Part of the work of bringing soul back into the world is learning to address this world — and each other — with beautiful, complex, multi-faceted, nuanced (slight difference, shade of color, mist, vapor, cloud) language (tongue; Spanish: lengua), and to know how our words have evolved over many centuries from their original Greek, Latin or Germanic meanings. English in particular is a mish-mash (mash: to mix with hot water, reduce to a soft pulpy consistency) of influences, because English history itself is the story of regular invasion by different language groups. It is indeed ironic that the English themselves invaded so many other countries that the language acquired countless words from other places. But that is another story.
So here is a very incomplete list of English words with surprising (related to comprehend) roots, original meanings and connections to other common words.
I invite you to bookmark an etymology dictionary on your computer. Get into the habit of wondering, “Hey, what does that word mean? Is it related to this other one? Why?” And please send me any interesting (to be between) additions.
Adolescence – Becoming adult; related to nourish, old
Adulate – To wag the tail
Aggravate – To make heavier; related to grief
Agony – A struggle for victory; related to protagonist, act, antagonize
Alcatraz – Large web-footed sea bird, related to albatross
Alcohol – To stain; related to kohl, powder used to darken the eyelids
Amateur – One who loves; related to amor
Ambition – A going around to solicit votes.
Ambivalent – Both strengths; related to valiant
Amnesia – Loss of memory (the goddess Mnemosyne); related to mind
Analyze – From Dionysus “the Loosener”; related to catalyst, release, lose, solve
Anesthetic – Lack of sensation (to pleasure or pain), loss of beauty
Anger – Tight, painfully constricted, narrow, to squeeze; related to anxious
Animate – To give life to, from anima ("life, soul, breath"), related to animal
Anthology – Gathering of flowers
Anxiety – Tight, constricted; possibly from Ananke, goddess of Necessity
Apocalypse – To lift the veil; related to Calypso
Apprentice – Someone learning; related to apprehend
Arena – Sandy place to soak up blood in Roman or Spanish amphitheaters
Arctic – The Bear constellation
Assassin – Related to hashish
Assist – To take a stand; related to resist
Asterisk – Little star
Astound – To thunder, deafen, related to astonish
Astronaut – Sailor of the stars
Atone – To be at one
Auspicious – Divination by observing the flight of birds; related to augur, auspices
Author – One who causes to grow; related to authority, augment
Average – Financial loss incurred through damage to goods in transit
Ballet – To throw one’s body; related to ball, diabolic, parable, devil, metabolize
Barbarian – Unintelligible speech of foreigners
Believe – Related to love, libido, lovely
Bible – From Byblos, the port that exported papyrus; related to bibliography
Bless – Blood sprinkling on pagan altars; possibly related to wound
Boil – Related to bull (Papal edict)
Book – A beechwood tablet on which runes were inscribed
Boulevard – Top surface of a military rampart; related to bulwark
Bowel – Sausage; related to botulism
Bugger – A Bulgarian
Caesar – Leader who has long hair; related to Kaiser, czar, caesarian
Calendar – Calends, the first day of the Roman month, when debts fell due
Canard – To half-sell ducks
Cancer – Crab-shaped; related to canker
Capital – Pertaining to the head; related to capitalism, capo (Mafia), decapitate
Capitol – From temple of Jupiter on Rome’s Capitoline Hill
Carnival – To temporarily stop eating meat; related to carnage, incarnation
Casino – Little house
Cataclysm – To wash down; related to cloaca
Catastrophe – To turn downward
Catholic – Universally accepted; related to whole
Cereal – From the Roman Goddess of agriculture, Ceres (Greek: Demeter)
Chattel – Property, goods; related to cattle
Checkmate – The King is dead
Chemical – From alchemy, that which is poured out
Chivalry – Horsemen; related to cavalier, cavalry
Chlorine – From the goddess Chloris/Chloe; related to chlorophyll, chloroplast
Chorus – A dance in a circle, enclosed dancing floor; related to choreography
Circle – Related to circus, circumstance, cycle, chakra, zodiac, Circe
Collude – To play with
Combat – To beat together; related to battle, batter
Comet – Long-haired star
Communicate – To make common
Companion – Bread mate; related to accompany
Compassion – To suffer together
Compete – To petition the gods together; related to competent
Complain – To strike, beat the breast; related to plague
Complicate – To fold together; related to complicit
Compost – To place together; related to compote, position, posit
Comrade – Sharing the same room or bed; related to camera, chamber
Condescend – To go down together
Condolence – To suffer together; related to doleful
Condom – A glove
Conflagration – Burning together; related to flagrant, bleach (v.)
