This is one of those that I probably could have figured out if I ever happened to pause and think about it…but which I’d never paused to think of until I saw it in my son’s vocabulary book. 😉

So, we’re probably all familiar with the root of disaster. Namely, aster, the Latin word for “star.” We see this root in many words. Asterisk, astronomy, astrology, etc.

And of course, dis- as a prefix means “against.” So disaster is literally “against the stars.” This will either make a light bulb go on over your head or make you scratch said head, LOL. It’s pretty clear when you remember that in ancient days, the stars were considered to be guiding forces–or if not guiding, they made things clear. A star heralded the births of important men, for instance (Christ being the ultimate example of this). In many cases, it wasn’t that people thought the stars dictated what happened so much as that they explained what happened.

Regardless, disaster would mean that the stars were against you–which meant trouble and bad things would happen to you.

Even though most of us today don’t believe that, it’s still so interesting to realize that our vocabulary reflects those ancient beliefs!

We all know the liber words that have to do with “freedom”:

Liberty

Liberate

Liberally

But what about Library? Is it so called because it’s where you can get books for free?

You might think so, but…no, actually. It’s because in Latin, liber had two meanings: “free” and “book.” And it certainly isn’t because books cost nothing back then!

On the contrary, it’s because books–knowledge–education–were considered the means by which a man’s soul became free. Lack of education and illiteracy were considered a sort of bondage, directly tied to the slave class. Much like the word for school is linked to the word for leisure (because only the rich, who lived a life of leisure, could afford to send their kids to school), so too is the very concept of freedom linked to books.

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE THAT!

My kids’ vocabulary books have this section at the end of each lesson called “Fun and Fascinating Facts” about the words or roots in that week’s list. This one comes courtesy of Rowyn’s book–and is something I really did find fun and fascinating!

So, puny. I know it as “small, weak.” And that meaning has been around since the 1590s. But before that, puny meant “inferior in rank.” And before that, it was used of underclassman in school situations. Why? Great question. 😉

Puny comes from the Latin phrase puis ne–literally, “born after.” This phrase was applied, in Roman days, to children after the firstborn, who would inherit the estate of his parents. So a second, third, etc. son was puis ne and therefore inferior in rank and considered less powerful in society’s eyes.

Who knew?!

This time of year, I do a fair amount of baking–love a little added warmth in the kitchen! And I have to say, one of my favorite things to bake is bread. I love the process of making it–kneading the dough, finding that perfect texture and moisture level, then letting it rise…there’s just something lovely about it. And if there’s anything better than the smell of baking bread, I’ve never discovered it!

But I’d never paused to wonder about the word I use for that–aroma. High time I looked it up!

Aroma entered the English language in the 1200s, and while it did mean something “sweet-smelling,” it also applied specifically to spices. This is because, though the Latin word just means “a pleasant smell,” the Latin is actually borrowed straight from the Greek–in which, it didn’t just mean a fragrance. It did actually mean, specifically, “seasoning; a spice or sweet herb.”

So while today we might use the word for anything that smells–pleasant or not–it has a very particular root! Not just a smell, not just a pleasant smell, but one that comes from spices or seasoning.

What are some of your favorite aromas?

Com is Latin for “with.” Okay…making sense so far. A companion is someone you’re with.

But I’d never stopped to realize that the panion part is from panis–the Latin word for “bread.” So a companion is literally “someone with whom you eat bread.”

Just goes to show that as far back as you care to look, when you live or travel or spend time with someone, food is going to be involved. 😉 Sharing a meal has always been one of the most important aspects of our social bonding. Cool to see that it’s the root even of the words for it!