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First post so thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Was thinking: the word resolve/resolution seems to have two, opposite connotations:

1: The noun RESOLVE: to be strong, steady, fixed and RESOLUTION as in new-years-resolution, also a fixed, unflexible idea.

2: The verb to RESOLVE a problem or conflict RESOLUTION where the idea is that something that seemed like it's blocked or or fixed becomes fluid and untied. The stress of the problem/conflict is relieved when there is resolution.

Any thoughts? I looked up the etymology and didn't find much resolution to the problem, yet I'm resolved to figure it out!

for more clarity on the contrast, here's the two definitions from etymonline.com:

resolve (n.) "determination, firmness or fixedness of purpose; a determination," 1590s. resolve (v.) late 14c., "melt, dissolve, reduce to liquid;" intransitive sense from c. 1400; from Old French resolver or directly from Latin resolvere "to loosen, loose, unyoke, undo; explain; relax; set free; make void, dispel," from re-, perhaps intensive, or "back" (see re-), + solvere "to loosen, untie, release, explain," from PIE *se-lu-, from reflexive pronoun *s(w)e- (see idiom) + root *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart."

boruch
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    If you mean that in problem resolution you solve disagreements by untying rigid positions to reach agreement, then yes, you untie something in the position of conflict and re-tie it to a different position via compromise or other adjustment. Not two meanings. – Yosef Baskin Jun 14 '17 at 21:44
  • perhaps this quote from etymoline.com explains the contrast better: – boruch Jun 15 '17 at 00:27
  • I don't see how they're "opposite" definitions, just different. – Hot Licks Jun 15 '17 at 00:27
  • see what i added from etymonline to the OP: resolve (n.) "determination, firmness or fixedness of purpose; a determination," 1590s. resolve (v.) late 14c., "melt, dissolve, reduce to liquid;" intransitive sense from c. 1400; from Old French resolver or directly from Latin resolvere "to loosen, loose, unyoke, undo; explain; relax; set free; make void, dispel," – boruch Jun 15 '17 at 00:48
  • i may have to go back and re-word the OP as i very unclear it seems! – boruch Jun 15 '17 at 00:49
  • I enjoy these cases where a word has two apparently opposite meanings. My personal favourites are dust and cleave, but there must be many I'm not aware of. – Steve Lovell Jun 15 '17 at 04:52
  • @steve i do too. my sense is that in this case, the dual, paradoxical meanings highlight the back-and-forth of illuminating a problem or solving the unknown. the original resolve focuses on the firs t step after recognizing a problem, which is to break it down and "melt it". the word evolved into focusing on the second step which is the hard decisions and steely resolve that step 1 lead you to. this creates more questions though and the cycle recreates. – boruch Jun 15 '17 at 14:10
  • Welcome to EL&U. This is not a discussion forum, but a Q&A that seeks to provide definitive answers to specific questions, and it's not clear what your question is (invitations to discussion or opinion— like "any thoughts?"— are not permitted). Words like sanction or trim that have opposing meanings are known as contronyms, auto-antonyms, or antagonyms among other things, and you may wish to try a web search on these terms to develop the question. I strongly encourage you to take the site [tour] and review the [help] for additional guidance. – choster Jun 15 '17 at 20:19
  • @choster thank you for the kind welcome! the question was an etymological one and i see now that i could have worded it better. as you pointed out, there is a similar question about sanction that i found later (https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/48837/how-did-sanction-come-to-have-two-opposite-meanings?rq=1) – boruch Jun 15 '17 at 23:02
  • Hello @Boruch, and welcome. While contranyms are lots of fun, I'm uncertain what specifically you're asking about. Can you please [edit] your question to shed some light on that? ("Any thoughts?" is rather too wide-ranging for a focused answer.) – Lawrence Aug 14 '17 at 16:14

2 Answers2

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I would first like to admit that the following is something of a guess, but it's based on a hint found at the Online Etymology Dictionary as referenced by Mike in his answer.

I think a new years resolution is actually a decision to change, a determinedness to solve a problem in one's previous behaviour. It's a new years change, and is strictly speaking a case of the older meaning of proving a solution.

It is the situation after the change which is intended to be permanent. I believe it becomes natural to extend this idea of intended permanence to the words resolution and resolve themselves.

Steve Lovell
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Online Etymology Dictionary to the rescue.

*resolute (adj.) early 15c., "dissolved, of loose structure," also "morally lax," from Latin resolutus, past participle of resolvere "untie, unfasten, loose, loosen" (see resolve).

Meaning "determined, decided, absolute, final" is from c. 1500, especially in resolute answer, a phrase "common in 16th c." [OED]. From 1530s of persons. The notion is of "breaking (something) into parts" as the way to arrive at the truth of it and thus make the final determination (compare resolution). Related: Resolutely; resoluteness.*

Edwin Ashworth
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MikeJRamsey56
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    I assume you've heard of the etymological fallacy. – Arm the good guys in America Jun 15 '17 at 01:32
  • @Clare If you don't know how a word started then you can't understand how it has evolved. The concept of etymological fallacy doesn't show that etymology is irrelevant just that one needs to understand the evolution. You wouldn't have brought this up if you didn't already know this. I like the online etymology dictionary because it shows when a word took on a certain meaning ("...from c. 1500..."). I am of the school that words have meaning. Literature is richer when we understand those meanings. Hey, how did I get on this soapbox...? :-) – MikeJRamsey56 Jun 15 '17 at 01:49
  • the fallacies seem to be few and far between. furthermore, even in the cases where they do exist, they still reveal an evolution of an idea or concept. i could be wrong, but i don't think there are any examples of a word root that is completely removed from it's current usage. i.e. the word decimate will never evolve into meaning a chair. but, i wasn't aware of it and it's an interesting idea. thanks for sharing. – boruch Jun 15 '17 at 15:23
  • Someone is being petty with the down vote ... – MikeJRamsey56 Jun 15 '17 at 18:42
  • A snag here is that 'determined' and 'decided' have two denotations ([worked out] an accurate result / adamant), and a full explanation would need these separating. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 15 '17 at 22:35
  • @EdwinAshworth I don't see how that is relevant (it is late and I am tired so perhaps I am missing something). The Online Etymology Dictionary reference that I gave suggests under resolve (v.) "For sense evolution, compare resolute (adj.)." If you do you will see that they really mean the same thing but depend upon you looking at them from a particular perspective which may not be common today. – MikeJRamsey56 Aug 15 '17 at 23:22
  • @EdwinAshworth Sorry, you were commenting on your edit. Thank you for that. – MikeJRamsey56 Aug 16 '17 at 00:04
  • No; I was commenting on the assumptions made in the chain of evidence. Etymologies are notoriously hard to trace once more detail than sense A ---> sense B is involved. And identifying particular senses by using synonyms which themselves have gone down similar evolutionary paths is really scary. The downvote isn't mine, but I can understand why someone might have thought it appropriate. I think a flow-diagram might be the only way to make things clearer. I can never remember how to post images though, and I don't think I could find sufficient evidence here in any case. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 16 '17 at 16:52