The words of a Feather

 The Ancient Greek root of “fly or wings” is “pter-“. It is derived from the PIE “pet-“ which also means “to fly/related to wings”. ⁣
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Before machines, the air was the path of huge lizards with wings for arms. These were pterodactyls (“dactyl” in Greek means “fingers”). Some also call them pterosaurs. but even before those lizards, it was the “old flying thing” that ruled the skies. No really, the Indys and Laras came across a really old fossil of a bird, and decided to call it “a really old bird”. Or “archaeopteryx”. ⁣
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H. J Draper's Lament of Icarus, showing a dead Icarus after he flew too close to the Sun, surrounded by lamenting nymphs. ⁣
⁣Touted to be a parable of a university student finishing too close to the submission deadlines, surrounded by their lamenting grades. ⁣

With all due respect to Doyle and Spielberg though, do note that a pterosaur probably looked nothing like the two would have us believe. All pop-culture is based on the Rule of Cool, and anyone who says a T-Rex was not fat and fluffy (like a chicken perhaps?) does not know their herpetology (“herpet” is Greek for reptile), and palaeontology (“palaeon” in Greek means “old”). ⁣
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The remaining others who are without wings are either called “apterous”, or sometimes (unironically), Icarus.⁣

On waltzing with Lord Helix

It was only too late that I realised the exit was pre-mature. “Wel-“, it turns out, has more words that it rolls out. Is it something to dance about? No. But we have “waltz” (a dance that involves lots of turns and whirls) anyway.

 

Lord Helix. Also called "the Lord and Savior", "the Almighty Helix" and "the Holy Helix". Known for spawning off the "Church of Helix" religion. ⁣

Now if you dance around with “wel-“ to Latin, it mutates to “hel-“. So, a “spiral-like thing” becomes a helix. That gives us words like helicity, helicometry, and helical (Yes, I too think that some of these words belong to the category of those which exist simply because they can). One of the more interesting ones though, is the word “helicopter”. It’s composed of roots “heli-“ + “-pter” (spiral + to fly). So, it literally is something that flies using a spiral action. That said though, “wel-“ has outlived its welcome. Raise a potion to Lord Helix, and let’s HM Fly off from here.⁣⁣

Why revolutions need wallets

 

The realization of a struggle, is what we call a revolution. “Revolution” is made up of “re-“ which is Latin for “again”, and “volvere”, derived from PIE “wel-” which means to “turn”. So, it literally is a “turn of events”.

 

The most interesting root here is the PIE “wel-“. It forms a part of surprisingly many words. A act of bringing about a new turn of events is a revolt. It is successful though only when people become a part of this turn, or are “involved” in it. When successful, this “rolls out” a new chapter of society making it “evolve”. A revolt needs to be targeted though. Bringing together too many issues can result in it becoming “convoluted” (“con-“ in Latin means “together”). 

 

 

These revolts may not always end “wel-“ though. Often, they are curbed by an instrument, that turns a cylinder to reload, called a “revolver”. Other elements involved could be the substance found behind huge safes, which open by turning huge handles, called “vaults”. Those, which one keeps folded in “wallets”.

 

That is when one should turn to other things. For example, “wel-“ gives its name to a part of machine that folds or turns, called a valve, and a machine that works by turning (wheels perhaps?) called a Volvo. The curving, arched part of a building, and the jump you make rolling over that part shouting “PARKOUR!” are both called vaults, with the latter serving as a really cool exit too.

On the Agony of Antagonists

 

While we’re in the world of stages, let’s take a look at the players too. The first one is quite literally called the protagonist. “Protos” is the Greek root for “first”, or “principal”, accounting for words like prototype, protozoa, protean (the first son of Oceanus, who became the god of sea. He could change his form at will, and thus, the word), protein (the first discovered “quality”), protocol, etc.

 

The other root that forms “protagonist” is “agon-” which in Ancient Greek means “contest, or a struggle”. We can break up “agon-” further into a PIE root “ag-“, which is more aptly translated to “move, or to drive”. So the primary person who drives ahead a contest, or an event, like a drama, is a protagonist. Their side-kick is the deuteragonist, and the one who works against this idea of “moving it ahead” is the antagonist (I don’t think I can justify the irony here). 

