Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2023 June 20

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June 20

Verbal noun

Can the present participle be used as verbal noun also in other Germanic languages, like English eating of apples? Can the Swedish participle be used in this way: ätande av äpplen? --40bus (talk) 17:27, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

English lost its original –nd participle and replaced it with the construction on [gerund], e.g. on walking, which became a-walking and finally walking, thus losing the distinction in form between the gerund and the new participle; which I assume other Gmc languages preserve. —Tamfang (talk) 18:09, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

"Ätande av äpplen" sounds rather strained, the compound "äppelätande" sounds somewhat more natural... 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 19:12, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

But, used as a noun, äppelätande would mean "apple eater", someone (possibly an animal) that is eating apples, not the act of eating apples.  --Lambiam 22:43, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

As a Swede, I beg to differ, although the phrasing feels somewhat strained either way. The most natural way to translate "apple eater" would be "äppelätare". "En äppelätande" would sound as if some noun was being omitted. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 00:47, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

So can one say äppelätandet är hälsosamt or something similar to mean "eating apples is healty"?  --Lambiam 08:30, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

To reply to myself, I found a use of äppelätande är en väldigt högljudd aktivitet ibland, meaning "apple eating can be a very noisy activity".  --Lambiam 08:41, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

Yeah, I guess Swedish grammar works somewhat differently from German. Äppelätandet är hälsosamt sounds somewhat strained when compared to Det är hälsosamt att äta äpplen, but not formally incorrect. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 12:06, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

I think that German is different. The noun Apfelessende can only refer to someone eating apples (seen used here on the German Wikipedia).  --Lambiam 09:01, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

Equally, in English, apple-eating is ambiguous between "someone that is eating apples" (as in apple-eating snake) vs. "act of eating apples" (as in apple-eating contest). 82.166.199.42 (talk) 06:19, 21 June 2023 (UTC)