Tuesday, 5 January 2016

grammar - Correct Usage of Nigh in a sentence

Nigh, near, next was the old degree paradigm.
You can see the final velar of the root memorialized in the GH of nigh and the /kst/ of next.



But:




  • Positive degree nigh became obsolete, and is considered archaic.

  • Comparative near reified as positive and regularized its paradigm: near, nearer, nearest.

  • Superlative next metaphorized from closest in (linear) space to closest in (future) time.



The most frequent usage of archaic terms is in fixed forms; nigh is not a productive word.
Nigh unto, for instance, matches an archaic unto with an archaic nigh. That would be OK.
But you shouldn't start the title with both quietly and nigh unto.



I'd recommend Nigh Unto the Ghostly Long Night of Solace, Quietly
if you feel you just have to use those words, for some reason.

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