Thursday, April 3, 2014

A-to-Z Challenge: Cure

Ah, Thursday. The proper day for etymology.

Because I said so, that’s why.


Today’s word is: easily read in the title.

Cure showed up in the early fourteenth century as a noun and then later on as a verb. Originally, it meant care, like it does in its classical Latin form cura/curare, but it evolved from just “care for” to a medical sense. Cura can also be traced all the way back to the Proto Indo European kois-, be concerned. The word curate also comes from curare, by way of Medieval Latin, where it meant “to take care of souls”.

Sources

16 comments:

  1. Doesn't seem like the root word fell very far from the proverbial tree this time. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love learning the history of words and their meanings. :) Love this theme.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Curate having a root in taking care of souls seems strangely appropriate, since I think of museums as a way to nourish the mind and soul.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very interesting! Never thought cure came from care!

    ReplyDelete
  5. There is no proper day for etymology. At all.
    I'm tired of so many Latin words in our Germanic language.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I saw "Cure" and I immediately thought Robert Smith and started humming "Friday I'm in Love."

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was going to make a Cure, the band, reference, but I see Dara beat me to it. (Although I got a different song stuck in my head.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. "To take care of souls"... I feel like there's a spec fic story in there :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Proto Indo European, eh? Ok. If you say so ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. There was a Catholic Saint St John Vianney who was called the "Cure'd'Ars". Ars was his Parish and he was the cure' there to take care of the people as their priest....
    Makes so much sense!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jen: the modernized version for a clergyman is "curate." Makes sense, yes?

    ReplyDelete
  12. It doesn't look like the original word and the current one fell too far apart. Thanks for the informative post, as always. (Just hopped over from the A to Z challenge.)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I like this word. It sounds positive, plus it's one of my favorite bands.

    ReplyDelete

Please validate me.