Original Public Meaning

Recently my students have started to use the word "extra" as an adjective meaning something like "over the top" or "ostentatious." Today we look at "extravagant," a word that approximates this new slang but one that also has its own fascinating etymology related to "wandering" and "straying." To help us understand the idea of extravagance, we take a look at Susan Sontag's "Notes on 'Camp'"—it's an...

Questions of "distribution" have always been central to ethical and legal matters. The etymology of "distribute" itself comes with its own knotty questions and deceptive cousins—for instance, the loose and probably false connection between this word and "tribe." To close things out, we consider the opening paragraph of René Descartes's Discourse on the Method and its insistence that "good sense is...

We're back after a brief hiatus with the word "exhaust," a word that has broad application in English—sometimes a verb, sometimes a noun. It's an opportunity to review the idea of a "perfect passive participle," a fundamental grammatical concept observed in Latin words like exhaustus , from which our English word "exhaust" arises. Finally, we consider the character Neddy Merrill from John Cheever'...

The word "dissolve" likely brings up an image of a chemist's solutions or a sugar cube breaking apart in water. But this word has applications in a wide range of areas: a dissolute person, the dissolving of Parliament, even the final dissolving of the body and soul. As a more recent example, we consider the phrase "dissolving margins," a recurring theme in the Neapolitan Novels of Elena Ferrante,...

In English, the notion of "conscience" is often confused with "consciousness," words that share the same etymological roots in Latin. Generally, we might define "conscience" as that "little voice" in our head that tells us what's right and what's wrong. In today's episode, we consider how that notion of a private, internal conscience developed from a word that originally meant a "joint understandi...

We normally think of ambition today as a kind of personal virtue, alongside traits like "grit" and "tenacity." But in the Roman world, ambitio —from which our English word "ambition" directly descends—was often viewed with suspicion. In today's episode, we look at the violent and tumultuous world of politics in the late Roman Republic through the work of Sallust, the Roman historian who chronicles...

The arts give us so many terms with interesting histories: arpeggio, pirouette, collage. Today, we turn to the technical terminology of architecture and consider the word "cornice," a word that comes to English from Italian but that has murky roots in Latin. Its obscure origins give us an opportunity to consider the changing nature of the modern cityscape—as beautifully described in Colson Whitehe...

The word "symphony" has a straightforward origin: it comes directly from ancient Greek roots for "together" and "sound." But it offers an opportunity to explore the history of linguistic rules around word formation and the notion of "barbarism" in English. Finally, we read a poem from the celebrated American writer Billy Collins, "Another Reason Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House." Suggest a word...

A wobbly suspension bridge, a tightrope walker, a rocky precipice—there are many images that might unsettle those with a fear of heights (or acrophobia ). Today we consider the last of these examples, "precipice." It comes to us from the Latin praeceps or "headfirst," a word that brings to mind the fast, rushing downfall one might experience from such heights. As a literary reflection, we look to...

The English noun "maxim" sounds like it should have something to do with a "greatest" or "biggest" or "maximal" thing. Instead, it means a general, even foundational rule. In today's episode, we look at the curious origins of "maxim" in Latin's superlative adjective maximus , which means "largest." As a more modern reflection, we revisit the criticism of the Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sandfo...

Sometimes, English takes words directly from Latin: mea culpa, alma mater, et cetera . That's the case with today's word: dictator . Even if "dictator" has a rather simple etymology, it has a complex and fascinating political history, which includes infamous Romans like Sulla and Julius Caesar. To conclude, we look at Hannah Arendt's classic work The Origins of Totalitarianism , in which she provo...

Today's world is full of "consultants" and "advisers" in the domains of business, politics, and even education. But the verb "consult" is an old one, coming directly into English from the Latin consulere . Its etymology, even in the ancient world, is pretty muddled, and this confusion persists today in the often-mistaken words "council" and "counsel." We also consider an essay by the American auth...

