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    pristinity? pristineness?

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    Is there a word for the state of being pristine? Could you, for example, demand "Let us preserve the pristinity/pristineness of X."?

    Author BenatarsComrade (1182552) 15 Jan 20, 22:53
    Comment

    Pristinity and pristineness are recorded in some dictionaries (though for some reason not in the better ones), and they are attested on the Internet--though their incidence is relatively low. You can certainly use them and be understood, as in your example sentence.


    However, I find them awkward and would usually avoid them; don't know if others feel the same way.


    I would rephrase your sentence: Let us preserve the forest primeval in its pristine condition.

    #1Author Bob C. (254583)  16 Jan 20, 02:39
    Comment
    I think 'pristineness' is at least a real word, though I've never heard of 'pristinity.' So I wouldn't necessarily avoid it.

    But I would be cautious about using such an unfamiliar abstract noun in the first place, which could be a Germanic way of putting it that sounds less appropriate in English. Depending on the actual sentence, there would often be other ways of expressing it, like 'keeping X pristine,' 'protecting the pristine beauty of X,' etc.
    #2Author hm -- us (236141) 16 Jan 20, 06:58
    Comment

    Webster führt es hier unter den "Related Words" an, hat aber keinen eigenen Eintrag dazu : 


    http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/...

    Novelty

    Webster's 1913 Dictionary

     ... newfangleness, newness, nonimitation, novelness, nowness, originality, ornament, plaything, presentness, pristineness, rage, rawness, recency, recentness, ...


    #3Author no me bré (700807) 16 Jan 20, 10:59
    Comment

    Okay, thanks. As I am not doing something relevant or official, the use of "pristinity" seems okay and will be understood. I called an organisation in my fictional map game on alternatehistory.com "Coalition for the Conservaton of Pristinity".

    #4Author BenatarsComrade (1182552) 16 Jan 20, 12:02
    Comment
    Did you understand that, in my experience, 'pristinity' is not a real word?

    Of course it could have been a word in an alternate universe ...
    #5Author hm -- us (236141) 16 Jan 20, 21:20
    Comment
    A few years ago I helped a German author with a fantasy book he wrote first in German then translated to English. We had a few discussions about the English words he invented for the story. Ultimately he decided not to use words that would not come up in a dictionary search on an e-reader.

    Another German went a different way and wanted to use a lot of invented words. One of his inventions was maniacism. To help him at least follow the correct patterns, I suggested a website describing most of the conventions used in already existing words:
    http://www.affixes.org/index.html

    The affix -ity is discussed here:
    http://www.affixes.org/i/-ity.html

    Maybe someone with Latin skills can judge whether pristine-pristinity follows the pattern set by e.g. chaste-chastity or opportune-opportunity.
    #6Author patman2 (527865)  16 Jan 20, 22:25
    Comment

    #5: Daher habe ich auf das (wenigstens selten verwendete) pristineness gewechselt. Danke für den Hinweis nochmal.

    #7Author BenatarsComrade (1182552) 18 Jan 20, 00:18
    Comment

    to be fair, "saline" has "salinity", so I personally think "pristine" should have "pristinity".

    #8Author NuclearDuck13 (1322515) 12 Feb 21, 21:34
    Comment

    I think both are neologisms. Pristineness feels better, perhaps "pristinity" makes me want to use /ɪ/ (i in "tin" and "ist") when pristine uses /i:/ (in "teen" and "ihm")


    But -ness is a Germanic suffix from Old English, and pristine and -ity are from Middle French and Latin.

    #9AuthorKevin_7 (1308576)  13 Feb 21, 06:34
    Comment

    @#9 - The affixing of a Germanic suffix to a Latinate root doesn't bother us at all; we do it all the time without batting an eye. One example comes to mind: sordidness, where "sordid" comes (indirectly) from Latin sordidus, just as "pristine" comes from Latin pristinus.


    But I would finesse the whole issue. Rather than joining any Coalition for the Conservation of Pristinity, I'd sooner ally myself with the Bloc for Keeping Things Unchanged.

    #10Author Martin--cal (272273)  13 Feb 21, 07:41
    Comment

    Yeah. I'm in agreement with #1. I would just automatically construct the sentence in a different way.

    #11AuthorKevin_7 (1308576) 13 Feb 21, 17:37
     
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