 

Original Picture: Evan Augistini, Deadline

 

 

Whatever it is that needs to be “moved” is thus, the “agenda”, and the means through which it moves on, is the “agent” or an “agency”. If it gets confusing, as to where it is that one is actually “moving” the plot, like that of Rowling’s Cursed Child, it leads to “agitation”.

 

As we saw, this “agitation” only takes a slight push from PIE to Greek, to turn into a struggle, which may cause “agony”. It can get worse though, and result in antagonization, especially if you’re hell-bent on perpetrating hate speech. #transRightsMatter

Theorizing about Theatre

 The word “theatre” is derived from Greek roots “thea-“, which means “to view”, and “-re” which is a prefix added much later by the British (the original Greek word was theatron). Thus, a theatre where you can look “all around” you, is called an amphitheatre (“amphi-“ means around, or “on both sides”). ⁣

Herdy Lamarr, a Hollywood actress touted "the world's most beautiful woman", who co-invented the "frequency-hopping spread spectrum". Her invention was instrumental in securing the air superiority by the Allies in the Second World War.

When you take a look at something, it is natural that you begin to create a mental image of it, relating it with one thing or another (as I’ve been trying, too hard apparently, with these posts). This process of taking a look, is called “theorizing”. And whatever you come up with then, is a theory – literally “an explanation borne out of looking at something”. When you’re able to make others see this theory as well, effectively proving it “for all to see”, it solidifies into a theorem. ⁣
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Trust etymology to render the “STEM v. Arts” debate redundant.⁣
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What was comedic about the Divine Comedy?

As I have said before, one of the ways a stroll is fulfilling, is due to the people you meet along the way. I bumped across @aakriti_j8 , she curates some amazing content at @wordigraphy and is an etymology enthusiast like me. As conversations go, we got to talking about comedy and errors. No, not of the Victorian variety, but that of the being exiled out of Florence and ending up writing the most horrific account of hell and calling it a Comedy kind.
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Dante’s Divine Comedy for starters, is a paragon of what AJ Cronin calls deceptive appearances. The only hilarious thing about his Inferno is how he created the entire thing out of pettiness and, for he was betrayed, decided that the most gruesome punishments (of being nibbled on by a three-headed Satan) was reserved for the poster-boy of treachery – Judas. This is what Aakriti on why it is called a “Comedy”. ⁣
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“So, whosoever said “Tragedy + Time = Comedy”, was not that wrong. Both the words, “tragedy” and “comedy” are derived from the Greek word ‘ode’ meaning ‘song’ or ‘to sing’ (the same “ode” we see in “rhapsody” which literally means “wrapping, or weaving” a song). Other words it spawns are parody, melody and ⁣
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Domenico di Michelino's Dante Illuminating Florence With His Poem.

 

At one point, the word ‘comedy’ even meant a poem’ in Old French. Somewhere around the late 14th century, comedy started to be defined as narrative with a happy ending. Since Dante started with Inferno and ended in Paradise, and had successfully threw shade at everyone who annoyed him, Aristotle, Socrates, Brutus, the works. It was a happy ending. Thus, Comedy. ⁣
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The word “tragedy” on the other hand, is a story that ends unhappily. In literal terms, it means “a goat song” (from Greek “tragos”, meaning goat or buck). Said so because it’s traced to the song performed before rituals, where goats were sacrificed, or to competitions where the "singers competed for a goat as a prize". You’re free to choose what’s sadder.”

Of seeing Red and taming shrews

The colour Red means many things to many people. It signifies luck and fertility in the East. To the Westerners, it is entirely religious, associated with the nobles and the clergy. It was some bad luck of the Church, or just foreshadowing then, that the colour of the robes worn by its celibate elites (Cardinals) was one associated with carnal desires. ⁣
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As with everything etymology though, that’s just the half of it. The actual symbolism that the Church wanted to signify from the Cardinal red, was that of Christ. You see, there was a light pink, flesh-coloured, ever-blooming flower called the “carnation”, named so because “kar-” in PIE literally means “cut”, like a piece of flesh, meat, or like the cut of the carnation flower, which gave it a peculiar shape. This shape resembled a crown, thus, we also got “coronation”. But I digress (yet, am not apologetic for it). ⁣
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The piece of flesh, held great symbolism (His blood and His flesh). It is from here that the concept of incarnation (to be born in the flesh), gets its bearings. So, no wonder the Church wanted etymology on their side. ⁣

