Most people learned what the definition of a noun is when they were very young: any person, place, or thing. There are also proper nouns which always receive a capitalized first letter. Additionally, there are abstract nouns. The capitalization of these nouns is debatable, but I prefer to do so.
The Fruitages of the Holy Spirit found in the Bible at Galatians 5:22, 23 are a superb example of the abstract noun. Instead of just a thing, it is a thing that intangible, or non-physical. The following is a list of the Fruitages in English, Spanish, Danish, and Czech.
Love |
Amor |
Kærlighed |
Laska |
Joy |
Gozo |
Glæd |
Radost |
Peace |
Paz |
Fred |
Pokoj |
Faith |
Fe |
Tro |
Víra |
Goodness |
Bondad |
Godhed |
Dobrota |
Kindness |
Benignidad |
Venlighed |
Laskavost |
Mildness |
Apacibilidad |
Mildhed |
Mírnost |
Long-Suffering |
Gran Paciencia |
Langmodihed |
Trpělivost |
Self-Control |
Autodominio |
Selvbekerkelse |
Sebeovládání |
As you can see it is not in order found in the passage, but organized according to syllables and suffixes in English. The first four have one syllable and no suffix; the middle three are two syllables and have the same suffix: "-ness;" the last two have varying syllables but are both hyphenated.
I find it very interesting how the Spanish translation follows this same pattern almost exactly. The first four have no suffix; the middle three have the same suffix: "-dad;" and the last two have varying syllables. This is surely evidence of the Gothic influence of both Spanish and French (viz. Middle French and Middle English).
Looking at Danish, the previous pattern is broken, but a new one emerges. Five out of the nine abstract nouns end in "-hed." If rearranged to this new pattern the list goes as follows:
Tro |
Faith |
Kærlighed |
Love |
Godhed |
Gooness |
Venlighed |
Kindness |
Mildhed |
Mildness |
Langmodihed |
Long-Suffering |
Glæd |
Joy |
Fred |
Peace |
Selvbekerkelse |
Self-Control |
Three out of four of the qualities in English that end in "-ness" end in "-hed" in Danish. Wouldn't it be weird if, instead of saying 'Goodness' we said 'Goodhood;' or instead of 'Love' we said 'Lovinghood.'
Finally, looking at Czech, there is also a pattern different from English:
Radost |
Joy |
Laskavost |
Kindness |
Mírnost |
Mildness |
Trpělivost |
Long-Suffering |
Laska |
Love |
Víra |
Faith |
Dobrota |
Goodness |
Sebeovládání |
Self-Control |
Pokoj |
Peace |
The first four end in "-ost;" the next four end in a feminine vowel sound; the last one ends in a masculine vowel sound. This is indicative of how far back the languages split. While Modern English was directly influenced by Danish and is in the same generational displacement from Latin as is Spanish. Although Czech is related to English, the most recent common ancestor is only the Indo-European language. That means that Czech is about as related to English as is Hindi.
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