cognate accusative

English

WOTD – 30 December 2017

Etymology

Calque of Latin accūsātīvus cognātus (“a cognate accusative”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏgʹnāt əkyo͞oʹzətĭv, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒɡneɪt əˈkjuːzətɪv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɡˌneɪt əˈkjuzətɪv/, /-ɾɪv/
• Hyphenation: cog‧nate ac‧cu‧sa‧tive

Noun

cognate accusative (plural cognate accusatives)

Examples

“The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one” — A Farewell to Arms (1929) by Ernest Hemingway, paraphrasing Julius Caesar (c. 1599) by William Shakespeare. “Stars shining bright above you / Night breezes seem to whisper ‘I love you’ / Birds singing in the sycamore trees / Dream a little dream of me” — “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (1931) by Gus Kahn (lyrics), and Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt (music).

1. (grammar) An object of kindred sense or derivation; specifically, that which may adverbially follow an intransitive verb (for example, the word death in “to die the death”).
   • 1856, John Day Collis, “Division III. Exercises on the Commonest Rules of Greek Syntax.”, in Praxis Græca. A Series of Elementary, Progressive, and Miscellaneous Questions and Exercises on Greek Grammar, part II (Syntax), London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, →OCLC, exercise LXXVIII, paragraph 11, page 214:

     These accusatives cognate are to be translated into English.

   • 1874, Henry John Roby, “Use of the Accusative Case”, in A Grammar of the Latin Language from Plautus to Suetonius [...] In Two Parts, part II (Containing Book IV. Syntax. Also Prepositions &c.), London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, paragraph 1100, page 40:

     The extent of action of the verb may be expressed by a substantive of the same meaning as the verb, accompanied (usually) by an oblique adjectival predicate. (Cognate accusative.)

   • 1876, C[harles] P[eter] Mason, “Syntax”, in English Grammar Including the Principles of Grammatical Analysis, 21st edition, London: George Bell & Sons, →OCLC; 21st Canadian copyright edition, Toronto, Ont.: Adam Miller & Co., 1877, →OCLC, section 372, subsection 4, page 148:

     What is often termed the cognate accusative (or objective) (as in ‘to run a race,’ ‘to die a happy death’) should more properly be classed among the adverbial adjuncts. [Footnote: The cognate objective sometimes appears in a metaphorical shape, as in “to look daggers at a person”; “To rain fire and brimstone.” The vague pronoun it is freely used in this construction, as, “We shall have to rough it”; “Go it, boys,” &c.]

Alternative forms

• accusative cognate
• acc. cogn., cogn. acc. (abbreviations)

Synonyms

• cognate object

Translations

object of kindred sense or derivation

• Arabic: مفعول مطلق
• Dutch: cognaat object n
• Esperanto: interna komplemento
• Finnish: sisällönobjekti
• French: accusatif interne m, complément d’objet interne (fr) m
• Galician: complemento obxecto interno m
• Italian: complemento oggetto interno m
• Japanese: 同族目的語
• Korean: 동족 목적어 (dongjok mokjeogeo)
• Latin: accūsātīvus cognātus m
• Polish: spokrewniony przedmiot m
• Romanian: complement intern n

See also

• figura etymologica
• polyptoton

References

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Cognate, a. and sb.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume II (C), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, column 2/mode/1up page 595, column 2.

Further reading

• cognate object on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• accusative cognate

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /koɡˈnaː.te ak.kuː.saːˈtiː.u̯e/, [kɔŋˈnäːt̪ɛ äkːuːs̠äːˈt̪iːu̯ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /koɲˈɲa.te ak.ku.saˈti.ve/, [koɲˈɲäːt̪e äkːus̬äˈt̪iːve]

Noun

cognāte accūsātīve m

1. vocative singular of cognātus accūsātīvus