A look at the origins of words and their current relevance is always an enlightening exercise.
My go-to source for the meanings behind words is the Online Etymology Dictionary. Many of these have roots reaching back centuries, and in some cases, millennia.
late 14c., "a dog;" late 15c., "noisy fellow;" agent noun from bark (v.). Specific sense of "loud assistant in an auction, store, or show" is from 1690s.
"broken down in health, weakened, especially by age," mid-15c., from Old French decrepit (15c., Modern French décrépit), from Latin decrepitus "very old, infirm" (of old men and old animals), from de "down" (see de-) + *crepitus, past participle of crepare "to crack, break" (see raven). The literal sense of the Latin word is uncertain.
"extremely low condition of mental function, mental incapacity," 1806, from Latin dementia "madness, insanity," literally "a being out of one's mind," from dement-, stem of demens "mad, raving" (see dement) + abstract noun suffix -ia.
c. 1300, feloun, "one who deceives or commits treason; one who is wicked or evil; evil-doer," used of Lucifer and Herod, from Old French felon "evil-doer, scoundrel, traitor, rebel, oath-breaker, the Devil" (9c.), from Medieval Latin fellonem (nominative fello) "evil-doer," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from Frankish *fillo, *filljo "person who whips or beats, scourger" (source of Old High German fillen "to whip"); or from Latin fel "gall, poison," on the notion of "one full of bitterness." Celtic origins also have been proposed.
Another theory (advanced by Professor R. Atkinson of Dublin) traces it to Latin fellare "to suck" (see fecund), which had an obscene secondary meaning in classical Latin (well-known to readers of Martial and Catullus), which would make a felon etymologically a "cock-sucker." OED (1989) inclines toward the "gall" explanation, but finds Atkinson's "most plausible" of the others.
Also by c. 1300 in English in a general legal sense "criminal; one who has committed a felony," however that was defined. Century Dictionary notes, "the term is not applicable after legal punishment has been completed." In Middle English it also was an adjective, "traitorous, wicked, malignant." Compare traitor for sense development.
mid-14c., "criminal deception" (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin); from Old French fraude "deception, fraud" (13c.), from Latin fraudem (nominative fraus) "a cheating, deceit," of persons "a cheater, deceiver," of uncertain origin. Connections have been proposed to Sanskrit dhruti- "deception; error."
Meaning "a fraudulent production, something intended to deceive" is from 1650s. The meaning "impostor, deceiver, pretender; humbug" is attested from 1850. Pious fraud (1560s) is properly "deception practiced for the sake of what is deemed a good purpose;" colloquially used as "person who talks piously but is not pious at heart."
c. 1600, from French chacal, earlier jackal, from Turkish çakal, from Persian shaghal, from or cognate with Sanskrit srgala-s, literally "the howler." Figurative sense of "skulking henchman" is from the old belief that jackals stirred up game for lions.
"cunning, deceitful, habitually duplicitous, unscrupulous, destitute of political morality," 1570s, from Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Florentine statesman and author of "Il Principe," a work advising rulers to place advantage above morality.
1905, from German Narzissismus, coined 1899 (in "Die sexuellen Perversitäten"), by German psychiatrist Paul Näcke (1851-1913), on a comparison suggested 1898 by Havelock Ellis, from Greek Narkissos, name of a beautiful youth in mythology (Ovid, "Metamorphoses," iii.370) who fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and was turned to the flower narcissus (q.v.). Narcissus himself as a figure of self-love is attested by 1767. Coleridge used the word in a letter from 1822.
“But already Krishna, enamoured of himself, had resolved to experience lust for his own self; he manifested his own Nature in the cow-herd girls and enjoyed them.” [Karapatri, "Lingopasana-rahasya," Siddhanta, II, 1941-2]
"government by the wealthy class; a class ruling by virtue of wealth," 1650s, from Greek ploutokratia "rule or power of the wealthy or of wealth," from ploutos "wealth" (see Pluto) + -kratia "rule" (see -cracy). Synonym plutarchy is slightly older (1640s). Pluto-democracy "plutocracy masquerading as democracy" is from 1895.
As always, thank you for joining us at the Verbihund Café!
Please help spread the word to friends, neighbors, students, family, and colleagues.
support the love of language and learning with a paid subscription
restack this post
forward to people you know
share on social media
Kate Morgan Reade: Very interesting etymology. I love "Wortherkunft."
Wait a minute!
Is there a thread here?
Now, for example, with Barker and Felon and, ahem, the Latin roots and implications, all of which ("Carnival Barker" and Putin's . . .) I had used about SOMEONE.
Orange.
I keep thinking.
Naw!
Or maybe.
Let me read it again.
Oh, I can't get rid of the thought that . . . you are referring to . . .
Naw!
That cannot be.
On . . . the . . . other . . . hand . . .
"Who fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and was turned into the flower narcissus" - I so wish I had the power to turn narcissists into flowers some days! Thanks for this, some great etymology links that I didn't know.