 No
fewer than five decades have passed since the word was disparaged by Miss
Meyer, my high-school English teacher. "It's obviously a misguided
back-formation from 'orientation'," she sniffed, "as silly as saying 'reconciliate'."
I'm cool with that. The verb 'orient' has worked for me in every
context for half a century. I never gave 'orientate' a thought --
until just the other day. The word 'reconciliate' appeared in a technical
document, and I flashed back. "How silly," I thought to myself.
Just for fun, I consulted the OneLook Dictionary Search. Sure enough, there is exactly one worldwide reference for 'rec•on•cil•i•ate'. Random House Unabridged Dictionary gives a one word definition, 'reconcile' -- apparently with a straight face. Ah, but does anybody in the world actually use that silly word? A quick googling of "reconciliate" turned up 6,000 pages.That discovery marked the beginning of a personal effort to identify every potential "misguided back-formation" -- verbs that might have been derived from English nouns ending in '-ation'... adaptate, administrate, admirate, adorate, affirmate, applicate, authorizate, aviate, cessate, civilizate, classificate, combinate, commendate, compilate, condemnate, condensate, confirmate, confrontate, considerate, consoltate, constellate, consternate, constipate, consultate, continuate, conversate, corporate, declarate, degradate, derivate, desolate, destinate, determinate, detestate, disputate, documentate, durate, examinate, exclamate, expectate, experimentate, explanate, explorate, exultate, fermentate, formate (hah! back-formate), foundate, gratificate, hospitalizate, identificate, imaginate, implementate, inclinate, indentate, indignate, informate, inspirate, installate, institutionalizate, interpretate, invitate, invocate, justificate, lamentate, limitate, machinate, manifestate, materializate, modificate, naturalizate, observate, occupate, organizate, ornamentating, ovate, perspirate, perturbate, preparate, presentate, preservate, private, prolongate, pronunciate, provocate, publicate, qualificate, realizate, recitate, rectificate, registrate, renunciate, reorganizate, representate, reputate, respirate, restorate, revelate, salutate, salvate, sanitate, significate, simplificate, starvate, temptate, transfigurate, transformate, transportate, tribulate, triturate, verificate, vocate.Some of the strangest entries appear on non-English websites (presumably not as back-formations), but readers will find the rest of these snazzy concoctions already in use as English verbs in thousands of places. Lopping off the '-ate' along with the '-ion' gets you back to the original verb ('orient', 'reconcile') -- usually but not always (congreg, congratul, delini, desegreg, expostul, investig, legisl, loc, ov, particip, penetr, popul, retali, segreg, transl, tribul). One reason is that English appropriated many verbs from other languages by merely tweaking them with the '-ate' suffix. For example, here is a collection of French infinitives that became English verbs that you will recognize. Unlike the verbs in the previous list, each cannot live without its '-ate.' abbrevier, abdiquer, accumuler, agglomerer, agiter, anticiper, apprecier, approprier,capituler, collaborer, commemorer, confisquer, contaminer, contempler, co-operer, couronner, correler, corroborer, cultiver, defenestrer, degenerer, deleguer, deliberer, demontrer, dereguler, deroger, detoner, dicter, discriminer, disseminer, dominer, donner, durer, eduquer, elaborer, elever, eliminer, emanciper, emuler, evacuer, exaggerer, exterminer, faciliter, fasciner, federer, generer, germiner, graviter, halluciner, hesiter, hiberner, humilier, imiter, immigrer, impliquer, indiquer, innover, inoculer, insinuer, instiguer, interpoler, inonder, investiguer, isoler, manipuler, mastiquer, mediter, moderer, mutiler, operer, orienter, precipiter, premediter, proliferer, promulguer, propager, ponctuer, reciter, reguler, rehabiliter, separer, simuler, speculer, stagner, stipuler, suffoquer, tolerer, venerer, ventiler, violer.The back-formationists among us with a penchant for ornamentating verbs with '-ate' (degradate, orientate, reconciliate) must compete with forward-formationists, especially the '-ize' enthusiasts (accessorize, bureaucracize, definitize, finalize, prioritize... zanicize), not to mention advocates for '-ify' (amplify, beautify, codify, deify,... zombify). All right then, what about 'orientate'? At least
15 dictionaries have solemn entries that define 'orientate' as an alternative
for 'orient'. Fastenate your seatbelt: The verb 'orientate' appears
on the web at more than 1,600,000 sites. The previous sentence does
not
end
with an exclamation point, but the next one does. The very
first google-hit could well have been written by Miss Meyer!
Which makes me wonder if Miss Meyer's first name might have been Melanie. |