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An amateur historian has discovered a long-lost short story by Bram Stoker

(www.bbc.com)
268 points lermontov | 1 comments | 21 Oct 24 16:14 UTC | HN request time: 0.302s | source
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busyant ◴[21 Oct 24 17:02 UTC] No.41906084[source]▶
It's funny (ironic?), but when I read "an amateur {insert occupation} has"

I mentally replace "an amateur" with "a talented and passionate"

For me, amateur just doesn't mean the insult that it meant when I was a youngster.

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rahimnathwani ◴[21 Oct 24 17:05 UTC] No.41906111[source]▶
The word 'amateur' originates from the Latin word for 'lover'.
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bombcar ◴[21 Oct 24 17:23 UTC] No.41906263[source]▶
Exactly, and "professional" means they do it for money.
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otherme123 ◴[21 Oct 24 17:33 UTC] No.41906357[source]▶
The point is that "amateur" means literally "lover" in latin. While "professional" means "for money" today, in latin it meant "to profess a vow to do it with high standards".

For example, you can be a professional, but do things "pro bono" (for free or for public good) or "pro lucro" (for money).

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1. Archelaos ◴[21 Oct 24 19:03 UTC] No.41907275[source]▶
"Doing something was a high standard" is still the main meaning of the word "professionell" in German. So someone can make something "unprofessionell" for money or "professionell" without payment.

Another word of classical origin with a striking difference is the meaning of the word "pathetisch" in German, which means "(exaggeratedly) passionate", which corresponds more or less to the meaning of the Ancient Greek word "pathetikos".