Conflict – To strike together; related to afflict
Confound – To pour together
Congregate – To collect in a flock, related to gregarious, aggregate
Conjugal – To yoke together, related to jugular, conjugate
Conjure – With the law
Conspire – To breathe together
Consider – With the stars; related to desire
Conscious – To be mutually aware; related to conscience, science
Constipate – To pack or cram together; related to stiff
Contagion – Touch closely; related to contact
Converse – To turn about with
Convince – Related to conquer, victory, invincible
Cosmetic – Good order; related to cosmos, cosmic
Courage – Heart; related to discord, record
Create – Arise, grow; related to crescent
Crisis – Turning point in a disease, indicating recovery or death
Culture – Tend, guard, cultivate; related to colony
Cure – Take care of; related to curate, accurate, curious
Curfew – Ringing of a bell in the evening hour; signal to cover the fires
Currency – Value of herd animals that run; related to car, career, cargo, current
Custom – Related to costume
Cynic – Dog-faced; related to canine, canary
Damn – Damage, harm; loss, injury; a penalty; related to indemnity
Danger – Power of a lord or master; related to domain, dominate, domestic
Decadent – To fall apart; related to accident, cadaver, casualty
Decimate – Killing one prisoner in ten at random
Delight – Related to dilettante, delicious
Debate – To beat down
Decrepit – To crack, creak; related to raven
Dilapidate – To throw stones at; related to lapidary
Deliberate – To weigh in scales; related to Libra
Deluded – Out of the game
Demon – Related to daemon, jinn, genie (genius)
Deprecate – To pray against; related to postulate, prayer, precarious
Desire – Await what the stars will bring; related to consider
Despair – To lose hope (French: espoir), related to desperate, desperado
Destroy – Un-build; related to structure
Diabolic – To throw across; related to ballistic, hyperbole, devil, ball, ballet, ballad
Dilettante – Related to delight
Dinosaur – Terrible lizard (from Deinos, son of Ares), related to dire
Disaster – Against the stars
Discourse – A running about
Divide – Related to widow, with
Doctor – Make to appear right; related to decent
Economy – Ordering of the household
Educate – To bring forth what is within, to lead; related to Duke
Electric – Resembling amber
Elude – Out of the game
Emotion – To move out, remove, agitate
Empathy – Feeling suffering, related to pathos, pathetic, empathic, sympathy
Employ – Entangle, enfold; related to implicate, ply, imply, deploy
Encyclopedia – Training in a circle
Entertain – To hold together
Enthusiastic – Filled with a god
Epidemic – Among the people
Eskimo – Eater of raw meat, or snowshoe-netter
Excruciating – Related to crucify, cross
Exhilarate – To make cheerful; related to hilarious
Exonerate – To remove a burden; related to onus, onerous
Experiment – Try, risk; related to experience, peril
Explain – To flatten or limit
Explore – To weep, cry out; related to deplore
Extort – To twist or wrench out; related to torque
Extravagant – To wander outside
Exuberant – Overflowing; related to udder
Family – Servants of a household
Fan – Inspired by a god (fanatic); related to feast, fancy, festival
Fascinate – Amulet in the form of a phallus
Fate – Spoken by the gods; related to fame, fable
Fatal Flaw – To miss the mark in archery
Feminine – She who suckles; related to fecund, affiliate, fennel, fetus, fawn
Flesh – From German fleisch (pork, bacon)
Forest – Outside; related to foreign, door
Fornicate – Arch, vaulted chamber or opening; related to furnace, thermal
Fortune – From Roman goddess of luck Fortuna
Fragment – A piece broken off; related to fraction
Gamble – Related to game, gamey
Gargoyle – Waterspout, from French for throat, related to gargle
Gasket – Young girl; whore, harlot, concubine; related to garcon
Genius – Guardian deity watching over one from birth; related to genie, genial
Gentle – High-born; related to gentry, gentrify, gentleman, genus, genteel
Ghetto – The iron foundry (getto) in Venice where the Jews were forced to live
Glamor – Dangerous female enchantment, occult knowledge; related to grammar
Glaucoma – Owl, “Gray-eyed Athena”, related to glaucous
Grotesque – Of a cave; related to grotto
Grow – Related to grass, green
Guru – Heavy, weighty; related to grave
Happy – Good luck, prosperous; related to happen
Harmony – The means of joining; Harmonia was daughter of Ares and Aphrodite
Hell – Norse goddess, one who covers up or hides something
Heretic – One who is able to choose freely
Hermetic – Dealing with the occult; from Greek god Hermes
Hierarchy – Rule by a high priest
Host – Related to hospitality, hospital
Humiliate – Related to humus, humor, humble, human, humid, posthumous
Hypnotic – From Hypnos, Greek god of sleep
Hypocrite – Stage actor; deciding under; related to crisis
Hysterical – Of the womb, related to hysterectomy
Idiot – One who will not participate in public affairs
Illusion – In the game, to play with; related to ludicrous
Imbue – To keep wet; to soak, saturate; related to imbibe
Immolate – To sprinkle with sacrificial meal as sacrifice; to grind; related to mallet
