(no subject)

[wickedflea]

"Fellowship" is not a verb. But I keep hearing it used as one. The first time I heard it was about fifteen years ago at the weird little Methodist junior college where my mom taught and I took a few classes. I didn't hear it again until a few months ago, and now I hear it ALL THE TIME. It's kind of a recovery-community buzzword around here. And it still makes me want to drive a stake through my frontal lobe.

Comments

[jah9000.livejournal.com]

Fellowship is indeed a verb. It probably got that way by the law of common usage, but nevertheless, it's status is presently valid. The usage did originate in religious contexts as far as I know. To Fellowship is likely derivative of To * Fellowship, where * was originally the true verb, like 'develop' or 'increase'.

As long as I can recall, though, folks have gathered in the Fellowship Hall to Fellowship with one another.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Wow, right you are! It goes back to Chaucer, and I had no idea. It's always seemed like it was part of that modern tendency to verb nouns, but I guess it's well established. I'd still prefer that people would gather to HAVE fellowship rather than gather to fellowship, though. :P