Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 7 down vote favorite

If jail and prison are (at least nearly) synonymous, why does jailer refer to the captor, and prisoner refer to the captive?

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 4 down vote accepted

The short answer would be that jail may be used as a verb, but prison is verbed only in archaic poetry (imprison takes its place in ordinary modern speech). People may be jailed, but who ever says they are prisoned?

share|improve this answer
That makes about halfway sense to me. But still - why then is "prisoner" a word at all? – Daniel δ Jul 3 '11 at 12:32
"jailer" is referring to 'a person who jails'. Jail is being used as verb. "prisoner" is 'a person who belongs to prison'. Prison is noun here. – Thursagen Jul 3 '11 at 21:09
@Danielδ - Other examples: pensioner (one who receives a pension), commoner (one who belongs to the commons)... probably a bunch of others, but my brain just ran dry. – MT_Head Jul 6 '12 at 20:01
1  
I see. So [noun]-er is someone who makes use of the [noun], and [verb]-er is someone who [verb]s. Makes complete sense to me now. It's just that it wasn't obvious that jail is a verb, especially when set side-by-side with prison. – Daniel δ Jul 6 '12 at 20:03

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.