words opposites sum cont explanations three famous types autoantonymy bob fradkin gives us autoantonymy verbs covering uncovering chuck bigelow follows english blackening indo european white david gamon explores modal expressions may come mean opposite bob fradkin raf100f oduvm cc odu edu writes dust part series nounverb conversions related coverings things noun gives covering natural thing verb means remove covering covering imposed verb means put covering get shell egg peel banana paint furniture wax floor dust interesting go either way dust furniture sort natural covering removed vs dust crops put stuff nt would nt unless humans put mentioned english grammar book stalking wild verb phrase univ pr america 1991 end chp 3 chuck bigelow bigelow cs stanford edu writes historical linguistics well known example word meaning shifting opposite english black indo european root bhel shine flash burn white etc another modern reflex bhel bald shining white head variant bhel bhelg bhleg shine burn comes germanic blakaz burned thence old english blaec black burned nifty using calvert watkins dictionary ie roots houghton mifflin reference david gamon gamon garnet berkeley edu writes enantiodriomia refers diachronic process acquiring opposite meaning suppose word two meanings would enantiodrome learned way professor matisoff berkeley enantiodromia modals attitudinals first example word drawn attention doubt historically meaning doubt something true meant suspect true parts northern england told still meaning brought attention professor bill stewart cuny another example familiar english modal must reconstructed meaning freedom space gothic cognate meant free permission something two classes explanation offered literature particular example enantiodromia first explanation negation drops klaren 1913 antinucci parisi 1971 propose semantic shift took place negative context follows neg free x compelled neg x given equivalence lack freedom something compulsion something innovative compulsion semantics reanalyzed freedom semantics negative context concomitant scope change negative operator reanalysis made esepcially perspicuous given p notation decomposes older meaning modal freedom persmission primes neg bind neg one free something one bound negated first two negs cancel leave narrowscope neg resultant meaning bind neg compelled narrowscope neg follows cause x neg neg bind neg john goes j may go cause x bind neg john goes john must go sort explanation could applied reverse german modal duerfen underwent semantic shift original necessity compulsion semantics cf mod germ beduerfen need require duerftig needy poor lacking modern permission meaning bind neg x neg free x however ap notation fails link conservative innovative senses natural manner second explanation antithetical nature modality kind explanation proposed breal quoted bech 1951 p 19 visser 196373 p 1797 traugott 1989 basically proposes permission used polite way imposing obligation implication subsequently semanticized originally indirect speech act giving way direct conventionalized coding one might see sort shift occurring presentday english contexts suggest sort explanation may indeed valid may leave one see least counts opposite largely matter scale one implicitly chooses along arrange items issue specific semantic prime upon one chooses focus also one would nt even think conceptualizing innovative meaning antonymous conservative meaning nt preserved intact another example prove middle english meant something like test legal context put trial expression exception proves rule coined quite logically meant exception counterexample generalization claim makes question generalization exception speak puts rule trial verb prove shifted meaning 180 degrees expression illogical though became preserved simply handy whenever someone presents counterevidence claim write exception proves rule interesting way many folk justifications sense idiom another story references antinucci francesco domenico parisi 1971 english modal verbs cls 7 2839 bech gunnar 1951 grundzuege der semantischen entwicklungsgeschichte der hochdeutschen modalverba copenhagen ejnar munksgaard klaren g 1913 die bedeutungsentwicklung von koennen moegen und muessen hochdeutschen umea aktiebolaget umea tryckerier traugott elizabeth c 1989 rise epistemic meanings english example subjectification semantic change language 65 3155 visser frederikus 196373 historical syntax english language 3 vols leiden brill