Language Of Confusion: Acting!, Part VI

And now, for the final part of our look at the Proto Indo European root ag-, to drive, draw out, or move [https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ag-]. Of course I saved the weirdest for last.
 
First, strategy, which is fairly new for a word, not having shown up until 1810, just three years after strategic, though stratagem showed up back in the late fifteenth century. The words are direct translations of the French stratégie and stratégique, which is from the Greek strategia and strategikos, same translations, from the word strategein, general. That word is actually a mix of stratos, army, and agos, leader, and agos is from agein, to lead, which is from ag-. The leader of an army has to use strategy, so that’s why we have strategy.
 
But that’s not weird enough. Purge showed up in the fourteenth century meaning clear of charge or suspicion, then to cleanse a person or soul of defilement. It comes from the Anglo French purger, Old French purgier, and classical Latin purgare, to clean. That’s a mix of the Old Latin purus, pure and our old friend agere, to act. To purge is to act to get something pure.
 
We can still go weirder. Cache showed up at the end of the eighteenth century meaning a hiding place, then anything stored in a hiding place a few decades later. It was actually slang from French Canadian trappers, from the French cacher, to hide, which is from the Vulgar Latin coacticare, to store up or collect. That’s from the classical Latin verb coactare, to constrain, which is related to cogere, to force together, which we talked about weeks ago as being the origin of cogent. The co- means together and the rest is agere, so it’s to force together. And cache is related to cogent.
 
Somehow that’s not the only word related to cogent. Squat showed up in the mid fourteenth century meaning to crush or flatten (despite not being related to squash), and then for some reason it also started to mean the posture of someone hunkering down, and then in the nineteenth century, someone squatting on land that isn’t theirs. It’s from the Old French esquatir/escatir, with the es- from ex-, out, and quatir, from the Vulgar Latin coactire, to be forced, which is also from cogere. To squat is to force out. Despite not meaning force or out now.
 
And last but not least: examine. Examine! It showed up in the fourteenth century meaning to test someone, then a little later also meant to scrutinize. It’s from the Old French examiner, from the classical Latin examinare, to examine, or, more literally, to weigh. That’s thought to be from exigere, to demand, the origin word for exact, as well as essay and assay, with the ex- meaning out and the rest meaning agere (so it’s also rather close to squat!). Examine is… to act out???
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Fordham University
BrightHub

Windy Day

We’ve had some wind lately.

It was supposed to be staked to the ground, but apparently the wind was stronger than the earth.

Language Of Confusion: Acting!, Part V

Even more words from the Proto Indo European root ag-, to drive, draw out, or move. You ever noticed how that word sounds like you’re hawking something up from the back of your throat?
 
Anyway, the first word we’re looking at today is litigate—really! It showed up in the early seventeenth century from the classical Latin litigates, quarreled. That’s from the verb litigare, to argue, which is actually from the phrase litem agere, to sue or bring suit, with litem literally meaning suit and agere, as we’ve discussed in previous weeks, meaning to act. To litigate is to act on a suit.
 
And then there’s mitigate. It showed up in the early fifteenth century, from the classical Latin mitigates, just mitigated, from the verb mitigare, also just to mitigate. So yeah, it’s pretty much the same as litigate. It’s just that the front part is from mitis, gentle, meaning mitigate is to act gentle. Which I suppose can mitigate things.
 
Next, coagulate, because things weren’t weird enough. It showed up in the early fifteenth century from the classical Latin coagulatus, coagulated. That’s from the verb coagulare, to coagulate, which is from cogere, to force, the origin word of cogent, as we learned just last week. That means that yes, coagulate is from the word cogent. No idea how it got there, and that’s one explanation I’d really like.
 
Fumigate is also related, having shown up in the sixteenth century, which is two centuries after fumigation. That word is from the classical Latin fumigationem, smoking, from the verb fumigare, to smoke. That’s a mix of fumus, smoke, and of course agere. Fumigate is to smoke act? Act smoke? An act of smoking? That seems to make the most sense.
 
There’s one more word we’re going to look at today: castigate. It showed up in the seventeenth century, though much like the above word, castigation showed up much earlier, in the late fourteenth century. It’s from the Latin castigationem, punishment, from the verb castigare, to punish. The first part of the word comes from castus, chaste or pure (the origin word of caste, unsurprisingly), and the rest of course is agere, to act. To castigate is to act with chasteness, to punish.
 
I wonder if we can top these ones next week.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language

From The Spamfiles

It’s spam day again!

What’s the logic here? “If she doesn’t believe it’s a Facebook ID at this number, she’ll believe it at this one!”?

I like how his name is in brackets there, so it looks even more like its mass produced with different names in that place.

So it’s basically the Facebook scam with a fresh coat of paint. Wow, these are formulaic.

So I won a contest that was run by myself? Huh, I don’t remember doing that…
 

They just put attractive in the blog name now. They’re not even trying!

Language Of Confusion: Acting!, Part IV

Continuing on our journey of words descended from the Proto Indo European root ag-, to drive, draw out, or move. These ones have a G in them, but not ag-.
 
