That’s also such a term: flatter, flattered…. So flat is flat, even? But isn’t a flattering result (in football) correct that the difference turned out to be higher than what was deserved?
So not flattered…
Answer
Well Marco,
‘flat’ is English and means flat, flat screen is a flat screen.
Flattering comes from the French ‘flatter’ and means to flatter. A flattering result means that it actually gives a ‘flattering’, ‘false positive’ picture of the winner in a football match.
The two are etymologically related. English contains many French words, since the 11th century (when Normans conquered England). Flatter, to flatter, comes etymologically from a verb from Medieval French that meant to lie flat on one’s stomach. And that meaning has gone with it to England, across the channel with the Norman ships.
Today they are different words, once they had the same origin. Evolution is at work in nature, but also in languages.
I hope this brings some clarity.
William De Vos
Museum of Natural Sciences
Answered by
William De Vos
Communication Language and Literature Cultural History
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http://www.naturalsciences.be
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