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It didn’t turn out too well though, obviously. Soon, the cardinal colour began to be associated more and more with the flesh, rather than “His flesh”. “Carnation” spawned off the word “carnal”. Which meant “human, or related to flesh”. So, a carnal need, was anything but. Someone who couldn’t control such desires, and fed on them, was “carnivorous”. A celebration of this entirely sinful activity which made a lot of people happy, was a “carnival”. The Church didn’t give up though. It continued to push its propaganda that this beautiful word they’d picked up was their own, and anyone who said otherwise would suffer from His “carnage” (a massacre involving cutting or slaughter of flesh). But even then, it didn’t work out. In fact, Carnage to people now, is a cheap red Venom-knockoff, and not some fury that Hell hath not seen. ⁣
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Moral of the story, etymology is no one’s bi– shrew!  I meant shrew. Because you can’t tame it.⁣
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If you want peace, prepare for war

 

Law of the jungle is that what’s beautiful, is dangerous. That wisdom did not come about by itself. From the PIE root “deu-“ sprung about “belle”, which in Latin means a “woman” and my third-favourite Disney princess. The same PIE root also gave rise to “bell-“ which means “war” or “warlike”.

 

 

 

The Romans, in what can only be an epiphany, decided that their deity of war is most definitely a woman, called Bellona. Bellona then went on to lend her name to all things war, including, to “Voldemort’s last, best servant” (Bellatrix Lestrange). Time is divided on the basis of wars, with ante-bellum (before), and post-bellum (after). The rules which governed the conditions which demanded a declaration of war in Rome were called “jus ad bellum” (“ad” means towards, so the rule in place while nations are nearing towards a war, to this day are called so). The code of law in place while the war went on was “jus in bello”. Those with an inclination towards fighting are termed “bellicose”, and those actually, belligerents. A beautiful irony, with the Red Cross picking up on the lingo of the deities of war.

Drop-dead gorgeous

 

If you want to make an animated character look beautiful, you draw them with big, bulging eyes with dilating pupils. But it is a more Italian concept than Japanese. During the 1590s, the city of Florence had recently started promoting prostitution as a way of preventing sodomy (!). the Florentine women used a “trick of trade” to appear “wide-eyed beautiful”, more inviting to the Enlightened bachelors and infidels strutting about the streets. They used a kind of oil in their eyes, extracted from a flower, with the known property of diluting the pupils, and restricting your body’s nervous systems in general. Which means no sweating (so your make up stays on longer), no urination and salivation, and increased heart rate to help with “faking it” with the customers. 

 

 

 

It didn’t take long for people to realise how deadly those side-effects could be. And soon, this oil became famous as the “fair lady poison”. As Italians were, they decided to name it so. And thus the flower was called Belladonna. From “bella-“ (beautiful) and “donna” (woman, as also seen in words like prima donna, and Madonna). Since then this deadly nightshade has found mentions by Shakespeare, macho Elizabeth who rarely took a bath, conniving ophthalmologists, and the Witches Three. Point is, “drop dead gorgeous” is foreshadowing, and the next time somebody tells you that, take the hint and go wash your face or something.  

What makes you beautiful.

In PIE, the root “deu-“ means “good” or “to revere”. It gives rise to the root “beu-“, “ben-“ and “bon-” in Latin which, unsurprisingly, spawn all sorts of words related to beauty and money. It is obvious now where “beauty” (literally) comes from, but what’s not obvious is that is the effemination of the word “beau” (or “beaut” for a more inclusive understanding) which refers to the suitor of the lady, all of whom are wishing for a “boon” (a prayer, usually for something good). This boon can be in form of a bonus, or even a bounty, and result in a bonanza. For a child though, just a bonbon (a type of confectionary) would suffice. 

 

 

 

But the benefit of boons is only granted to the most Benedictine (one who speaks good, closely associated with God, or Pope), to the most benign (kind, generous, just a good person) and benevolent.

To balance off the diabetic nature of the write-up I’ll just throw in that the other set of roots that spout off “deu-“ mean war, poison, destruction and death.

