WILL

tree

tree

Jedi
I woke up this morning pondering the word "will"....as I've read plenty about "free will" on Cassiopaea. I'm currently learning Spanish and have studied some French in the past. It struck me that in English, the future tense uses the word "will" + INFINITIVE whereas in French and Spanish (I only have those two languages as examples) the verb actually gets conjugated to form a future tense within one word. Those language also use the "going to..." for future however.

Here is a brief definition of "will" I found online:
________________________________________
will: n.
1.
a. The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action: championed freedom of will against a doctrine of predetermination.
b. The act of exercising the will.
2.
a. Diligent purposefulness; determination: an athlete with the will to win.
b. Self-control; self-discipline: lacked the will to overcome the addiction.
3. A desire, purpose, or determination, especially of one in authority: It is the sovereign's will that the prisoner be spared.
4. Deliberate intention or wish: Let it be known that I took this course of action against my will.
5. Free discretion; inclination or pleasure: wandered about, guided only by will.
6. Bearing or attitude toward others; disposition: full of good will.
7.
a. A legal declaration of how a person wishes his or her possessions to be disposed of after death.
b. A legally executed document containing this declaration.
v. willed, will·ing, wills
v.tr.
1. To decide on; choose.
2. To yearn for; desire: "She makes you will your own destruction" George Bernard Shaw.
3. To decree, dictate, or order.
4. To resolve with a forceful will; determine.
5. To induce or try to induce by sheer force of will: We willed the sun to come out.
6. To grant in a legal will; bequeath.
v.intr.
1. To exercise the will.
2. To make a choice; choose.
Idiom:
at will
Just as or when one wishes.

[Middle English, from Old English willa; see wel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
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Interesting to think that the English language forms its future tense by using a word associated with desire, choice, and/or determination. Perhaps that influences how English-speakers think about the future and how it comes to be. Could it be associated with wishful thinking?

I don't have the time for the moment to dig deeper, but I thought I would bring up the subject before the thought gets obscured by my daily tasks and parenting.

Any thoughts appreciated.

tree
 
tree, Thanks. Here is the derivative listed information for wel-1-. I was preparing a test, so this sufficed nicely. I refer to this one as the bull fighter. A full explanation is being written that explains how to read each derivative listing. The comments at the end with asterisk are Pokornist-nave interpretations. Numerical references show multiple derivative links designated by marking each one as worked. The number that starts the band represents the total found connected to this root marker. This is from the 3rd Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary.

13-benevolent[2]-gallant-gallop-malevolence[1]-velleity-volition-voluntary-voluptuary-voluptuous-wealth-
weal-well-will-et-wel-1- to wish, will, Old English- wel, well (< "according to one's wish"), WEAL, WEALTH from Old English wela, weola, well-being, riches, Germanic- *welōn-, WILL, Old English- willan, to desire, from Germanic- *wil(l)jan, (see gwā-), Germanic compound *wil-kumōn-, O-grade form *wol-, Old French- galoper, to gallop, Old French- galer, to rejoice from Frankish Latin *walāre, to take it easy, Latin- velle (present stem vol-) to wish, will, Suffixed form *wel-up, Latin- voluptās, pleasure, the libido in the library* well-(supremo)-being* temerity bile mark* ["the bull fighter"]
Click to expand...
 
What does everyone think about benevolent and malevolence being in the same group of derived words along with well and will?

A couple of years ago I gandered at benevolent and saw that it was connected badly in the dictionary but was unable to fathom the wiring. I will check and see how spread out this leg goes, it may end with 4 or 5 groups, if so, I will finish the connections in this thread.
 
Ockham wrote:

What does everyone think about benevolent and malevolence being in the same group of derived words along with well and will?

A couple of years ago I gandered at benevolent and saw that it was connected badly in the dictionary but was unable to fathom the wiring. I will check and see how spread out this leg goes, it may end with 4 or 5 groups, if so, I will finish the connections in this thread

This is a digression from the question, but a good time, I think, to point out parts of speech.

Benevolence is a noun and should be paired with Malevolence which is also a noun

Benevolent is an adjective and should be paired with Malevolent which is an adjective.

This explanation is from AskOxford.com

AskOxford.com writes: "-ance and -ancy, -ence and -ency.A noun ending in one of these suffixes usually has a corresponding adjective ending in -ant or -ent, for example dominance dominant, expectancy expectant, absence absent, decency decent."

Being aware of adjectives and nouns is important when constructing lists. In such lists, nouns must be paired with nouns, adjectives with adjectives. In grammar books you find
this topic under "parallelism" or parallel structure".

Example: He was shunned because he was he was violent, malevolent, insistent,
intolerent, truculent, and obstinent. (lList of adjectives)

The defining characteristics of his nature: violence, malevolence, intolerence,
truculence, and obstinence, cause others to shun his company. (List of nouns)

The endings of the nouns or adjectives don't have to match, (it's fun when they do though),
but the parts of speech do have to match.

The part of speech one chooses is a matter of style, but it is incorrect to mix nouns and adjectives in the same list.
 
webglider,

It seems you make an important point. This would only add confusion. It does make you wonder with the hundreds and hundreds of professional contributors that worked on the AHD project.
 
Write it!

Will

Look the word... and wait.

You are not reading the word.You must seeing the word.

Will

Look this draw and don't read the words.
Just see.

And you Will See.

_http://heliotropodeluz.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/will/

Words are multilanguage.
 
Hmmm, I wonder how the word "will" relates to "do"?

Does "will" describe intention or perhaps "desire" while "do" is action?

Mac
 
heliotropodeluz said:
Write it!

Will

Look the word... and wait.

You are not reading the word.You must seeing the word.

Will

Look this draw and don't read the words.
Just see.

And you Will See.

_http://heliotropodeluz.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/will/

Words are multilanguage.
Click to expand...

Could you please clarify? What you've written makes little sense.
 
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