Do you understand the words that are coming out of your mouth?

Words, phrases and sayings all have roots in other languages that have come over into English and on to the (A)Merican language. Many words we use today may have common origins and meanings familiar to us and others may not. For instance I’ve noticed how the word Black evolves and bleaches to white in it’s origins. Here are some words that we use everyday and may not have thought of their etymological roots or where they come from and how they just may affect our psyche without us ever noticing. I thought about this when I saw the Chris Tucker character in the movie Rush Hour said to his Chinese collegue “do you understand the words that are coming our of my mouth?” So I ask do you understand the words that are coming out of your mouth?

Wife - Having roots in that of a veiled person, shame or female shame; pudenda “one being made to shame.” To the Germanic wibam (wombman) or simply woman. Originally having nothing to do with being in a state of marriage.

Witch - Later understood to be a woman having dealings with the devil. From the Germanic female soothsayer, wikken. One skilled with drugs or poisons (pharmacology). From the Gothic weihs meaning sacred. Ultimately a witch is a WISE woman.

Wit - As you can see the root of the word wit-ch. From the Germanic witz; a joke. Wid meaning to see, to see is to know.

Genius - One possessing superior intelligence. A person with distinguished mental prowess or an outstanding creative talent. The Romans believed the genius was the guiding or “tutelary”(guardian) spirit of a person, an inborn nature. From the Arabic Djinn or Genii, coming into English as “genie,” from the Kemetan (Egyptian) Guardian Angel.

God/god - Origins of the word are uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Germanic gudan. The immanent spirit in a burial ground. Or the pouring of libations. Also, believed to be from the heathen word for deity. Possibly from the Proto-Indo-European grau meaning “to call or invoke”(conjure?) Others believe the word God/god derives from the Buddha’s patriarchal name Guatama or Gotama, to the Danish Gud, German Gott, to English God. At any rate the word God/god is a relatively new EUROPEAN invention in terms of history.

Comments

[DJ Black Adam]

Shalom Victor.

Of course the English "word" for El (God) is a generic aproximation. We can refer to our Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, as that, or by His title: "Elohim ElShaddai Adonai Shekinu".

[[Victor Amenta]]

Thanks for coming by DJ, Could we then go forward and accept that the pronounciation of the EL of EL-ohim, EL-Shaddai would be pronounced in its origninal Aramaic roots as Allah?

[Exquisitely Black]

This begs the question of how off modern English interpretations of ancient texts (even those translated from different languages) could be...

[[Victor Amenta]]

EB, Thanks for passing through. I agree modern English is off and will only get worse. A study recently showed, the average 15 year old in 1950 had a vocabulary of 25,000 words. By 2005 the average 15 year old had a vocabulary of only 5000 thousand words. These 15 year old children in 2005 are now 19 or 20 years old, I wonder if their command of the language they use every day has fallen or stunted even more since '05?