Just say it wasn't you

The “dictionary” is made of the principal root “dict-“. In Latin, “dict”-“ or “dicere-“ means “to speak (for)” or “to show”.⁣

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Somebody speaking then can be called to be giving “dictation”, and would themself be the “dictator”. On those lines, the place where your word is law, is said to be under your jurisdiction. Every statement you say is a “dictum”, and your decision the “verdict” (if you’re feeling fancy you can also call it “voir doir” or French for “true word”). On the other hand, if you are drawn towards someone’s (or something’s) bidding, almost as if swayed by their (or its) words, then you’re an “addict” (“ad” means towards in Latin), and we have a problem.⁣

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When your friend comes to you with a problem, after doing something stupid which you clearly told them not to do, they’re said to be in a “predicament” because you “predicted” it. Now it’s up to you (again) to “vindicate” (to show on their behalf or simply, avenge) them. Then, when you have successfully made the situation worse, you can call upon the spirit of Benwfeuvbw Ciumriaebjjfhh to sweet-talk (“bene” means “good”) your friend into showing how it was their fault all along and hopefully they’ve learnt something from this entire episode.

The Professor and the Madman

Talking about dictionaries, the OED is perhaps the best, the classiest of them all. But as dictionaries go, you’d have to be insane to actually read it. And that’s only because it was written by one. Him, a hyper-religious man from Sri Lanka, who immigrated to America, then had sex with so many prostitutes that the people in New York got embarrassed and banished him to Florida, then to England, where he shot an Irish guy and got himself admitted to a mental hospital, called William Minor. And also, a Scottish cowherd.

The Scotsman, James Murray, was a polyglot, a member of the Philological Society, and is currently my favourite Impractical Joker. His aim was to make a directory of words “more complete than any”. Eventually the Society was approached by Oxford, and the wheels of what we call OED now, were put into motion. The work was easy enough, just trace the development of the word, along with evidence. Problem? Read every book ever written, and then read those written after that. Only an insane person could do such a thing.

 A still from the movie "The Professor and the Madman" based on the story of Murray and Minor. Sourced from Golden Scene.⁣

Enter the Ceylonese nymphomaniac. One advantage of being in an asylum, is that nobody bothers you when they see you jumping from reading about chemistry, to bookbinding, to mathematics of the octave scale. William Minor was perfect for the job. Minor thought so too, for he immediately applied after seeing an ad for “voluntary readers” in the newspaper.

So, they corresponded. Minor sent notes after notes of lexicographic evidence to Murray. The two eventually became friends. Murray even tried counselling Minor. Which perhaps worked, because Minor in about 1902, sliced off his own penis. A lot of pain, agony and long hours of holding in pee followed before the OED came to be.

That’s it, the origin of the Bible for anglophones all around. Courtesy of a team led by a pretentious cowherd, with help from an impulsive madman (which I think says a lot about the subject, and those interested in it). Etymology isn’t Latin or Greek, or even pure scholarly. It’s anecdotal.  

And no, Webster sucks so I won’t be doing a post on him and his.

The colourful world of Jazz (literally)

The popular root for “colour” comes from Greek “chrom-“. When Fourcroy and Haiiy stumbled upon a metallic element which made especially colourful compounds they decided to call it chromium. The metal was highly resistant, and was used for plating onto other metals. Ironically chromium plating made everything as far from chrome as is thinkable. This is also true for the browser wars. Google’s internet browser started off as “Chromium” before they decided to commit to the RGB and went with Chrome.

If you’re into jazz though, committing to RBG is your craft. You see when someone plays a note wrong, they deviate from the Diatonic scale. Some (read “LingLings”) may call it a wrong note, yes. To others, it’s adding a different “shade” and “hue” to the music and you have promptly found your way to the Chromatic Scale. 

Picture Credit: NextShark

 

Thus, anything that relates to colour is distinguished with the adjective “chromatic”. Study of colours is chromatology, and coloured photography is chromatography. Taking all we’ve come across so far we can also make a word for colour-blindness by combining Greek roots for “absence” (of), “colour” (from), “eyes” and add a noun-making suffix. We accordingly have “achromatopsia”.

Congratulations, we’ve made our first word which should be in the dictionary. If it’s not though, no worries. All words are made up.

Is black black or is black white?

