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Comments by ertyuiop
ertyuiop commented on the word born or borne
Fun with "born vs. borne"...An annotated guide.
I am merely a linguaphile with no credentials, but here is my contribution!
Lets start with the idioms!
An idiom is an expression peculiar to itself (see Merriam-Webster idiom definition ) and as such can break the conventional rules of grammar! (See Dictionary.com, idiom definition).
"Born of “ and “Born out of " are idioms according to their Merriam-Webster definitions, so lets let them be and not worry about them!
The word "born" and germane to this discussion “bear" each have numerous meanings, but I'll just deal with the relevant ones here!
Born and bear can each refer to childbirth...and childbirth can either be child centered based on “born” or mother centered based on “bear”! See dictionary.Cambridge.org , “bear” definition “born or borne”)
Conjugation is easy for child centered birth : born, born, and born!
(See cooljugator.com). Here are child centered examples:
My grandson is being born as we speak!
There is a baby born every minute!
He was born in 1950!
He wished he had been born in another era!
Using “bear” to denote a mother carrying and giving birth is outdated (people say “had” now) but it’s still seen in older literature!
So here are mother centered examples based on "bear!” Conjugation: bear, bore, and borne! (See cooljugator.com)
She assents to bear a child!
She bore a child last spring!
She had borne six children in her lifetime!
More on “born”...born also means the birth of our thoughts, emotions and ideas! (See Collins Dictionary, “born” definition) (See Cambridge Dictionary, "born" definition). Also, born means to yield, bring forth, resulting from (see Merriam-Webster, born definition ) and bring into existence(see google word search, born):
Anxiety born of the Covid era!
A mind born of the computer age!
Her own business was born!
A new partnership born of necessity!
A new nation was born!
A star is born!
Born-again!
Now back to "bear, bore and borne"!
“Bear" has many other meanings, but I’ll just deal with two that I believe are most pertinent to this topic :
Proven or confirmed (see Google word search, bear) :
The market will bear out your astute stock choices!
A year went by and your choices were indeed borne out! You made money!
Carried (in addition to carry and give birth to a baby) and tolerate or endure (see Google word search, bear) :
The disease was mosquito-borne!
He was a veteran of the 22nd Airborne Division!
She bore that burden for many years!
He had borne the weight of his past mistakes!
I can’t bear another pill!
The small truck can’t bear the load!
Whew!...I kindly submit the above for your approval! Thank you!
Addendum:
People often ask, ”What about the phrase ‘bear fruit’...meaning to yield good things?”
Cambridge labels it an idiom! Cooljugator declension is bear, bore and borne! But M-W says “born” may be substituted as an acceptable variant for “borne” in this context! (Author’s note: Makes sense, since idioms need not comply with the rules of grammar!)
See “bear fruit “ definitions in Cambridge and M-W!
See Cooljugator, “bear fruit.”
May 21, 2021