First, we just did navigate, so I’m not going to go into all the details again, but it showed up in the late sixteenth century, about fifty years after navigation. The navi- is from nau-, the Proto Indo European word for boat, and the rest is from ag-, to drive out or move. To navigate is to drive a boat.
 
Next, for something completely different, is prodigy, which showed up in the mid fifteenth century meaning a portent, not meaning a person until the seventeenth century. It’s from the Old French prodige and classical Latin prodigium, prodigy or portent. The pro- means forth or before, and the -igium is thought to be from agere, to act. “To act before” makes sense for a portent, but it’s a little more confusing when in reference to a person.
 
And there’s ambiguity, which showed up in the fifteenth century, while ambiguous showed up about a century later. Both are from the Old French ambiguite and classical Latin ambiguitatem, which is just ambiguity, from the verb ambigere, to surround. Ambi- is from ambhi-, around, and the rest is from agere, meaning ambiguous is to act around. Okay, this one’s totally lost on me.
 
If you want a word that doesn’t even have an A in it, there’s cogent, which showed up in the mid seventeenth century from the French cogent. That’s from the classical Latin cogentem, compelling, from the verb cogere, to force or literally to drive together. See, the com- means together, and the rest is from agere, which also means to drive. Driving something together makes it cogent. Somehow.
 
Finally today, a very old word: synagogue. It showed up in English in the late twelfth century, from the Old French sinagoge, Late Latin synagogal, and Greek synagoge. The syn- is a prefix that actually means together, and the rest is from agein, to put in motion, from ag-. A synagogue is to drive together, as in an assembly. It’s also not the Hebrew word for synagogue, just the Greek loan-translation of the actual word used. And now it’s the English word for a Jewish house of assembly.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Orbis Latinus

Helper

Bluey just appears when there’s a chance to be pesty.

She zooms in from the other side of the house just to get in the way.

Language Of Confusion: Acting!, Part III

Back to the continuing series of words descended from the Proto Indo European root ag-, to drive, draw out, or move. This week… well, they all have A in them, but it’s going to get weird.
 
First, ambassador. Yes, really. It showed up in the late fourteenth century from the Old French embassator/ambassateor, from the classical Latin ambactus, a vassal. In a shocking twist, that word’s actually from the Celtic ambiactos, a messenger or servant, which is from the Proto Indo European ambhi-, around, and ag-. An ambassador is to move around. I guess the amba- is the around part, so does that mean the ass- is actually from ag-???
 
Similarly, there’s embassy. It showed up in the late sixteenth century actually meaning the position of an ambassador (remember, they also used to spell that with an E), not meaning the place of an ambassador until the mid eighteenth century. It has pretty much the same origin, just from the French embassee, and ultimately the PIE ambi-ag-to, which like with ambassador, is ambhi- + ag-. So yeah, the ass- is the ag-.
 
Speaking of ass—I mean, kind of—there’s assay, which showed up in the fourteenth century as a verb that meant to try and then a noun that meant test of quality. The words come from the Anglo French assai and Late Latin exagium, a weighing. No, I don’t get it. Maybe it will make more sense when we look at its cousin, essay. Yes, that essay. It showed up in the sixteenth century as a noun meaning trial or attempt, and a century earlier as a verb meaning to test. It’s from the French word essai, which means an essay or a test, and it’s also from exagium. That’s from the classical Latin verb exigere, to demand, test, or drive out, with the ex- meaning out [https://www.etymonline.com/word/ex-] and the rest from agere, which we talked about last week and the week before as meaning to act. An essay is… to act out. Why did it come to mean writing? Because much like assaying involves unpolished materials, an essay is supposed to be unpolished writing. Which means all those revisions to essays they made me do in high school were incorrect for the format!
 
Can we make it any weirder? I think so. Axiom showed up in the late fifteenth century, from the French axiome, and classical Latin axioma. That was actually taken from the Greek axioma, which could mean an office, authority, or just an axiom. That’s from axios, worthy, from the Proto Indo European ag-ty-o-, weighty, and that ag- of course is to drive. So it went from weighty, to worthy, to authority, to an axiom. Sure.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Fordham University
Orbis Latinus

March Goals

Okay, somehow it’s March? Already? How did this happen??? That’s just wrong…
 
February Goals
1. Finish my notes for the latest WIP. Most of them so far are “word it better” and “actually describe this”.
Hey, I finished. Twelve hundred notes. I need a drink.
 
2. Start working on my editing notes. We’re at twelve hundred. Hence why I said start.
I was able to start, though my progress was hindered by getting rather sick earlier in the month. Babies are cute, but such germ-spreaders.
 
3. Keep editing my web serial. Only about nine chapters left in part two…
At least this was easy enough. Five chapters before the end!
 
And that was last month. Now for this month…
 
March Goals
1. Finish my editing for the new book. I think I’m down to eight hundred notes left. Eep.
 
2. Get the last chapters of the web serial ready to post.
 
3. Work on something fun that isn’t editing. I definitely need it.
 
It’s March, and spring will be here in a few weeks. What do you want to accomplish?