As we’ve seen, nothing in Etymology is black and white. More so with black and white. Words like “blank” and “bleak” can be “black or dark” or “pale and colourless”. Were it up to etymologists, racism would be literally obsolete.

This confusion traces its roots to Germania, whose people couldn’t decide what colour to associate with “burning”. The Germanic word for “burning” was “black”. A thing while burning shone brightly, but it also turned dark black. So, when the Germanic word “black” traveled to English, it could mean both dark, and pale. The French then trotted along, adding a useless letter as they usually do, and spelt it “blank”. Eventually black (dark) and blank (pale) came to mean opposites.

Source: RandomInterestingFacts.com

In true spirit of etymology though that’s not all. One could argue, if one is not already lacking friends, that ““blank” can also mean a void or nothing”. Yes, and when you commit to that, you realize the blankness you see when you close your eyes is black. But, a blank sheet of paper is (ordinarily) white. And that’s still not all, the word “bleach” is derived from the Germanic word “black”, but it means to make things pale.

Did we just solve racism? No, we just bought something extremely tangential into the discussion because how else can you organically discuss etymology. But the important thing is, we were smug about it and made it seem more important than it actually is.

Salary comes from Salt? No...?

While we’re on Romans, and money we’ll have to address the now common did-you-know of “salary actually comes from salt?!”.⁣
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In times before the fridge and food challenges on TLC, food was the most valuable commodity, and anything which could increase the shelf-life of the food was even more so. Salt could be used as a great preservative. So, the soldiers who were “worth their salt” were paid in salt. In fact, “sol dare” in Latin means “to give salt”. It is probably not where “soldier” is derived from, but I would rather focus on the “probably” there. ⁣
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That said, it’s untrue that soldiers were literally paid in salt. Salt was a strictly regulated commodity yes, and by the ruling class. Receiving salt could be equated with receiving sustenance. And that is where the term supposedly comes from. But there’s no proof of it, and yet sources like Wikipedia and various Latin dictionaries (Like Lewis & Short, and Scheller’s) still attribute salary to salt.⁣
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Picture: Alfons Dlugosz's illustration of rolling of salt loaves at the Cracow Saltworks, Poland.⁣

“Salary” more likely derives from French “salaire” or Latin “salarium” both of which mean an “allowance”. But that’s boring. The only use of that information is when somebody else is trying to be more pretentious than you by threading the astute trail connecting salt and salary.  ⁣
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So, let’s dwell in the stories for longer. The myth is supported by the importance accorded to salt. In fact, in the Anglo-Saxon Britain, any town engaged with the trade and production of salt was denoted by their own prefix of “-wich”. And the sheer number of such towns in Greenwich, Driotwich, Northwich, Leftwich, etc. is evidence of the importance and prevalence. ⁣
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Salt has had an interesting history. Can it give rise to a revolution? Yes. Can it give rise to entire civilizations? Yes. Can it give rise to the word? Depends on who bought it up.⁣
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Of Monies and Monition

     The root “men-“ when externalized gives the meaning of being “mindful” of others, or reminding others. The latter has been known to be achieved by building monuments. The former is exactly reflected into the word “monitor”. When René Lesson came across a certain reptile who stood up on its two legs to scan its surroundings, he was reminded of his school days, and decided to call it a monitor lizard. This act “monitoring” is called, well, that, or admonition (for when you especially want to be hated). And if you’re a pro-monitor and adept at not having friends, you might even have developed a sixth-sense which tells you when an unruly child is about to be creative on your watch. It’s then called a premonition (“pre” is before and “mon-“ to think, or remind). But what if you still have a few friends left? You can tattle to the teacher of their doings so they are “reminded to be present at a certain time and place by an authority (or “summoned” made of “sub-” and “mon-“) and voila.

The evil connotations of “mon-“ go beyond Monuments and Men though. Aside from the fairly obvious monster (which is a personification of a reminder of bad times), the other is surprisingly unsurprisingly – “monies”. Amongst the earliest to mint money were the Romans. These mints were located on the Capitoline Hill in Ancient Rome, which happened to double-time as a temple dedicated to the patron goddess of Rome, “Juno Moneta”. “Moneta” was believed to be “oversee” or “monitor” Rome. The coins which came out of the Moneta mint (which itself is a corruption of “Moneta”), eventually came to be called "monies" and to “money”.