Impeccable – Not capable of sin
Impetuous – Done or given with a rush of force; related to impetus, petition
Impudent – Unashamed; related to pudenda
Inaugurate – To divine the future, related to augur, augment, contemplate
Incense – That which is burnt; related to incendiary
Infantry – Unable to speak; related to infant, infantile
Infatuate – To make a fool of
Infinity – Not ending; related to finish, fix
Ink – To burn in; related to caustic
Inspire – Fill the heart with grace; related to spirit (breath of a god)
Initiate – To begin, enter
Innocent – Related to noxious
Instruct – To pile on, related to construct, structure
Intelligence – To choose, read; related to lecture
Inter – Into the earth, related to territory, turmeric, Mediterranean
Interested – To be between
Intrigue – To entangle; related to intricate
Investigate – Related to footprint
Jumbo – Elephant (Bantu)
King – Leader of the people; related to kin, kind, child, kindergarten
Laconic – To speak concisely, as did the Laconians (Spartans)
Laxative – Loosen; related to lax
Left (side) – Related to sinister
Liberty – From Liber (Dionysus), related to liberate, liberal
Library – The inner bark of trees; related to leaf
Limit – Threshold; related to liminal, preliminary, eliminate
Lucifer – Light carrier; related to lucid, infer, transfer, refer
Lunacy – Insanity, triggered by the moon's cycle
Magic – Of the learned and priestly caste (Magi)
Malaria – Bad air
Mania – Related to mind and maenad (a female follower of Dionysus)
Manure – Work with the hands, cultivate; related to maneuver, manage
Masturbate – To defile/stupefy by hand; related to manual, stupid
Materialism – From mater (“mother”)
Melancholy – An excess of black bile; related to cholera
Mellifluous – Honey flowing; related to fluent, fluid
Menstruate – Monthly; related to moon, measure, metric
Mentor – Goddess Athena in disguise; one who thinks; related to mind, mania
Mercury – From Roman god of tradesmen Mercurius; related to market, mercy
Metaphor – To carry over, to bear children
Migrate – Related to mutate
Mile – 1,000 double paces
Miracle – Smiling
Monster – Divine omen, portent; to warn; related to mental, mind, mantra
Morphine – From Morpheus, the Roman god of dreams
Move – Related to moment, momentum
Muscle – Little mouse
Museum – Shrine of the Muses; related to amuse, bemuse
Mystery – To close, shut; related to mute
Narcissism – Related to narcissus and narcotic
Negotiate – To clear a hedge, fence, or obstacle on horseback; related to deny
Noble – One who knows him- or herself; related to Gnosticism, narrate, jnana
Nice – Ignorant, unaware
Nomad – Wandering with flocks; related to nemesis, numerical, nimble
Normal – Made from a carpenter’s square
Nostalgia – Longing for another place (not time); desire for homecoming
Nuanced – Slight difference, shade of color, mist, vapor, cloud
Number – Related to nemesis
Nun – A term of address to elderly persons; related to nanny.
Obey – Listen to, pay attention, related to audience
Oblivion – Rubbed smooth, ground down; related to obliterate
Opportunity – Entrance or passage through, related to port, pore, report
Orchid – Testicle
Orgy – A secret rite, dedicated originally to Dionysus
Ostracize – To banish by voting with pottery fragments; related to bone
Pagan – Country dweller
Panacea – Cure-all; related to iatrogenic (illness caused in a hospital)
Pandemonium – Related to pancreas, panorama, pantheist, pantheon, pantomime
Panic – Of the god Pan, who caused frightening sounds in the woods
Panzer tank – Armor for the belly; related to paunch
Parable – Comparison, throwing beside; related to parley, parlance
Paradise – A walled garden
Paraphernalia – A woman's property besides her dowry
Passion – Suffering, enduring; related to patience
Pastor – Shepherd (of souls); related to pasture, pastoral
Pardon – To give wholeheartedly; related to donate
Peculiar – Property in cattle; related to pecuniary
Penetrate – To access the innermost part of a temple or store of food
Perfume – To smoke through; related to fume, fumigate
Personality – From persona, to speak through a theatrical mask
Pharmacist – Related to scapegoat, the drug that cures what it caused
Philadelphia – City of brotherly love (“from the same womb”)
Philosophy – Love of knowledge
Photograph – Light-writing
Planet – Wandering star
Plutocracy – Rule by the wealthy (Pluto, god of wealth), overflowing
Pneumatic – Of spirit, spiritual
Politics – Citizens, city
Pomegranate – Apple with seeds, from Pomona (Goddess of fruit); related to grenade
Pompous – Solemn procession (Hermes psychopomp, guide to the underworld)
Pontiff – To make a bridge; related to pontificate, pontoon, punt
Posse – Body of men, power; related to potent
Preposterous – Before-behind
Privilege – Law applying to one person, related to private
Problem – Thing put forward, thrown; related to ballistics, dance
Profane – Out in front of the temple
Profound – Proceeding from the bottom or floor; related to fund
Promethean – To see or think ahead
Propaganda – Doing Catholic missionary work; related to propagate.
