Query Details

Query Subject:	orient vs. orientation
Author:	John Esposito
Submitter Email:	click here to access email

Linguistic LingField(s):	Historical Linguistics Sociolinguistics

Query:	Hello, I'm looking for insights into the choice of ''orientate'' over ''orient'' by a fairly polished writer of British English who is probably also fluent in (at least) French and Italian. In particular, I'm looking for historical information. As everyone knows, ''orient'' is the standard verbal root and stem of ''orientation'', and ''orientate'' is a backformation; but a quick sampling of bilingual dictionaries with English and another European langauge shows a preference for ''orientate.'' The OED says that ''orient'' has been around longer, but it seems to me that at some time & place, ''orientate'' may have been standard. I'd like to know if ''orientate'' was standard at some time in British English (and if possible, precisely when and where), or whether a preference for ''orientate'' might come from another major European language. French and Italian don't have the ''-ate'' suffix on this word, and German has ''-ieren''; the only alternative explanation that occurs to me is that this is a leftover from the author's schoolboy Latin. John Esposito San Diego State Univ.
LL Issue:	15.3227
Date posted:	17-Nov-2004
Back

Sums main page

New from Cambridge University Press!