Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: $Revision: 1.6.2.16 $; site mirror.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!think!mirror!ljd 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> Lines: 20 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".