Certain words become 'devalued' in the current context within which they are used. The Americans use the word 'awesome' where the Brits might say 'quite good', for instance. When something truly does inspire awe, you therefor often need to use an expletive before 'awesome' to emphasise that it really IS awesome.
The word 'daunt' originates from around the 1300's. It was derived from the French (appropriately enough in this instance) danter, a variant of donter meaning 'be afraid of, fear, doubt' (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php).
In this original context, following a three hour swim today, I reflected on the fact that I would have to do that same swim more than FIVE times in order to successfully arrive on a French beach.
I think that to label such a task as 'daunting' is fully justified in this instance.
The word 'daunt' originates from around the 1300's. It was derived from the French (appropriately enough in this instance) danter, a variant of donter meaning 'be afraid of, fear, doubt' (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php).
In this original context, following a three hour swim today, I reflected on the fact that I would have to do that same swim more than FIVE times in order to successfully arrive on a French beach.
I think that to label such a task as 'daunting' is fully justified in this instance.
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