[GreenYes] another question of language

[Waste Not <wastenot@xtra.co.nz>]

Since there have been musings today about the use of language ("problem 
bins") I thought that I'd canvass the list on this issue.
I find it very appropriate that the English word "waste" should have two 
quite distinct but related meanings - "rubbish" and "to use in a profligate 
manner."  It must say something about the culture in which the meanings 
evolved that the same word is used for both.  I have asked a French friend 
(who works as a translator) and there is no such overlap of meaning in the 
various French terms.  I have also asked a Catalan friend (who also works 
as a translator in several European languages) and he knows of no other 
language that has a single word that includes both concepts.  (He also gave 
a diatribe on how only a crude, bastardised language such as English would 
allow one word to be both a verb and a noun, but that's a different 
matter).
Does anyone know of any other language (and, one supposes, culture) that 
recognises that "waste" is "a waste"? 
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