaving room for momentarily to be used in the sometimes-disparaged sense “in a moment” without confusion.
That way, the rest of us would never have toworry about this distinction (or hear from others who worry about this distinction) ever again.
Consider this entry from Noah Webster’s dictionary of 1828:
MO'MENTLY, adverb For a moment.
In a moment; every moment.
We momently expect the arrival of the mail.
Momently is an older word than momentarily, and it had so much potential. It could have been a contender for a permanent spot in the English lexicon, and it was indeed used for a time. The only problem is that it wasn’t used consistently with a consistent meaning. (We're sticklers for that kind of thing.)
Initially it meant “at or during every moment,”
just as hourly means “at or during every hour”:
If the true disciples of Christ bee lambs, and kids, &c: then be it pressed to the just correction of the depraved manners of us moderne Christians, whose very lives are, in short, a dayly, horary, momently breaking of that great euangelicall precept of love, and charity.
— John Jackson, The true euangelical temper wherein divinity and ecclesiastical history are interwoven, 1641
And here, long, amid the momently increasing confusion, did I persist in my pursuit of the stranger.
— Edgar Allen Poe, The Man of the Crowd, 1845
Momently retained this meaning in finance;
it was used to mean “at every moment” or “continuously”:
Shewing the Amount to which £1 will increase at Compound Interest, according as it is paid yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, or momently.
— Arthur Scratchley, Industrial Investment and Emigration, 1867
It then came to mean—promisingly—the same thingthat momentarily initially meant: “fleetingly” or “for a moment.”
Here is it used in this way by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Kubla Khan, writing in 1797:
A mighty fountain momently was forced;
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
A letter from William Wordsworth to Coleridge from two years later showed he used the word with the same meaning:
…the stream shot from between the rows of icicles in irregular fits of strength and with a body of water that momently varied.
With good literary use to its credit, it remained for momently to become established in the language.
Unfortunately for momently (and for all of us), the word’s sense drifted further. In The Ostler from 1855, Wilkie Collins used momently to mean “immediately” or “instantly”:
He couldn’t momently name what was the curiousest thing he had seen.
Mark Twain used it in The Prince and the Pauper from 1881, also with the meaning of “immediately,” and he contrasts it with presently, which often is used to mean exactly the same thing, but here is used to mean “before long”:
These sounds are momently repeated—they grow nearer and nearer—and presently, almost in our faces, the martial note peals and the cry rings out, “Way for the King!”
After this, momently sagged considerably and has nearly fallen from use, apparently losing its place to the far more frequently used momentarily.
A variant spelling, momentally, probably didn’t help things—it was recorded in Samuel Johnson’s dictionary in 1755 and in Webster’s in 1828, and last appeared, bearing the label obsolete, in our Unabridged edition of 1934 before being quietly removed in 1961. Many words fall from use in English, but it’s too bad that this one only showed promise momentarily.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
Can 'Momentarily' Mean "In a Moment"?
We'll tell you presently/directly/shortly/soon
Every so often someone will use the word momentarily in the sense “in a moment; soon.”
Incidentally, every so often that same person will also have a friend or coworker want to throw a copy of Strunk & White at them while exclaiming loudly.
Coincidence? No. Justified? Ehhh...
People use momentarily to mean “in a moment” quite frequently, but we have noticed that there are a fair number of people who think that this is against the rules.
Momentarily first found itself on the printed page at the end of the 16th century, and the initial sense of the word was “for a moment.”
….and therfore it is vnpossible to foresee all things, wherby to be able to resiste him, the which is confirmed, but with considering how momentarilie a towne vsed to haue prouisions euery day brough to it, feeleth the wante of them, if vpon vnseasonable weather, or any other respect, they leaue to come for two or three dayes, the people complayning of the trauaile they endure, being many times for things, which they least thought, they should stand in neede of.
— Bernardino de Mendoza (trans. by Edwarde Hoby Knight), Theorique and Practise of Warre, 1597
I was one that momentarily expected his death, from whom I tooke this letter, finding it on his Deske, and seeing it was directed to your Highnesse, I heere bring it to be burnt, least it import some further euil.
— Marcos Martínez, (anonymous trans.) The Eighth Booke of the Myrror of Knighthood, 1599
Despite its showing up first, this sense was not particularly common over the next several hundred years.
In fact, the original meaning of momentarily was in such disuse until recently that a usage guide from the late 20th century (the 1985 Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage) asked its panelists “would you agree that this very old meaning is now showing new life and should be accepted as standard usage?” and only 60% of the panel gave it a pass.
Momentarily also took on a couple of additional meanings, which are not often criticized, along the way (“instantly” and “at any moment”). In the late 18th century the sense that is often criticized (the one meaning “very soon; in a moment”) began to be used.
Their arrival here is ardently wished, and momentarily expected.
— The Universal Asylum and Columbian Magazine (Philadelphia, PA), Feb, 1792
By a ship from Jamaica, arrived at Norfolk, we learn that five sail of the line of the Channel Cleet had arrived there, and seven more were momentarily expected with 7000 troops.
— Cobbett’s Annual Register (London, UK), 27 Feb. 1802
I begin to get tired of the warm-constitutioned jade, have sprung fresh game, and expect momentarily to bring it down.
— (Pseud.), The Life and Adventures of Obadiah Benjamin Franklin, 1818
The latest intelligence we have received from head quarters, left General St. Martin and the temporary Viceroy treating for peace or capitulation, and we momentarily expect to learn the result of their conference, which, without doubt, will be favorable to neutral commerce whatever it may be to the parties interested.
— Nashville Whig, (Nashville, TN), 31 Oct. 1821
So we have now ended up with two senses of momentarily which are used more often than they used to be: “in a moment” and “for a moment.” The first one of these is seeing frequent use as more people begin to employ it in speech and writing. The second one appears to get a lot of mileage from people using it to explain why the previous sense is wrong, as well as being the bane of every subway rider's existence ("The train is being held momentarily...").
Many of the English adverbs that people use when they are trying to say “I’ll do it when I get around to it” are flexible in a manner that is similar to momentarily.
Presently can be used to mean “soon” and “right now”
(although many usage guides caution against the second of these uses).
Soon once meant “immediately,” and then got a bit lazy and commonly is used to mean “after lunch.” Anon followed a similar path as soon did, and shortly originally meant “in a few words” before taking on the meaning of “soon.”
Both of the commonly encountered senses or momentarily are valid, and, contrary to the assertions of some critics, there is littleambiguity, and the chance of your audience being confused is slim. When a pilot announces “We will be taking off momentarily” it is generally understood that the plane will soon be in the air; no one responds to this statement by saying “Wait! Does that mean we're leaving soon? Or will we be taking off for just a moment, and then landing again?” We're pretty sure air marshals don't police pedantry, but it's best not to risk it finding out.
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression
Momentarily & Momently
Momentarily means
(1) “at any moment”
(2) “from moment to moment,” and
(3) “for a moment”:
“The blast will be set off momentarily.”
“Our chances are improving momentarily.”
“Let’s sit down and rest momentarily.”
Momently, now rarely used, formerly meant only “at any moment”:
“He will get here Momently.”
In current speech and writing,
momently may occasionally be used in any of thethree meanings of momentarily but has largely disappeared from the language.
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