Awakening to all kinds of possibilities
As any householder knows, certain domestic projects can stay on 鈥渢he list鈥� forever, such as digging into that mystery box that鈥檚 been down in the basement so long you鈥檝e forgotten what it could hold.聽
And then suddenly the impulse comes: Today is the day to deal with it.
I keep a list of verbal 鈥渕ystery boxes,鈥� language issues to research when I can. And I鈥檝e just had that 鈥渢oday鈥� urge for one of them, impelled by a helpful usage note from online.
The question is, 鈥淲hy so many verb forms for waking? I awake, I awoke, I have awoken; but what about听补飞补办别苍? And聽wake up, and just plain wake?听
鈥淚f these questions keep you awake at night, you鈥檙e not alone,鈥� M-W writes. Usage maven Bryan Garner calls the two verbs awake and awaken 鈥減erhaps the most vexing in the language.鈥澛�
Here鈥檚 the nub of it: Old English had two verbs meaning 鈥渢o rise from sleep,鈥� one transitive and the other intransitive. And one was 鈥渞egular鈥� and the other 鈥渋rregular.鈥� Close in spelling and meaning, they borrowed forms back and forth, like children who wear each other鈥檚 clothes so often they forget who actually owns what.
Thus we may find quite some variety in our mental catalogs of usage examples, from (鈥淎nd when I awoke, I was alone, this bird has flown鈥�) to : 鈥淚 飞补办鈥檇, she fled, and day brought back my night.鈥� (Those are two very different experiences of being abandoned by a woman, but I digress.)
And somewhere along the line, the participle awaken (鈥淗e had awaken early鈥�) became its own (regular) verb, often used figuratively. Thus wrote, 鈥淸T]he genius of the country has awakened....鈥澛�
Recent news coverage of a mysterious midnight sausage drop in Florida provides, along with some chuckles, current evidence of the various 鈥渨ake鈥� verbs coexisting in the wild.
reported: 鈥淚n something out of a scene from 鈥楥loudy with a Chance of Meatballs鈥� [yes, an actual movie and book, or really a franchise], a South Florida family awoke to frozen Italian sausage on their roof.鈥� Note 鈥渁woke to鈥� 鈥� a straight-ahead use of the ancient verb for literally coming out of sleep, but with the 鈥渢o鈥� following, it becomes an idiom often used metaphorically (鈥渁woke to the danger鈥�).
The second sentence includes a variation (鈥渨oke up鈥�): 鈥淭he Adair family, of Deerfield Beach, woke up Saturday morning to the loud thud of several packages of frozen Italian sausage banging against the roof....鈥�
The Post goes on to quote Travis Adair, 鈥淚t was like thunder, and it awakened me out of a sleep.鈥� He opted for the alternative verb, albeit in a literal (non-Carlyle) sense.聽
My takeaway: I can鈥檛 go wrong with awake,聽awoke, awoken for literal waking up, intransitively (鈥淚 awoke early鈥�) or transitively (鈥淚 awoke the children early鈥�). But I鈥檒l reserve awaken for metaphorical usages 鈥� unless, of a course, someone drops a load of frozen sausage on my roof.
