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From: ljd@mirror.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Pray, Praying, Prayer
Message-ID: <10100007@mirror.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Sep-85 13:14:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: mirror.10100007
Posted: Tue Sep 24 13:14:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 29-Sep-85 06:25:11 EDT
References: <298@ihnet.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:ihnet:-29800:mirror:10100007:000:930
Nf-From: mirror!ljd    Sep 24 13:14:00 1985


> /* Written 10:53 am  Sep 19, 1985 by eklhad@ihnet in mirror:net.nlang */
> /* ---------- "Pray, Praying, Prayer" ---------- */
> ... You "pray", thus saying a "prayer"?
> Did this "prayer" come from the days when only the priest
> (whoever) could read the Bible and talk to God,
> and therefore, you went to the temple to hear a pray-er (one who prays)?
> Perhaps the meaning shifted, making "prayer" the thing that was said instead
> of the one who was saying it.  Just a hypothesis.
> Are there any other object-style nouns produced by "verb"er?
> Anyone know the real answers?
> -- 
> 	This .signature file intentionally left blank.
> 		Karl Dahlke    ihnp4!ihnet!eklhad
> /* End of text from mirror:net.nlang */


Sorry, but "prayer" does not come from "pray" + "er".  In fact, it doesn't
come from the English word "pray" at all, but from the French "priere".
Consult the OED for fuller etymologies of "prayer" and "pray".