Word of the Week – Liberty and Libraries

Word of the Week – Liberty and Libraries

by | Feb 4, 2019 | Word of the Week

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!
Word of the Week – Puny

Word of the Week – Puny

by | Jan 28, 2019 | Word of the Week

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?!

Word of the Week – Aroma

Word of the Week – Aroma

by | Jan 21, 2019 | Word of the Week

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?

Word of the Week – Companion

Word of the Week – Companion

by | Jan 14, 2019 | Word of the Week

So we all know what a companion is…but if you’re anything like me, you’ve never paused to examine where the word came from.

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!
Word of the Week – Auld Lang Syne

Word of the Week – Auld Lang Syne

by | Jan 7, 2019 | Word of the Week

I know, I know, I’m a week late for this one. But on New Year’s, my family asked what in the world this song means, so I figured it would be a great feature for my first Word of the Week post in January!
I’ve never really looked too deeply into this song and the subsequent popularization of the phrase, but the credit for it goes to Robert Burns (he would be the one in the header image), who wrote it in 1788. The words auld lang syne are Scottish dialect, literally meaning “old long since.” Which is more or less, “the good old days” or “days long ago.” The entire poem (set to a melody already known by the time Burns wrote this), is basically saying, “let’s drink a toast to the good old days.”
If you’re like me and have never bothered learning all the words to this one, here’s a side-by-side of the original word including the Scottish phrases, and the English translation:

Word of the Year – Promise

Word of the Year – Promise

by | Jan 1, 2019 | Word of the Week

As the old year draws to a close, I always pray for a word for the new year. Something I ought to keep in mind through the coming months. Something God whispers to my spirit.

Sometimes I get one. Sometimes I don’t.

For 2018, there was no word that stood out. And given 2017, I didn’t mind that. See, the last word I received was Overcome. An encouraging word, a word of promise. But a word that was also a warning. Even as I got it, I was hedging. “Maybe it’s not for me to live–maybe it’s for me to give.” And it was, in a way. In May of 2017, my sister was diagnosed with lymphoma. I sat down to write her some encouraging cards to take to the hospital with her for her first treatment and was looking up scriptures to include, and one of them was the very verse that inspired that Word of the Year. I got chills, let me just tell you. And I knew. I knew that word had been for my whole family, and I knew my sister would overcome this cancer–that God would overcome it. I wrote to her about how God had given me that word six months ago. And I was so, so glad He did.

Even so, when no whispers of yearly words came to me in 2018, I kinda breathed a sigh of relief, LOL.

But I was praying yet again for a word this past week. Usually when they come, it’s when I’m busy. Often in church. During a song or a sermon, a word will just LEAP at me. This time, I sat down and prayed, “Lord, would You give me a word for 2019?” In usual fashion, my thoughts went something like this: “I remember when You gave me Shine. And then Mine. And…”

Promise.

It wasn’t a leap, a brilliant flash. It was the softest of whispers. Soft enough that I kinda went, “Huh? Was that me or You, Lord?”

Given that I still had a week left in 2018 at that point, I let it simmer and stew. I waited for something louder, brighter, more energetic. But every time I drew that word back out, something settled softly around my heart.

Promise.

We all know what it means. A declaration of what we mean to do. A reason to expect something. But when I sought out a Bible verse to go along with the word, something else struck me. That in the Bible, promise isn’t just used in that way we use it. It’s used in the same way blessing is–a word that itself has power. God gave the PROMISE to Abraham. And then God gave the PROMISE of His Spirit after Jesus. God gave the PROMISE of salvation and eternal life and a return of His Son.

Promise doesn’t just carry expectation, but power.

Biblegateway.com recommends 2 Peter 3 when one does a keyword search on promise:

…scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” …
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

What struck me about this passage is that what mankind sees as a breach of promise, God sees as its ultimate fulfillment. When time drags on and we think He’s forgotten us, that’s when He’s exercising His mercy. He’s giving us time. He’s preparing us. He’s drawing us to Him. 

 I don’t know how the word promise will play out in 2019. But it will have me waiting with expectation. It will have me clinging to His Spirit and welcoming His timing, be it long or short. And it will be a constant reminder that He knows the plans He has for me…even when I don’t.

 Do you pray for a word for the year, or perhaps make resolutions? If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear!



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