Providence – Foreknowledge; related to provide
Provoke – To call forth; related to vocation, vocal, voice, evoke, invoke
Prurient – Itching
Psyche – Invisible animating principle; Greek for “butterfly”
Pudendum – Thing to be ashamed of
Pumpernickel – To break wind
Pundit – A learned Hindu
Quarantine – Forty days and nights
Radical – Root part of a word; related to radish
Rape – To be carried away, related to rapid, raptor, ravish and rapture
Reconcile – To make friendly again; related to council
Record – To learn by heart; related to courage
Redeem – To buy back
Regret – To weep
Rehearse – To rake over; related to hearse, hirsute
Religion – To bind fast, related to rely; or: to read again, related to lecture
Remember – To be mindful of; related to memoir, mourn
Remorse – To bite back; related to mordant
Renegade – Christian turned Muslim; related to renege
Repent – Related to penal, penalty, Pentheus (“man of sorrow”)
Resilience – To jump again
Respiration – To breathe again, from spiritus (breath of a god)
Respect – To look at again
Rhapsody – To stitch songs together
Rhythm – To flow; related to rheumatism, maelstrom, diarrhea
Ritual – A counting; related to arithmetic, rite
Rosemary – Dew of the sea
Royal – To move or direct in a straight line
Sabbatical – Seventh year, for resting – related to Sabbath
Sabotage – To throw a wooden shoe (sabot) into the machinery
Sacrifice – To make sacred
Sacred – Related to sanctify, sacrosanct, saint, sacrilege, sanction, sanctimonious
Sacrum – Sacred bone (the one offered in sacrifice)
Sad – Related to sated, satiated
Salary – Soldier's allowance for the purchase of salt
Sarcasm – To strip off the flesh; related to sarcoma, sarcophagus
Savage – Forest dweller
Scene – Wooden stage for actors; tent or booth; giving shade
Science – To cut; related to conscious, schism, schizophrenia, shit, scat,
Scrutinize – To search through trash; related to shred, inscrutable
Serendipity – Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island
Shampoo – To press, knead the muscles
Silly – Blessed, happy, blissful
Stagnate – To seep, drip; related to stalactite
Slave – A Slavic person
Sniper – A marksman who can hit a tiny snipe bird
Soldier – One who has been paid in gold coins (solidus); related to solid
Solstice – The sun stands still
Soul – Coming from the sea, the stopping place between birth and death
Source – To rise, as a spring; related to resource, resurgent
Spirits – That which can unite the elements of the philosopher's stone.
Superfluous – Overflowing, related to fluent
Surveil – Related to vigil
Suture – Stitch together; related to couture, sew, seam, suture and souvlaki
Symbol – That which is thrown together; related to ballistic, dance, emblem
Symptom – To fall together with
Talent – Balance, weight; sum of money
Tenor – To hold (one’s voice), related to tenet
Territory – A place from which people are warned off; related to terrible, terrific
Testify – Swear on one’s testicles (?)
Text – A thing woven
Therapy – Attend, do service, take care of
Think – Cause to appear to oneself; related to thought, thank
Theory – Looking at, viewing; related to theater
Thesaurus – Related to treasure
Toxic – Pertaining to arrows, bows, archery
Torment – Twisted cord, sling for hurling stones; related to torque.
Touch – To knock, strike; related to touché
Tragedy – Goat song (originally to Dionysus)
Trophy – To turn; related to apostrophe, atrophy, tropical, trope, troubadour
Uncanny – Not knowing wise or cunning
Utopia – No place
Vaccine – Pertaining to cows
Vagabond – Related to vague, vagus
Value – To be strong; related to valiant
Vanilla – Little pod; related to vagina
Venereal – Related to Venus, goddess of love
Vengeance – To set free; related to vindicate
Virtue – Man; related to virile, world, werewolf
Vote – A promise to a god; related to vow
Vulgar – Of the common people; related to Vulgate
Vulnerable – Capable of wounding; related to Valhalla (hall of the battle-slain)
Wander – Related to wind
Weird – Fate, to turn, bend; related to wrong, versus, version, diverge, prose
Whiskey – Water of life
Whole – Uninjured; related to heal, health, holistic
Xenophobia – Fear of the stranger – or of the guest
Yes – To be
Yoga – Union, to join; related to jugular, yoke, junction, joint, conjugate
Zero – Empty place, desert; related to cipher, sunyata (“emptiness”)