Twitter
Email
RSSRazed to the Ground
The englishmonarchs.co.uk web site reports that many monasteries were “raised to the ground” by Viking raiders during the reign of King Ethelred I.
But how can a monastery be “raised to the ground”?
Although commonly seen on the web, the phrase “raised to the ground” is almost always a misspelling of “razed to the ground”.
Whilst it is possible for something to be “raised” to the ground, it would, logically, have to be below the surface beforehand. Miners could raise ore to the ground. But when talking about a building or a city the phrase should be “razed to the ground”.
Raze – which sounds the same as raise but is a completely distinct word – is defined by the Compact Oxford Dictionary as follows :
raze (also rase)
• verb, tear down and destroy (a building, town, etc.).
— ORIGIN Old French raser ‘shave closely’, from Latin radere ‘scrape’.
The more familiar “raise”, however, is from a completely different root :
• verb, lift or move to a higher position or level etc.
— ORIGIN Old Norse, related to REAR.
As an aside, “raise” can also be a noun, meaning an increase in salary, although this is standard only in US English. In UK English this would be called a “rise”.
Got Your Free eBook?
- Subscribe to Daily Writing Tips and you will be able to download our free ebook: Basic English Grammar.
- You will also get all our grammar, spelling, punctuation and writing tips.
- The download link will go along with the first email (you might need to wait up to 24 hours).
Related Articles
Subscribe
5 Responses to “Razed to the Ground”
Got something to say?
Sponsors
Recent Articles
- “Hard Sales” and “Hard Sells”
- DWT Poetry Competition: Sixth Round
- The Many Meanings of “Sweat”
- No Hyphen in “Ramshackled”
- Use “Elegant Variation” in Your Resumé
- DWT Poetry Competition: Fifth Round
- Reverse and Invert
- We Are Looking for Sponsors
- Use of the word “Latest”
- Is “fulsome” a complimentary word?
- Why “Noon” is no longer the “Ninth Hour”
- DWT Poetry Competition: Fourth Round
- What’s Going On with “Underestimate”?
- Orchestrate and Crescendo
- “One-Off” is not a New Expression
I’m glad you’ve raised this issue;-)
Seems to me “razed to the ground” is wrong too, because if “raze” means “tear down” then doesn’t “raze” imply it’s already on the ground? Is there some other way you can raze a building? Wouldn’t it be more correct to say “the building was razed”?
–paul
Paul,
“The building was razed” would be fine, but I think “razed to the ground” works too. The “to the ground” is perhaps superfluous most of the time but I suppose a building could be blown up so that there is nothing left of it?
Simon.
My grandmother (1900-1974) always fussed when anyone said razed “to the ground.” She insisted that the word “razed” included “to the ground” in its meaning.
@Paul Russel, I believe the phrase is correct. The “to the ground” part acts as an intensifier. That is, razing a building would imply that you destroyed it, but razing it “to the ground” implies that you completely destroyed it.
@Daniel: I’m with Deborah’s Grandmother on this one. It’s like our local Formula 1 commentator who insists on saying “the softer of the two compounds” when discussing tires. I think “of the two” is as redundant as “to the ground.”