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From: Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Re: from 2 roots meaning the same thing ! --- ( Cas- (cadere) +
 Kad- )
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2024 16:40:49 -0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <slrnvkeish.4n3.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>
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On 2024-11-25, wugi <wugi@brol.invalid> wrote:

> A word apparently meaning the same as its opposite is *guur/onguur*. But 
> the shorter form stems from its negative, in different registers:
> Guur weer. Een onguur type. Bleak weather. A sinister bloke.
> Same in German, it would seem: geheuer, ungeheuer.

No, those are opposites in German.  Nowadays, "geheuer" is only
used in explicitly negated form, though, "nicht geheuer".  Meanwhile,
"ungeheuer" as a negation of "geheuer" can be found in older
literature but is otherwise obsolete, its meaning has shifted to a
general intensifier.

However, the prefix "un-" can serve both as an intensifier and a
negation in German.  The textbook example is "Untiefe", which can
mean both 'shallows' and 'abyss'.

-- 
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy@mips.inka.de