Words: Devotion
I ran across this typo a few times today in various fanfiction and fandoms, so I felt I should add it to my list of clarificiations and joyous philology. Instead of the word 'devote', writers have apparently been using 'devout'. As in, 'He wanted to devout himself to the work' and similar sentences.
'Devote 'is a verb that comes from devotus, and involves the same stem as 'vow', thus being a cousin of the English word 'vote'. To devote oneself to a cause or action or person carries that sense of promise and vowing. A devoted reader is, you could argue, someone who is dedicating or promising a greater part of themselves to the act of reading. It carries a sense of dedication, but requires the identification of a specific target of devotion.
'Devout' shares similar origins to 'Devote', but is more specific and is an adjective (thus functioning differently within a sentence). It is a spiritual and pious quality. A devout worshipper is one wholly and completely committed to their god or gods, nothing and nobody else. You can have devout prayer and devout praise, devout songs and devout behaviour.
You can be a devout Christian, but not a devote one. Ignoring the specific differences between devotion and a devout person, there are grammatical problems with the example sentence 'He wanted to devout himself to the work'. It's like saying 'He wanted to exciting himself to the work', or 'tall' or 'shiny'. That these two words apparently get confused easily is both baffling and frustrating to me. I know that not everyone receives the same grammatical education that I was fortunate enough to, but this is such a basic and functional difference. One is a quality of something, the other is a process. Surely the usage of these words in English media alone should be enough for people to differentiate between the two!
Ah well. Anyway, make sure to be very careful with these words in the future. For all that spellcheck seems to save time, writers really should keep dictionaries and thesauruses beside their computers. Instead of trusting devoutly in an automated correction, you should devote yourself to a quick check through the OED.
'Devote 'is a verb that comes from devotus, and involves the same stem as 'vow', thus being a cousin of the English word 'vote'. To devote oneself to a cause or action or person carries that sense of promise and vowing. A devoted reader is, you could argue, someone who is dedicating or promising a greater part of themselves to the act of reading. It carries a sense of dedication, but requires the identification of a specific target of devotion.
'Devout' shares similar origins to 'Devote', but is more specific and is an adjective (thus functioning differently within a sentence). It is a spiritual and pious quality. A devout worshipper is one wholly and completely committed to their god or gods, nothing and nobody else. You can have devout prayer and devout praise, devout songs and devout behaviour.
You can be a devout Christian, but not a devote one. Ignoring the specific differences between devotion and a devout person, there are grammatical problems with the example sentence 'He wanted to devout himself to the work'. It's like saying 'He wanted to exciting himself to the work', or 'tall' or 'shiny'. That these two words apparently get confused easily is both baffling and frustrating to me. I know that not everyone receives the same grammatical education that I was fortunate enough to, but this is such a basic and functional difference. One is a quality of something, the other is a process. Surely the usage of these words in English media alone should be enough for people to differentiate between the two!
Ah well. Anyway, make sure to be very careful with these words in the future. For all that spellcheck seems to save time, writers really should keep dictionaries and thesauruses beside their computers. Instead of trusting devoutly in an automated correction, you should devote yourself to a quick check through the OED.