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Q&A How did rǣda work syntactically, after shifting from 'advise' to mean 'interpret and understand the meaning of written symbols'?

Old English rǣda semantically shifted from ‘advise, consult, guess’ to mean ‘interpret, interpret letters, read’. But isn't this semantic shift unsyntactical and infelicitous? Advisor's writin...

0 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by PSTH‭

Question syntax
#1: Initial revision by user avatar PSTH‭ · 2022-10-06T03:59:43Z (over 1 year ago)
How did rǣda work syntactically, after shifting from 'advise' to mean 'interpret and understand the meaning of written symbols'? 
[Old English _rǣda_ semantically shifted from ‘advise, consult, guess’ to mean ‘interpret, interpret letters, read’](https://languages.codidact.com/posts/28708). 

But isn't this semantic shift unsyntactical and  infelicitous? 

>Advisor's writing _rǣda_ (in the sense of 'advise') Advisee.

is felicitous. 

>Advisor's writing _rǣda_ (in the sense of '**read**') Advisee.

is infelicitous. The correct syntax is

>Advisee _rǣda_ (_qua_ '**read**') Advisor's writing.

To wit, if an advisor counsels an advisee in writing, then the advisor doesn't need to read. It is the advisee who shall read the advisor's writing!