2022-01-27
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน - Set – C - contemporary
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Dictionary.com:
ออกเสียง contemporary = “kuhn-TEM-puh-rer-ee”
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions
contemporary
This word means “existing, living, or occurring at the same time.”
It is not a synonym for either present-day or modern
unless no other question of time is involved
and the inference is “contemporary with now.”
If the time frame of reference is that of Queen Elizabeth I,
then a lecture on contemporary drama
would mean plays of Elizabethan times.
If the frame of reference is to drama of the present day,
the time of Elizabet II, then contemporary would mean “now.”
Because contemporary means what it does,
it is an error to use it with more (meaning “to a greater degree”).
It is impossible for something to be more contemporary;
probably what is meant is more modern.
“An Elizabethan play in modern costume” is clearer in meaning
than “an Elizabethan play in contemporary dress.”
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Choose the Right Synonym for contemporary
Adjective
Contemporary, Contemporaneous, Coeval, Synchronous, Simultaneous, Coincident
mean existing or occurring at the same time.
Contemporary is likely to apply to people and what relates to them.
Abraham Lincoln was contemporary with Charles Darwin
Contemporaneous is more often applied to events than to people.
contemporaneous accounts of the kidnapping
Coeval refers usually to periods, ages, eras, eons.
two stars thought to be coeval
Synchronous implies exact correspondence in time and especially in periodic intervals.
synchronous timepieces
Simultaneous implies correspondence in a moment of time.
the two shots were simultaneous
Coincident is applied to events and may be used in order to avoid implication of causal relationship.
the end of World War II was coincident with a great vintage year
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Did you know?
Contemporary can be confusing because of its slightly different meanings.
In everyday use,
it generally means simply "modern" or "new".
But before the 20th century it instead referred only
to things from the same era as certain other things;
so, for instance,
Jesus was contemporary with the Roman emperors Augustus
and Tiberius, and Muhammad was contemporary with Pope Gregory the Great.
And contemporary is also a noun: thus,
Jane Austen's contemporaries included Coleridge and Wordsworth,
and your own contemporaries were born around the same year that you were.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Word History
'Cotemporary': The Archaic 'Contemporary'
Spelling variants are fossils of language
What to Know
Cotemporary is a variant of contemporary that is no longer in use,
also meaning "together in time."
The Latin prefix com-, meaning "together," can take many forms
like con-, col-, and co-, and both of these versions were in use until cotemporary eventually fell out of favor.
Word Variants and Versions
Word variants are the lingering evidence of language change.
The coexistence of two or more spellings for words
(which sometimes also show varying degrees of difference in meaning)
are proof of the occasionally messy process of word formation;
they can be like fossils left behind on a word’s path to acceptance in its modern form.
Some variants are obvious and can have meanings
that both diverge and overlap,
like further and farther (more often used to indicate distance) or antique (“old”) and antiquated (“obsolete”) or
historic (“important”) and historical (“of the past”).
Some are hiding in plain sight;
they are used in different contexts and
we don’t usually link them,
though their connection becomes logical
and obvious once you think about it in pairs like bereft and bereaved
or insulation and isolation
or delectable and delightful.
They derive from shared roots which then grew in different directions.
Sometimes the coexistence is uneasy,
with both words occupying similar semantic territory,
as with academia and academe or feverish and febrile.
The 'Com-' Prefix
But true fossils are often evidence of disappearance;
such is the case for the word cotemporary.
Not contemporary, mind you: cotemporary.
The meanings of the two words are the same,
so the only difference is that they use different forms of the Latin-based prefix com-, meaning “with,” “together,” or “jointly.”
Com- has several forms when used in English
and combined with other words:
com- before letters b (combine), p (compromise), or m (commingle);
col- before the letter l (collinear);
con- before other letters (like concentrate).
But there’s also co-, as in coexist and coauthor,
and it’s such a common prefix that we can understand cotemporary
perfectly well today,
even though the word has vanished from the language.
Looking at words formed with com- as building blocks with other Latin roots is illuminating.
For instance, the second part of combine adds
the same root as binary (“with two”);
for commerce, it’s the same root as merchandise (“with merchandise”); for confide it’s the same root as fidelity (“with fidelity”);
for companion, it’s the Latin word for bread, panis (“with bread”
—the person you share food with).
For contemporary (and cotemporary),
it’s the Latin word tempus (“together in time”).
Usage of 'Cotemporary'
Cotemporary has the advantage of similar forms
for its near synonyms coetaneous and coeval,
both meaning “of the same or equal age, antiquity, or duration.”
Coincident is another synonym, meaning
“occupying the same space or time.” And, using different building blocks,
a different Latin prefix gives us extemporary,
a synonym of extemporaneous.
Cotemporary was the preferred form for lexicographers
Samuel Johnson in 1755 and Noah Webster in 1828.
Though they also had entries for contemporary, Webster
makes his opinion clear in a note:
“I consider this word as preferable to contemporary, as being more easily pronounced.”
Webster should have stuck to the facts, though:
he also preferred ieland over island
and the funny-looking bridegoom over bridegroom,
and time has made these spellings look anything but contemporary.
Collins English Dictionary:
conˈtemporarily adv
conˈtemporariness n
Usage:
Since contemporary can mean
either of the same period or of the present period,
it is best to avoid this word where ambiguity might arise,
as in a production of Othello in contemporary dress.
Modern dress or Elizabethan dress should be used in this example to avoid ambiguity.