Grieved vs aggrieved?

[Doreen Simmons]

Greetings, yakkers.

In a message referring to a recent plane disaster, I produced "I am grieved to hear of..."
and was shocked to find that in one of the newspapers that reprinted it,
this had been changed to "aggrieved".

To me, "I am grieved" means "I am distressed/truly unhappy" while "I am aggrieved" means
"I am indignant about unfair treatment I have received" The first two dead tree dictionaries I consulted, however,
put the first meaning of "aggrieve" as the same as "grieve."

May I ask the consensus here? Personally I think the change to my original is a huge mistake
(probably in the office that pays me), which was retained by the Daily Yomiuri
but was corrected by a sub-editor in the Japan Times.

Any opinions will be welcomed.

Doreen Simmons
jz8d...@asahi-net.or.jp

[Mallory James]

I'm grieved to hear of your distress and can certainly understand why you feel aggrieved by the change in your translation.
I agree with you.
Cheers
Jim

 

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[TimL...@aol.com]

100% with you on this one Doreen.

 

Tim

[kirk m.]

I agree as well.
Here is a snippet from a random website that backs up your
understanding:
<start>
Know your rights – the role of counsel for the aggrieved party.
Written by lawyer Hege Salomon, Salomon Johansen AS

DIXI is working together with law firm Salomon Johansen AS, and is
continuing here its series focusing on the rights of rape victims. In
this article, lawyer Hege Salomon will be looking at the role of
counsel for the aggrieved party.

Who is entitled to counsel for the aggrieved party?

Anyone who has been the victim of rape can claim free legal
assistance, regardless of income or assets. In accordance...
<end>

Kirk Mitchell

[Doreen Simmons]

Many thanks to all who replied. To me, the big surprise was that Collins and
a smallish Oxford dictionary had what I regard as an inappropriate definition first.
Now all I have to do is find out whether somebody in my office
replaced my 'grieved' with 'aggrieved' -- the implication being
that the Daily Yomiuri printed it as received (par for the course) while the Japan Times
hires competent copy-editors who corrected it.

Doreen Simmons
jz8d...@asahi-net.or.jp

[Minoru Mochizuki]

According to Webster's III New International, the "a-" form is used to
express "in (such) a state or condition." Examples: <afire>, <asleep>
It says also that it can mean "in (such) a manner" as in <aloud>.

Minoru Mochizuki

[TimL...@aol.com]

In a message dated 18/08/2010 05:06:39 GMT Daylight Time, min...@rhythm.ocn.ne.jp writes:

According to Webster's III New International, the "a-" form is used to
express "in (such) a state or condition." Examples: <afire>, <asleep>
It says also that it can mean "in (such) a manner" as in <aloud>.

But aggrieved is surely an "ag-" form?

 

Tim

[Jonathan Merz]

Yup. The "a-" in words like afire and asleep is a reduction of Old English an "on, in". The "ag-" in aggrieved is an assimilated form of Latin ad "to", just like in "attention", "assume", "affection", "acquire", etc. etc.

</linguistics geekery>

Jonathan Merz