So, is money the root of all evil? Or is it the other way around?

Does Mensa International have anything to do with mind?

Mnemonic is formed of the root “mne-“ which means “to think” or “memory” in Ancient Greek. Anything pertaining to memory is thus a mnemonic. Pardoning someone’s actions, almost as if forgetting them, is granting them “amnesty”.

The root is also spelt as “men-” in PIE and “mens or mem-“ in Latin. All are related to “mind and intellect”. Words like mental, dementia (decreasing “mens-“), amnesia (absence of “mens’”), mention (a remembrance) mentor (a wise advisor) are all derived from here. Mentor becomes Mantri derived from Sanskrit (root as “manas-“) who are known for their Mantras (an instrument of thought).

The Greeks later spelt it as “maton”. Spawning all sorts of words like automaton (one which could think of itself), automation, and automatic. Minds have never been easy to read (about). Those who have been idle enough to try have had to inevitably deal with manias and maniacs. That being said, the real tragedy is not people casually forcing in “but Freud has been refuted”, but Mensa International does not derive its name from this root :/

Rainbow King

In Old English, the word was mostly taken to mean “rice” meant “mighty”, “wealthy” and “of high rank”. The closest semblance of it still exists in the German “Reich”. The root had its Latin origins in “rex/ reg”, and in Sanskrit as “raj”, all of which were associated with the concept of “kingship”, in fact a “rajah” in Hindi (a language derived from Sanskrit) still means “king”. From those roots we get words like regime ((time) of king), reign, regal, regiment (rule or guide, thus a routine) and region. ⁣
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The other meaning that came to be of “rex” and “reg” was that of “to move in a straight line” (thus ruler can be both, a ruler, and a ruler). It get mutated to “rec-“ and gives us a set of words which signify a “straight line”. Bridging “rec-“, and “reg-” we have words like “regimen”, which means a guiding set of rules, and “regular” and “regulate” which again signify a rule or pattern. A shape having all right angles is a rectangle. When you set something straight you rectify it. The extent of being straight is its rectitude, and movement in straight line is called rectilinear.

When you derive a name from these set of roots you get Richard, and this finally gives me an opportunity to make a dick joke. How “rich and straight” eventually came to mean dick or jerk, is as stupid and fitting a story as you’d expect of etymology. ⁣

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Somebody shortened Richard to Rich, and had a bad enough handwriting for somebody else to read it as Dick. Seriously. You either absolutely love, or absolutely despise etymology now. In either case, my job is done.⁣
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Picture: Visual representation of how Richard became a mnemonic for Rainbow, in "Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain". Happy Pride!⁣

Of leaders and rulers

  The words related to government and rulers are usually formed out of two roots “-cracy” and “-archy”, almost respectively.

 

Derived from the Ancient Greek “arkhein”, and Latinized as “-archy”, it means “the first”, and thus in classic metaphorical fashion, “to rule”. The study of anything related to those who were early enough to be first is called archaeology. The sacred ritual that was supposed to be performed first while worshipping Dionysus, was called “ta hiera”. It only took a few thousand years for it to mean anything performed first in order, in “hierarch” which means the head priest; and a few thousand more, for it to mean any rank in an order, or a sense of organization, in “hierarchy”. With that aside, we move on to words which stay true to their primitivity in patriarchy (rule by a father-figure, or male), monarchy (“mono” is “one”), and even hagiarchy (“hagi” means holy”). In turn, the person in rule in those respective settings becomes a patriarch, monarch and hagiarch.

 

The Latinized form of Ancient Greek “-kratia”, is “-cracy”, which means “rule or power”. It gives us words like democracy (rule by citizens), aristocracy (rule by best citizens) and autocracy (rule by I, the citizen). Others like gerontocracy (old people), bureaucracy, idiocracy and androcracy follow.

 

Interestingly, most of the roots used with “-archy” are also acceptable with “-cracy”. It is just another example of when English stops being Greek, and Latin and French, and starts being English. However, the nuance lies in the difference between the concepts of “ruling” and “governing”. The rule by rich people is plutarchy, but a government by rich people is plutocracy (Pluto was the Roman God of riches). Go do with that what you will.