POLISH

[ezapf]

Did you first think:to make shiny and smooth or someone / something from Poland

and why do we have so many words with multiple meanings? Punch is another - it is to hit with a closed fist but it is also a drink. Are we out of words and are now required to reuse old ones?

[bernardo]

I first thought of "from Poland" but I think it was only because the question is using a capital P.

English has so many words with multiple meanings because it is a rich and varied language which derives from many multiple sources, so it is easy enough forthe same word to come from two different parent languages and mutate into the same form.

[Quizmonster]

As an illustration of what B has said above, here's the background to 'punch'. As a blow with the fist, it dates back to the 1500s and relates to an even older word 'puncheon', a sort of piercing/driving tool. A punch with the fist is clearly also a driving force of the same kind.

As a drink, it probably comes from the Hindi word 'panch', meaning 'five' and dates back to the 1600s. The name came about because about five different drinks are mixed together to form the single drink 'punch'.

So, two very different sources have produced identical words as they've modified over the centuries.

Far from being something 'lacking' in the riches of language, I find this one of its greatest and endlessly-fascinating glories.

[Famous5]

The English language crossword puzzle relies on this sort of double meaning to allow for cryptic clues. Much better than the crosswords in America or Europe which tend to be of the 'River in France (5 letters)' variety. The AB category of Quizzes and Puzzles would also suffer if this didn't exist

[Peter Pedant]

two different roots coming to be the same word I think is called convergence. If there is confusion then one word drops out of use (not surprisingly)

and and and ezapf, if you are a very boring lecture or sermon or something, think of words with two meanings, one of which is opposite to the other!

These can be called auto-antonyms. fast, dyke (erm NOT the girl on the bike) sanction all spring to mind.