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"I was thoroughly gruntled."

Are there many words like 'disgruntled' where there is no positive counterpart? And was there ever a word 'gruntled'? And if not, where did 'disgruntled' derive from?

Dunsanist
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  • Just as a note, gruntled can actually be used in a somewhat humorous way, so you could very well encounter it in an act for example. Gruntled wiktionary. – Azami Jun 14 '16 at 08:47
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    http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/dont-worry-be-gruntled – Max Williams Jun 14 '16 at 08:48
  • @MadWard yes, "gruntled" exists as a back formation, but according to that link i posted it was a real word, hundreds of years ago. – Max Williams Jun 14 '16 at 08:49
  • So 'gruntled' is reverse-engineered from 'disgruntled', and apparently by a mistaken process (since Max Williams' source points out 'dis' is not a negative but an intensifier). This raises the risk of someone saying, "I was not feeling gruntled"…but then, it seems P. G. Wodehouse did something similar already. – Dunsanist Jun 14 '16 at 08:56
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    See "lost positives" here. Be sure to click through to the New Yorker bit. :-) – torek Jun 14 '16 at 08:57
  • 'imitable', 'requited', 'mistakable', 'couth', 'furl', 'array', 'bridled'--all surely uncontroversial words. And 'unsung' hardly seems like a 'lost positive' either. I think that list needs editing. – Dunsanist Jun 14 '16 at 09:32
  • 'Mitigating circumstances,' 'committal hearing'--'this is mitigated by the prior events'--sure, 'mitigated' here is a verb, whereas 'unmitigated' is an adjective, but close enough. – Dunsanist Jun 14 '16 at 09:37
  • @Dunsanist: yes, the list there is clearly a bit off. I mainly like it for the article in The New Yorker. – torek Jun 14 '16 at 09:41
  • There are a number of antonyms for disgruntled. And if you'd bothered to look at the etymology you'd understand how the word got the way it is. – Hot Licks Jun 14 '16 at 11:54
  • Please include the research you've done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic. – Hot Licks Jun 14 '16 at 11:54
  • @Hot Licks, I wasn't after an antonym. I was after the word that the prefix seemed to imply, the original positive--'un-disgruntled'. And for my next, on-topic question-- What's another word for 'cat'? – Dunsanist Jun 14 '16 at 15:25
  • Sarcasm intended by the question above, in case you missed it. – Dunsanist Jun 14 '16 at 15:26
  • You still haven't explained why you asked the question, vs just checking the etymology of the word. – Hot Licks Jun 15 '16 at 00:49
  • @Hot Licks "Are there many words like 'disgruntled' where there is no positive counterpart?" This question, you mean? I think Max Williams and tore answered it. – Dunsanist Jun 16 '16 at 14:17
  • You mean are there words without exact antonyms? I'm sure there are many. Or do you mean why is "inject" not the antonym of "abject"? Because they are both English words. – Hot Licks Jun 16 '16 at 16:28
  • No, I mean words that appear to have prefixes making them the negative of another word, where that other word seemingly doesn't exist. Eg. 'antagonist' where 'agonist' doesn't exist (except, of course, that 'agonist' does exist, at least in medical terminology). – Dunsanist Jun 18 '16 at 10:45

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For questions like this try http://www.etymonline.com first. In the case it shows

1680s, from dis- "entirely, very" + obsolete gruntle "to grumble" (Middle English gruntelen, early 15c.), frequentative of grunt (v.).

EDIT: And taking a quote from @max-williams's link,

[...] instead of being negative, the “dis-” prefix in “disgruntled” is an intensifier. It means “utterly” or “completely” and adds emphasis to the root.

k1eran
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    It seems odd that 'dis' could work as both a negator and an intensifier. Those are two opposite functions. Hence the confusion leading to 'gruntled' as a positive. – Dunsanist Jun 14 '16 at 09:27
  • Agree. Reminds me of nonplussed which is equally messed up. http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/60869/nonplussed-defines-its-own-antonym – k1eran Jun 14 '16 at 09:34
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    @k1eran: Two more self-antonyms, just for fun: cleave (disambiguate with apart or to), and moot point (less of a self-antonym, but a moot point is one discussed at a meeting, but also one not to be discussed any more as it has become trivial or irrelevant). – torek Jun 14 '16 at 09:51