<<I think the meaning of moot that puts it in that category is the legal one, debatable, am I right?>>
Basically, but at the university here, for example, they have a lecture hall called the "Moot Court". Of course debates are not limited to those of a legalistic flavor.
There are other examples of a word having opposite ambiguity, but I can't think of them right now on the fly.
<<But what meaning of moot is also the meaning of mute? I can't figure it out.>>
None, really. But the confusion is understandable. First 'mute' and 'moot' are similarly pronounced. Second, as I said earlier, when one states that "The point is now moot" it means that for all practical purposes the issue is settled, the debate is silenced. Hey! "Silenced". "Mute". Now ya got yerself fertile grounds for confusion.
FWIW, I had the same confusion as your friend when I was a kid.
Anaxagoras
PS- I use single and double quotes in a consistent manner above and in my other post although it may not appear to be so. The usage is technical and one of the standard ways to call attention to the difference between a string of characters, i.e. a word, and a meaning of a word, i.e. the concept expressed. Single quotes are used to form names of words, double quotes are used to form names of meanings. For example, the German word 'Schnee' has the same meaning as the French word 'Niege' and the English word 'snow'; they all mean "snow". |
