grateful for small mercies

Today's post is prompted by this cringe-worthy misspelling "greatfull". It is wrong on 2 counts. Regular readers of this blog will know that when full is tagged on to another word it becomes -ful; so wrong ending, but also wrong root. Grateful has nothing to do with great or greatness but everything to do with gratitude. Italian "grazie" for thank you is in the same word family.

It often surprises me that people do not make the connection between words such as grateful and gratitude.

Test yourself

Can you think of the noun that is related to each of the following adjectives? By that I mean a word from the same family. For example

happy - happiness

angry - anger

elegant - elegance

1. beautiful
2. mysterious
3. clean
4. wide
5. hot
6. young
7. proud
8. high
9. jealous
10. relieved
11. fragile
12. nutritious
13. equal
14. unequal
15. antique

Answers:

1. beautiful beauty
2. mysterious mystery
3. clean cleanliness
   
4. wide width
5. hot heat
   
6. young youth (youngster is also a noun)
7. proud pride
8. high height
9. jealous jealousy
   
10. relieved relief
11. fragile fragility
    
12. nutritious nutrition
13. equal equality
14. unequal inequality
    
15. antique antiquity