When we think of "anarchy," we might imagine rioters in the streets. But the etymology of this word extends well beyond the world of politics. Today we explore the curious roots of "anarchy," which builds on a Greek term that means both "origin" and "authority." Finally, we read a brief passage from Igor Stravinsky's The Poetics of Music on the challenges and temptations of artistic originality. S...

When we feel "indifference" about two options before us, we refuse to make a distinction between them. It's a word that's often confused with "ambivalence"—but when we grasp the roots of these words, the distinction between them becomes clearer. To help us appreciate the linguistic and even moral contrast between "indifference" and "ambivalence," we turn to the psychologist and philosopher William...

Every day we forget things. Thankfully, we don't need to remember every face from our commute, every song on the radio. Today's word "oblivion" draws from this universal experience of forgetting, and its Latin ancestor oblivisci gives us several modern English terms, both common (like "oblivious") and obscure (like "oubliette"). In our consideration of forgetfulness and the practice of leaving thi...

We're back after a brief hiatus with the word "scrutinize," whose roots draw from the universal experience of dealing with garbage. Well before our modern era of landfills and recycling, the Romans separated their trash—or scruta— from their treasure. From this Latin word scruta , we have inherited the notion of "scrutinizing": looking for something of value amid refuse. To close out, we ponder a...

Our future goals—for our career, for our physical fitness, for anything—are our "aspirations." This word, which literally means "a breathing toward," has an murky connection with its dominant modern meaning of a "desire for our future." These tenuous links still can still help us appreciate the notion of aspiration as it appears in Ralph Waldo Emerson's The Method of Nature , his 1841 meditation o...

The word "utopia" was invented in 1516 by Sir Thomas More for his book of the same name. But a utopia seems to draw from two separate Greek notions: a "non-existent place" and a "good place." In today's episode, we consider the confused origins of "utopia," and we consider the word's appearance in the novel Main Street by Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Sug...

When someone is a "patient," that person is, in one sense, weakened by an affliction but also, in another, powerfully enduring it. There's a paradox behind the idea of "patience," and in this episode we consider how this English word confronts this very tension. Finally, we consider a brief poem by the reclusive author Emily Dickinson, whose bracing images remind us that strength can sometimes hid...

In our previous episode, we considered how the Greek vocabulary for "feeling" developed into our contemporary language of "aesthetics." Today, we look at the similar terminology of "sensing" in Latin, which eventually evolved into the English word "sentiment." Interestingly, these similar ancient terms become rather different ideas in English. As a reflection on the roots of our own sentiments, we...

Ancient philosophical thought retains an enormous influence on our own contemporary worldview. Today's word—"aesthetic"—draws from that very tradition. We might think of "aesthetics" as a branch of philosophy concerned with the evaluation of art, and even more fundamentally, the word itself raises important questions about what we know anything and how we can know it. To help us think through thes...

The Greeks and Romans have left behind so much: not just literature, but roads, vases, statues, and buildings. In today's episode, we use this "material culture" of the ancient world as an entry point for thinking about the word "opulent," which itself draws on a multiple words from Latin. To think through the notion of opulence, both ancient and modern, we consider a passage from Joan Didion's se...

Pyramids are part of global architectural culture. We find pyramid-like structures in Egypt, Mexico, and in many other places. But the word "pyramid" itself comes from Ancient Greek—or perhaps it does. The etymology of "pyramid" is a bit of an unsolved linguistic riddle, and in today's episode we consider some possible origins. We also look to a famous passage from Horace, the poet of Augustan Rom...

We all plan for the future we want, even knowing that the best laid plans of mice and men can go awry. When we try to look ahead and make the best choices, we exercise a kind of "providence," at least according to the etymological roots of this word. In today's episode, we consider the notion of providence and its close relation to "prudence." We also look to John Milton's Paradise Lost , whose fi...

We might think of grubs hidden under a rock when we hear the word "larva" today. The word comes from Latin, but at least originally, it doesn't mean "insect"—rather, it means "ghost." Today we consider the strange development of biological terms while also revisiting a famous ghost story in a comedic and somewhat bizarre novel from the Roman world, Petronius's Satyricon . Suggest a word for a futu...