I felt nothing
In English, one does not say, nothings, e.g., "I felt nothings." Are other languages like English in this regard? Or not?
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 5:25 PM
3 comments
Gypsy Scholar
Brainstorming about history, politics, literature, religion, and other topics from a 'gypsy' scholar on a wagon hitched to a star.
Tuesday, November 02, 2021
About Me
- Name: Horace Jeffery Hodges
- Location: Seoul, South Korea
I am a retired professor. I last taught at Ewha Womans University, mostly composition, research writing, and cultural issues, but also the occasional graduate seminar on Gnosticism and Johannine theology and the occasional undergraduate course on European history. My doctorate is in history (U.C. Berkeley), with emphasis on religion and science. My thesis is on John's gospel and Gnosticism. I'm also an award-winning writer, and I recommend my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, to anyone interested. I'm originally from the Arkansas Ozarks, but my academic career -- funded through doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships (e.g., Fulbright, Naumann, Lady Davis) -- has taken me through Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Israel and has landed me in Seoul, South Korea. I've also traveled to Mexico, visited much of Europe, including Moscow, and touched down briefly in a few East Asian countries. Hence: "Gypsy Scholar."
3 Comments:
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Then again, one whispers sweet nothings into a lover's ear, so "nothing" may be one of those words, like "time," that can be both countable and uncountable, with countability indicating a shift in meaning.
In French, "Je n'ai rien senti" is literally "I felt nothing," with "rien" being part of the two-part negation "ne...rien." The concept of nothingness, in French, is "le néant," which finds its way into words like "anéantir," to annihilate or destroy. "Rien" can also be used poetically as a noun. (I found this sentence online: "Ce n'est peut-être rien, mais c'est mon rien," i.e., "This may be nothing, but it's my nothing.")
As you know, the German word "Nichts" means nothingness (das Nichts), and I think there's a lower-case form meaning "nothing" when used for negation: "Ich sehe nichts," or "I see nothing." But I don't think the "s" in "Nichts" is meant as a pluralizer. Can Germans say "die Nichts" in the plural?
My Spanish is pretty weak, but "No veo nada" would be "I see nothing." And nothingness would be "la nada."
But what happens if you treat the concept of nothing as countable? Is it still nothing if you can count it? Mystery upon mystery.
Kevin, I lost part of my response to your comment and can't seem to reconstruct what you'ed said and how I'd replied, but I have some of the same questions, so I'll try to repeat some of your wording in my reaction.
I suppose one could, even in English, derive from "sweet nothings" the expression "a sweet nothing." There's a lower-case form in German meaning "nothing" when used for negation: "Ich sehe nichts," or "I see nothing." I also don't think the "s" in "Nichts" is meant as a pluralizer. Can Germans say nothing," e.g., "I whispered a sweet nothing in her ear." But can one say: "I whispered sweet nothing in her ear"?
I recall from my existentialism days the French concept of nothingness: "le néant." Spanish has "No veo nada," "I see nothing." And nothingness would be "la nada." There's that famous Hemingway monologue over nada in Spanish.
Your question as to what happens if you treat the concept of nothing as countable is also a question that I have asked. Is it still nothing if you about can count it? Mystery upon mystery.
One gets tangled up in blue in such intellectual perambulations . . .
Jeffery Hodges
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