Common origins

OFTEN, words that are diverse in meaning come from the same source. Rapture and rape both originate from the Latin rapere, meaning to seize or to rob. Rapture means being carried away by overwhelming emotion, while rape means carrying away and despoiling a person by force. Rascal and rash come from the Latin rasicare, meaning to scratch, which led to the French rascaille, meaning scabby, mangy, scruffy. This led to rascal, a rakish, mischievous person and rash, as in skin rash. Genial and genius too come from the Latin genii. Genii were the guardian spirits who were called upon to bless every auspicious occasion. At the time of a wedding, genialis meant ‘of the bridal bed’ as the Romans dedicated the bridal bed to the guardian spirits of the newly weds. Due to this pleasant association, the word took on the additional meanings of pleasant, delightful and jovial. Genius originally meant a particular spirit or essential character of a nation or age, by extension of the sense of the guardian spirits. By and by, a genius became bright person who made a nation or age feel proud.

Explode, applaud, plaudit and plausible; all come from the Latin plaudere, to clap. Explode was an act of audience disapproval at a stage performance. If the audience did not like a stage performance, it would drive out actors and performers off the stage by clapping noisily. An explosion was literally ‘clapping out’ from the Latin, ex (out) and plaudere (to clap). To applaud is to clap at. Enthusiastic approval as clear as a round of applause is a plaudit. Originally, plausible was something that deserved applause.

Similarly, curt and curtail come from the Latin curtus, meaning short. In olden times, curtal referred to a horse with his tail cut short. Curt, a short and terse communication, and curtail, to cut short, automatically followed. Cursory (hasty, running look), cursive (running handwriting), precursor (forerunner), courier (running messenger), curriculum vitae (running course of life), race course (path for running) and electric current (running electricity) all take origin from the Latin cursus, meaning running.

Tap-root

The word aabroo is used in both Hindi and Urdu in the sense of izzat or honour. The word roab or raub is used in the sense of authority or the capability to command respect. There are many sayings connected with aabroo like aabroo utarna, aabro lootna and aabroo par paani phirna. Aabroo thus becomes completely different in meaning from roab. But both come from the same two roots; aab meaning water and ru meaning face. Language use and language habits go a long, long way in making and changing the words of a language.

— Deepti

This fortnightly feature was published on June 12, 1999