• Dasus@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The prescriptive meanings from latin are pretty much the sole reason we still name things in Latin; because people can understand instantly the prescriptive meaning of the word.

    You know “neo” is “new”, you know “anti” is “against”, “pro” is for, etc. Dictionaries are also pretty much exactly for the rules of the language.

    That doesn’t preclude meanings which aren’t in the dictionary though.

    You’ll notice I haven’t argued against this vague added definition of yours. I’ve just said it’s not the main meaning, just like pure emphasis isn’t for “literally”, “literally” actually meaning “literally” as opposed to “figuratively”.