In a Word
- Words are also extremely important. If we do not know the word for a thing, we cannot easily talk about that thing—without using the word “thing” or pointing or describing what the object is used for. We’re forced to resort either to gesture or circumlocution (a lengthy way of expressing something). We cannot be ignorant of words connected with international relations or computers or the national economy or the life of the mind. If we are, we will find ourselves unable to take part in discussions of matters important to ourselves and to society.
- SCHOOL “School” traces its roots to a Latin noun with the same meaning, schola. The Romans borrowed the Greek noun schole, referring to a group of young men who studied with a philosopher. The Greeks chose schole, meaning “leisure,” because only those who did not have to work could afford to study.
- BRAZIL Early European explorers of the Americas discovered that the native people knew how to make a dye extract that produced bright red and deep purple colors. The dye used by the native Americans came from a common tree, known as the brasil. European merchants soon developed a great trade in brasilwood. As a result of the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, the Portuguese claimed the land where these trees grew and named the area Terra de Brasil or “Land of Red-dye Wood.” Soon map makers and others began to refer to the land as Brasil. English later adopted the name and its pronunciation, only changing the spelling to include a “z” instead of an “s.”
- ALGEBRA A long time ago, the Arabic term al jabr was used to refer to the medical operation used to set broken bones. It means the reuniting of something broken. References in old texts also show that al jabr later came to refer to the process of putting numbers together. In the 16th century, the two words appeared in English texts as algeber. Within a century, algeber came to be used in its present sense, as the name of the branch of mathematics that includes equations and the relationships between numbers.
- GEOMETRY Geometry means “to measure the earth.” It was formed by joining two Greek words, ge, meaning “earth,” and metrein, meaning “to measure.” Such a choice was appropriate, since this science was first used to measure the land.
- MATHEMATICS Because the early Greek thinkers saw numbers as a way to help them explain relationships, they spent much time developing formulas and equations. As a result, the Greeks used their adjective mathematikos, meaning “eager to learn,” to name this new science. Mathematikos itself was a derivative of the Greek verb manthanein, “to learn.”
- The Black Death was a plague that reached Genoa, Italy, on New Year’s Eve 1347 and then spread across Europe and into England, Wales, Ireland, and parts of Scandinavia before entering Russia in 1353. It then spread into portions of Asia. Overall, the Black Death killed anywhere from one-third to one-half of all people living in these areas.
- The actions of anyone walking or talking on the deck of a vessel are usually clearly visible. Below deck, however, in the passageways and dark corners, mutinies, smuggling schemes, and other plots can be hatched unseen. Thus, the expression “to be aboveboard” came to denote being honest, open-minded, and not concealing anything.
- “Tartar,” however, may have been chosen because of its resemblance to “Tatar,” the name used to refer to several tribes that the renowned Mongol leader Genghis Khan conquered early in his career. According to tradition, when an Irish soldier was in battle with a Turkish soldier some time in the 1800s, the Irish soldier called out to his officer that he had “caught a Tartar.” When ordered to bring him in, the soldier replied, “I can’t. This Tartar won’t let me.” The story was repeated, and the expression “to catch a Tartar” came to represent a situation in which a person wins more than he or she can control.
- WHITE ELEPHANT In the southeast Asian country of Thailand (formerly called Siam), it was a national tradition to present the emperor with any white elephant that was captured. These rare elephants were sacred to the emperor. It was commonly believed that if the emperor became dissatisfied with one of his nobles, he would order a white elephant sent to him. Unable to use or destroy the sacred animal, the noble was forced to bear the cost of maintaining the huge beast. In 1629, the emperor of Siam sent King Charles I of England an elephant (records do not say whether it was white). The cost of its maintenance became a great drain on the royal treasury. Gradually, the phrase “white elephant” came to designate possessions that are expensive but useless.
- MARCH In the early Roman calendar, March was the first month of the year and the time when military campaigns began. (Around 45 b.c., Julius Caesar revised the calendar, making January the first month and March the third month.) Since March was when fair weather returned to the Roman world, it had always been considered the perfect time to go to battle. The Romans had named the month in honor of their god of war, Mars.
- HAZARD “Risk,” “chance,” and “danger”—these three words all define the English term “hazard.” Its roots do the same, since hazard traces its origin to the Arabic article al (“the”) and the Arabic noun zahr (“die”). Throwing dice (the plural of “die”) involves chance and the unknown. Other languages also adapted al-zahr. For example, in Spanish it became azar, “an unexpected accident.”