Posts filed under 'word origins'
February 2nd, 2010
As any crossword puzzle fan knows, “redact” is a synonym for “edit.”
Because of its use in the legal world, “redact” is usually associated with a heavy-handed form of editing. As Bryan A. Garner says in “Garner’s Modern American Usage,” this often means the deletion or masking of “privileged, impertinent or objectionable matter in a document.”
The Nixon White House transcripts of the Watergate-era tapes were significantly redacted, for example, with all those expletives deleted. And when “sensitive” documents are finally made public, they often seem to have more stuff marked out than not.
“Redact” comes from the past participle of the Latin verb “redigere” — “to bring to a certain condition, reduce to order.”
The first definition of “redact” is “to write out or draw up”; its second is “to arrange in proper form for publication” — or “edit.”
Unfortunately, redacting now seems to be more about preventing things from being seen.
A less loaded verb is “revise.”
January 22nd, 2010
One thing word sleuths discover early on is that English is drawn from many sources. One of the rarer ones is Malay, the official language of Malaysia and Indonesia, which is where the word “amok” comes from.
Its preferred pronunciation is “a-MUK,” which is why some choose to spell it “amuck” — as in the classic Daffy Duck cartoon “Duck Amuck,” for instance.
“Amok” means “in a frenzy; in a violent rage.” It often appears in the phrase “run amok” (or the variation “go amok”), which can be applied broadly for “to become wild or undisciplined.”
Its other definitions are more violent or downright murderous, which are more in keeping with its origin. That, according to “The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories,” was “a noun for a Malay in a homicidal frenzy after taking opium.”
Most instances of things running amok are not quite in that class.
January 20th, 2010
The word “service” has many meanings, but it’s generally considered a positive thing.
Its roots, however, are in the Latin “servus,” meaning “slave.”
This heritage is best preserved in the adjective “servile” and the noun “servitude.” The latter has two general applications, neither of them desirable:
“The condition of a slave, serf and the like; subjection to a master; slavery or bondage.”
“Work imposed as punishment for a crime.”
“Servitude” should not be thought of as a fancier-sounding substitute for “service.”
December 23rd, 2009
When an alcoholic beverage is rated as “100 proof,” that means the amount of alcohol in it is 50 percent, at least in the United States. It works out to more like 57 percent in Great Britain and Canada.
A liquor that’s 100 proof is sometimes called “proof spirit,” which Webster’s refers to as “the arbitrary standard.” I love coming across terms like this — “arbitrary,” meaning “not fixed by rules,” matched up with “standard,” as in “something established for use as a rule or basis of comparison.”
I suspect there are more “standards” that have been established arbitrarily than we realize.
Moving on from drink to food, you can’t adequately judge a pudding without tasting it. So says Miguel de Cervantes in “Don Quixote,” to wit: “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”
It’s often misquoted as “The proof is in the pudding.” That skips the most important — and most enjoybale — part.
December 22nd, 2009
The suffix “-proof” has three principal meanings: “impervious to,” “protected from or against” and “resistant to, unaffected by.”
Some of these “-proof” terms are so well-established that they are written as one word: bulletproof, childproof, fireproof, rustproof, shockproof and waterproof, for example.
Others haven’t graduated to that status and remain hyphenated. One is “recession-proof,” maybe, as we’ve rediscovered lately, because so few things are.
One that’s expanded beyond its literal sense is “foolproof.” Basically, it’s applied to something that’s “so simple, well-designed or indestructible” that even a fool can’t mess it up.
Webster’s unabridged dictionary takes it an additional step: “guaranteed to operate without breakdown or failure under any conditions.” That’s some guarantee.
My experience has been that the only sure thing is that there’s no sure thing.
December 18th, 2009
I was asked about the proper way to refer to institutions of higher learning. There may be some strict standards somewhere, but I gave up trying to find them. So here’s my take:
The “universe” is everything. The word comes from the Latin “universus” — “all together”" — which is also the root for “university.”
Traditionally, a university is made up of a number of colleges and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees.
“College” is generally applied to an institution that offers undergraduate or associate degrees but not graduate degrees. However, many individual colleges within universities do have graduate programs.
The word “college” is a descendant of the Latin “collegium,” meaning “community, society, guild, fraternity.” An earlier ancestor is the Latin “collega,” meaning “one chosen along with another.” This chummy aspect is reflected in “colleague” and “collegial.”
There are several other types of colleges, including professional schools (like a secretarial college), clerical groups (the College of Cardinals, for instance) and the group that actually elects the president of the United States (the electoral college).
And then there’s Dartmouth College, which is actually a full-fledged Ivy League university.
In general, though, a college is a smaller educational entity and shouldn’t be called a university. A university can be made up of a number of colleges; loosely speaking, the whole thing could be called a college.
If you aren’t sure which to use after a first reference, either one can be called a “school.”
December 17th, 2009
Here’s a word you don’t see much these days: “contumely.” You’re even less likely to hear it, or recognize it if you do: Webster’s offers six ways to pronounce it.
It’s one of those uncommon “-ly” words that isn’t a modifier. It’s a noun, meaning “haughty and contemptuous rudeness; insulting and humiliating treatment or language” or, as an example of such behavior, “scornful insult.”
So we hear lots of contumely in our public discourse, we just don’t hear it called that.
Webster’s traces the word back to the Latin “contumelia,” meaning “reproach; abuse.” It also says it’s probably akin to “contumacy,” which has just two pronunciations. It means “stubborn refusal to submit to authority, especially that of a law court; insubordination; disobedience.”
That word’s Latin root is the verb “tumere” — “to swell up.” And that’s also the root for “tumor,” another undesirable thing that’s all too common.
Thankfully, tumors are often easier to get rid of.
December 10th, 2009
“Grocery store” can be considered a redundancy, but it’s not among the worst, by a long shot.
The first definition for “grocery” is “a grocer’s store.” Secondarily, the plural “groceries” can be used for “the food and supplies sold by a grocer.”
But we don’t call a single item “a grocery.” And we don’t use specific numbers with the plural: “I bought 10 groceries today.”
So “grocery” really only works for the store, and you don’t need to add “store.”
By the way, “grocer” sounds the same as “grosser,” and both come from the Late Latin “grossus,” meaning “thick.”
And how do we quantify “gross”? Twelve dozen.
December 9th, 2009
“What’s the difference between a jeweler and a jailer?”
“One sells watches and the other watches cells.”
That’s Webster’s example of “a riddle whose answer contains a pun.” And that’s the original definition of “conundrum.”
It also says the word, formerly spelled “quonundrum,” comes from 16th-century Oxford University Latin slang used to mean a number of things, including “pedant” and “whim.”
Nowadays, ”conundrum” can be “any puzzling question or problem” — with or without a pun.
December 8th, 2009
Local government officials have disputes and disagreements. Some probably even dislike each other. But we should not be using “disdain” for such interactions without strong words to back it up.
To “disdain” is “to regard or treat as unworthy or beneath one’s dignity; specifically, to refuse or reject with aloof contempt or scorn.” For a synonym, Webster’s offers “despise.”
You can criticize someone without being disdainful about it.
The “-dain” portion of the word comes from the Latin “dignus,” meaning “worthy.” A more obvious descendant is “dignity.”
The less common “deign,” pronounced the same as the “-dain” in “disdain,” is also a bit of a loaded word. It means “to condescend to do something thought to be slightly beneath one’s dignity.”
“Deigning” is a much milder form of “dissing” than “disdaining” is.
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