# Eventually in English



## dihydrogen monoxide

Eventually means something completely different in English than in other Romance languages. Romance languages' meaning of the word is under one condition and the English means in the end, after long delay. The words are related.


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## Suehil

Did you have a question?


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Yes, I did, I think I've deleted the question by mistake. The question would be why is there difference in meaning when the words are related.


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## ThomasK

[That is something intriguing, but I am afraid it will be difficult to find a rationale for that. There will probably just be some coincidence or some kind of evolution. I am really curious whether someone will come up with some very specific explanation; I think some kind of coincidence will account for that...]


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## vince

Semantic drift?

The same could be said about the word "actually", which _should_ mean "currently" but actually means "really".

A more colloquial example would be "chef", which comes from a French word meaning "leader".


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## Outsider

vince said:


> A more colloquial example would be "chef", which comes from a French word meaning "leader".


"Leader" _or_ "cook".


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## palomnik

Personally, I think _eventual _is just one more word to add to the long, long list of _falsos amigos, _along with Spanish words like _particular, actual, discreto, jubilacion_ and a thousand other words that are the same in Romance languages as well as English but have taken a variant turn in meaning somewhere. I used to believe that the Romance languages were more likely to retain the original Latin meaning of these roots, but I've since found that there is no real pattern to follow in that regard.


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## Outsider

What did "eventual" mean in Latin?


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## Fred_C

Outsider said:


> "Leader" _or_ "cook".


No.
A Chef is the leader of a team of cooks.


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## Fred_C

Outsider said:


> What did "eventual" mean in Latin?


"Relative to an event."


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## Outsider

Fred_C said:


> No.
> A Chef is the leader of a team of cooks.


Fine. But it doesn't just mean "leader", which was my point.



Fred_C said:


> "Relative to an event."


That's too vague. Does it have the same meaning as in English, or as in French?


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## Fred_C

Outsider said:


> That's too vague. Does it have the same meaning as in English, or as in French?



Actually, the latin word "eventualis, is, e" just does not exist.
But it can be understood as being the adjectival form of "eventum", (event)

I just checked in a dictionary.
This word can also be understood as being the adjectival form of "eventus", (with a final S) that happens to mean "result".
The English "eventually" seems to have its explanation in the former, while the romance "eventualmente" seems to have its explanation in the latter.


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## Outsider

And what exactly does that contribute to answering Dihydrogen Monoxide's original question?


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## Fred_C

I do not understand.
If what I am saying is correct, it might be quite a conclusion to the question.
"Eventualis" does not exist, but bad Latin writers did. They must have invented that word out of "eventus" and propagated it in some regions, where it gave the English "eventual".
And other writers propagated another word out of "eventum" in other regions, where it gave the Romance "eventualmente".
If I am wrong, you can go on tergiversating.


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## ThomasK

Is the original meaning not outcome ? 



Fred_C said:


> "Relative to an event."


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## wonderment

Outsider said:


> Does [the Latin root] have the same meaning as in English, or as in French?


Both  The verb _evenio evenire_ (source) means "to come out, happen, result, turn out, end in any way." The deverbal noun, _eventum_ means "an occurrence, chance, event, accident, consequence, result, outcome."

It seems that _eventually_ (in the sense of ultimately) derived from the Latin meaning of outcome and result, and _éventuellement_ derived from the meaning of chance and accident. The English expression "in the event that" (meaning "with the possibility that") retains something of the French meaning for éventuellement as "possibly, if necessary."


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## Outsider

Thank you so much, Wonderment! I think that's what we were looking for.  



wonderment said:


> The English expression "in the event that" (meaning "with the possibility that") retains something of the French meaning for _éventuellement_ as "possibly, if necessary."


In a recent thread, I learned that "in the eventuality" is also used with that sense.


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