2022-03-22
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน - Set – F - ferment & foment
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Dictionary.com:
ออกเสียงferment - noun = “FUR-ment” -verb = “FER-ment”
ออกเสียง foment = “foh-MENT”
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions:
ferment & foment
In the sense of causing trouble,
these words can be used interchangeably:
“Rebel soldiersfomented (orferment) unrest among the people.”
Ferment literally means “to act upon as a ferment,”
that is, to cause the giving off of gases that induce bubbling and rising:
”The mash will ferment for several days.”
Because fermentation is a state of unrest and agitation,
as a noun ferment means
“excitement,’
“commotion,” and
“tumult”:
“The lover’s mind was a ferment of emotions.”
Tofoment is “to cause rebellion or discord,”
“to incite,”
“to arouse,”
“to inflame”:
“The inmates of the prison tried to foment a rebellion against the
guards.”
Foment, a verb only,
conveys the idea of causing unrest;
ferment, both noun and verb,
stress the idea of being in,
rather than causing, a state of unrest.”
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Usage Notes
'Ferment' vs. 'Foment'
More heat than light.
What to Know
Ferment can refer literally to the process of fermentation,
in which yeast converts sugar into alcohol,
or can be used figuratively to describe
a state of agitation or intense activity.
It is often used in relation to social, artistic, and political change.
Foment, on the other hand, means to "incite" or "rouse."
In this way, foment and ferment have some overlap
in that they can both be used to express agitation and situations
that can cause change or unrest.
You might associate the word
ferment with making yogurt, kimchi, or beer
and foment with inciting violent acts,
but it’s easy to see how they might be confused for each other.
For one thing,
neither word is part of common everyday vocabulary,
and they resemble each other in spelling and pronunciation,
but that’s not the whole story here:
these words, in fact, share a core meaning
that connects the ideas they represent
beyond the coincidence of resemblance.
The Origin and Usage of 'Ferment'
The connection with comestibles and beverages
is clear from the origin of ferment,
which comes from the Latin word for “yeast,”
fermentum, from the verb fermentare “to cause to rise or ferment,”
but the word’s ultimate Latin root, fervēre,
means “to boil” which is also the root of fervent.
“Heat,” therefore, is at the root of ferment.
In fact, in Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary,
his definition of the rarely used noun ferment
makes the etymological connection quite clear:
- A gentle boiling; or the internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid.
Indeed, ferment as a noun was used in
Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary definition of yeast:
the ferment put into drink to make it work;
and into bread to lighten and swell
It was understood from ancient times
that covering the liquid of grapes or of mashed grains
produced wine and beer,
but only more modern science broke down
the process of alcoholic fermentation
to show the conversion of sugars by yeasts.
Using a derivative of the word meaning “to boil”
to refer to this process stemmed from
the bubbles produced during the conversion to alcohol
—it looked like it was boiling.
Fermentation does in fact produce heat,
and the temperature of the liquid when mixed with yeast is critical,
but it appears the word was used more
for the resemblance of fermenting liquid to boiling liquid
than from an understanding of
the metabolic processes early brewers were witnessing.
Modern Usage of 'Ferment'
Today, the verb ferment has a common literal meaning
as well as a common figurative meaning.
Its literal use, “to undergo or to cause to undergo fermentation,”
relates to the process of making yogurt, beer, wine, etc.
Its figurative use, “to be in a state of agitation or intense activity,”
can express action or change in ideas, expression, or performance:
As a noun, ferment can be used to mean “enzyme”
(as Samuel Johnson did in the above definition),
but is more commonly encountered
in the meaning “a state of unrest,” a synonym of “agitation.”
The adjectives most frequently used with the noun ferment
show that its use meaning “an enzyme” is long past,
and that today this word is connected with
more with ideas than with ingredients:
political
intellectual
social
cultural
artistic
religious
revolutionary
Note that, like other two-syllable English words
that are both nouns and verbs (think of rebel, protest, or record)
the noun ferment is pronounced differently from the verb;
the noun typically has stress on the first syllable, /FER-ment/
and the verb has stress on the second syllable, /fer-MENT/.
