Learn English – Difference between ‘meant by’ and ‘meant with’

by-withdifferencesmeaningprepositions

Is there a difference in meaning or usage between 'meant by' and 'meant with'?

Many questions about meanings with this tag have the wording 'What is meant by…?'.

In the text I am currently reading the verb 'to mean' is always combined with the preposition 'with', when discussing words or passages in the Bible. I mention this because I wonder whether it might be relevant that 'meant with' is used in a linguistic context. Here are two examples:

With ‘new spirit’ the same must be meant as with ‘my spirit’ in clause e.
The suggestion made by several commentators that the doom of Judea’s downfall is meant with the ‘first things’ that should no longer be remembered takes too little account of the poem’s own concentric structure.

The translator of the Dutch original is an English native speaker coming from South Africa, perhaps that might have something to do with this usage?

Afterthought: now that I infer from the comments that 'meant with' sounds strange
to English speakers, could it be a Germanism? ('Was ist gemeint mit…')? I

Best Answer

In the first sentence you've quoted, the phrase is not meant with but meant as.

With ‘new spirit’ the same must be meant as with ‘my spirit’ in clause e.

The with in "with 'my spirit'" parallels the with in "With 'new spirit'", as I've indicated in non-bold italics in the quotation above.
But, in fact, the as pairs with the same, as in "the same ... as".

I can't tell the full meaning without the preceding context, but it seems to be something like:

The use of ‘new spirit’ means the same as the use of ‘my spirit’ in clause e.

The second sentence is more difficult without more context.

The suggestion made by several commentators that the doom of Judea’s downfall is meant with the ‘first things’ that should no longer be remembered takes too little account of the poem’s own concentric structure.

I suggest it means:

Several commentators have suggested that the doom of Judea’s downfall is meant as [one of] the ‘first things’ that should no longer be remembered ... [or vice versa?]

But I also note that there is reference to a poem. It should be borne in mind that poems, songs, etc. often use 'strange' terminology for reasons of meter or rhyming.

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