Talk:meek
Some less reliable sources (AHD3, Webster 1913) list Old English méc (mék) and meoc. As neither m-w nor the new version of AHD list them, I've left them out of the etymology here. —Muke Tever 06:24, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)
The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification.
This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.
This is an rfv-sense for the noun sense, listed as "the meek", with the biblical quote "Blessed are the meek"...etc.
My contention is that this use is adjectival, and is not used as a distinct noun entity enough to deserve a seperate noun entry. --Jeffqyzt 23:54, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
- That’s right, meek in "Blessed are the meek" is an adjective, not a noun. It is equivalent to "Blessed are the gentle, blessed are the kind." —Stephen 00:23, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
I should clarify; the full definition listed is "People who are meek.", with the biblical quote as example. However, people who are meek are merely meek people, and collectively may be referred to as "the meek", just as people who are weak may be collectively referred to as "the weak". In this, I am suggesting that it's not a case like homeless, where the collective entity has additional shades of meaning. Just so discussion doesn't revolve around the cite :-) --Jeffqyzt 00:38, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
I agree its an adjective. Changed header. Andrew massyn 18:23, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
In the use of meek in the biblical passage, as it is translated from Hebrew texts it doesn't convey the full meaning of the word. It means humble - but not weak (instead more of the opposite) as far as I can remember.— This unsigned comment was added by 202.7.183.132 (talk) at 13:19, 13 September 2008.
- We just want to illustrate the usage of "meek", not the meaning of the Hebrew/Aramaic/Koine. DCDuring TALK 22:43, 19 September 2008 (UTC)
Verb
[edit]A wise woman once told me,"meek is not weak, it is strength under control". it was used in the west when they would brake a wild horse. they would "meek" it — This comment was unsigned.
- I have added a verb sense along the lines of the usage you suggest. DCDuring TALK 23:45, 7 November 2009 (UTC)