The Origin and Usage of 'Foment'
Foment also came to English from Latin, from fomentum
meaning “compress” (“a folded cloth”)
and ultimately from fovēre, meaning “to heat” or “to soothe.”
Its original meaning in English was “to apply a warm substance to,”
and it was still in use when Noah Webster published his dictionary in 1828:
- To apply warm lotions to; to bathe with warm medicated liquors, or with flannel dipped in warm water.
This meaning has become obsolete.
Another English word that has fovēre as its ultimate Latin root is fomite,
“an object that may be contaminated with infectious organisms
and serve in their transmission,”
which comes from the Latin word meaning “kindling wood,”
conveying the idea that contact with microscopic contamination
can lead to the “fire” or spread of disease
—a similar image, if you think about it, to the “fire” or “heat”
of ideas that can ferment into a state of agitation.
Modern Use of 'Foment'
Today, we use foment with the meaning
“to promote the growth or development of,”
a synonym of rouse and incite
as in “to foment a rebellion.”
In fact, foment is listed as a synonym of ferment in this sense,
so these words, whose superficial resemblance
to each other is just a coincidence,
can nevertheless both express ideas that create more heat than light.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Choose the Right Synonym for foment
Incite, Instigate, Abet, Foment
mean to spur to action.
Incite stresses a stirring up and urging on, and may or may not imply initiating.
inciting a riot
Instigate definitely implies responsibility for initiating another's action and often connotes underhandedness or evil intention.
instigated a conspiracy
Abet implies both assisting and encouraging.
aiding and abetting the enemy
Foment implies persistence in goading.
fomenting rebellion
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Did you know?
If you had sore muscles in the 1600s,
your doctor might have advised you to foment the injury,
perhaps with heated lotions or warm wax.
Does this sound like an odd prescription?
Not if you know that foment traces to the Latin verb fovēre,
which means "to heat or warm" or "to soothe."
The earliest documented English
uses of foment appear in medical texts
offering advice on how to soothe various aches and pains
by the application of moist heat.
In time, the idea of applying heat became a metaphor
for stimulating or rousing to action.
Foment then started being used in political contexts
to mean "to stir up" or "to call to action."
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Words of the Week ending January 8, 2021
’Foment’
The event driving most of the news of the week
occurred on January 6th, as a mob of Trump supporters
stormed the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to flee,
and resulting in a number of deaths.
Foment made numerous appearance in headlines and news articles following the riot.
Twitter set to restore Trump’s account after blocking him for fomenting Capitol riot
—(headline) Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2021
We define foment
as “to promote the growth or development of;
to rouse or incite.”
The word is often found in the immediate vicinity of rebellion, unrest, violence, and hatred;
one does not typically see
foment referring to the growth or development of vegetables.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Trending: ‘foment’
Lookups spiked 2,400% on September 1, 2020
Why are people looking up foment?
In a speech made on August 31, 2020,
Joe Biden used foment as he argued that
he would keep Americans safer than President Trump has done:
He can't stop the violence, because for years he's fomented it.
In an editorial in the Washington Post by Dana Milbank
published later in the day,
Biden's words were cited and foment was used in its title:
Cornered, Trump tries to foment a race war
What does foment mean?
Foment is a verb that means "to cause or try to cause the growth
or development of (something bad or harmful),"
and is a synonym of incite.
Where does foment come from?
Foment, paradoxically, comes from a Latin word
more connected tohealing pain than causing it.
The word fomentum meant "compress"
("a folded cloth that is pressed against a part of the body to reduce pain"),
and ultimately from fovēre meaning "to heat" or "to soothe."
Over time, the part of the word meaning "to heat"
became metaphorically more significant
(adding "heat" to a situationmakes it worse)
than the concrete meaning "to soothe."
What is notable about this use of foment?
Words that are frequently used with foment
make it clear that this word is found in contexts of
violence and distress. They include:
violence
revolution
war
hatred
unrest
rebellion
conflict
riot
Collins English Dictionary:
fomentation n
foˈmenter n
Usage:
Both foment and ferment can be used
to talk about stirring up trouble:
he was accused of fomenting/fermenting unrest.
Only ferment can be used intransitively or as a noun:
his anger continued to ferment (not foment);
rural areas were unaffected by the ferment in the cities
