[Vocabulary] ponder and preponderance word family?

thienan123456 · Mar 2, 2014

I'm wondering if the word "preponderance" is a word family of the word "ponder"?

Raymott · Mar 2, 2014

thienan123456 said:
I'm wondering if the word "preponderance" is a word family of the word "ponder"?

One word can't be a family of another. What you're wondering is whether the two words are in the same word family, or whether one word is in the same family as another. (I don't know).

thienan123456 · Mar 2, 2014

Raymott said:
One word can't be a family of another. What you're wondering is whether the two words are in the same word family, or whether one word is in the same family as another. (I don't know).

Well, there's a question like this: Use the correct form of the word in parentheses to complete this sentence.
The ______ of evidence suggests that he's guilty. (PONDER)
The answer is preponderance and what I want to know is that if this can be possible.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_family
A word family is the base form of a word plus its inflected forms and derived forms made from affixes (Hirsh & Nation 1992, p. 692). The idea is that a base word and its inflected forms support the same core meaning, and can be considered learned words if a learner knows both the base word and the affix.

So according to this, the foregoing is impossible, right?

Raymott · Mar 2, 2014

thienan123456 said:
Well, there's a question like this: Use the correct form of the word in parentheses to complete this sentence.
The ______ of evidence suggests that he's guilty. (PONDER)
The answer is preponderance and what I want to know is that if this can be possible.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_family
A word family is the base form of a word plus its inflected forms and derived forms made from affixes (Hirsh & Nation 1992, p. 692). The idea is that a base word and its inflected forms support the same core meaning, and can be considered learned words if a learner knows both the base word and the affix.

So according to this, the foregoing is impossible, right?

"Preponderance' is the obvious answer. Whether the test-setter has simply assumed that 'ponder' is the base word for 'preponderance', I don't know. The OED, or some other etymological dictionary might help. 'Preponderance' could have arisen from "the state of having been thoroughly 'pre-pondered' (pondered beforehand) before making a decision". It could also have come from "ponderous", signifying the lengthy weight of sifting all the evidence. Maybe someone else knows.

5jj · Mar 2, 2014

Both words have their origin in the Latin pondus/ponderis, (weight).

I doubt if many native speakers see any connection between the two words, other than an apparently coincidental sharing of a number of letters. I think that to suggest that preponderance is 'a form of' ponder is unreasonable.

emsr2d2 · Mar 2, 2014

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=preponderance

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=ponder&searchmode=none

I would agree with 5jj that linking "preponderance" with "ponder" is not reasonable.

[Vocabulary] ponder and preponderance word family?

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