Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-04-04

a temperament Is "mercurial," and
thus the swift-winged messenger Of
the gods, Mercury. Is brought to life
again. "Saturnine" is too obvious to
need comment.
Neither can we get away from as
trology. A disaster" is nothing else
than the two Latin words 'dis-astrum,
literally, an unlucky star. So a luna
tic is under the supposed malign in
fiuence Of luna. the Latin term for
moon. The old superstition is exactly
expressed in Anglo-Saxon moon
struck" "Auspicious" is the Latin
auspex, that is, the omen shown in the
flight Of the birds.
Charm" Is a word Of fair meaning
now. but through the medium Of
French 1t is the Latin for carmen"
the sorcer's chant as he reads the
omens. We come strikingly close to
the primitive idea behind the word
when we say that charming girl Is
little witch. Enthusiasm" Is a
theo, which means "in God"-that Is,
God inspired"-and this brings US
back to the days when the soothsayer
uttered his oracles, in a kind Of frenzy,
owing to the presence Of the Divinity
within him. .'"Tantalize" is the verb
form of Tantalus, the unhappy figure
of Roman mythology, whose fate in
hell Is to suffer eternal hunger and
thirst while at his very lips are food
and drink that he can never reach.
A fanatic" is simply one devoted
to the "fana," Latin for temples, con-
sequently in it's original sense very
religious person. But religious terms
are strikingly subject to degeneration
of meanings, as we see In "zealot,'
"devotee" and "sanctimonious," all
noble when first used, as their ety.
mology proves.
The word pagan" itself Is but the
Latin for "countryman," paganus,
and it reveals to US that long after the
folk of the town had accepted Chris
tianity the less enlightened rural
dwellers remained attached to the old
superstitions. Hence "paganus," a
rustic, came to be synonymous with
unbeliever.
Early warfare and games live with
us still in similar fashion. Thus
alarm" is the only cry Of the mediae-
val Italian sentry. "All arme!" ITO
arms!" And who would think that the
prosaic salary" carries us back to
the armed camps Of twenty years
ago? Yet it does. Salt in Latin is
SAL" and the small sum given the
Roman soldier for the purchase Of
salt was called his "salarium," whence
our salary by direct descent. In Latin
ito hide" Is 'abscondere," and we
have got our word "scoundreP at roll
call. Debate" Is an academic word
now, but 1t was full Of dire meaning
once, for 1t is from the French de
battre," ito fight against" and leads
lis straight to the blood-stained fields
OF the Middle Ages.
"Saunter," too, is with US word
Of Quaker-like meekness, and yet 1t
wars of history. For 1t Is compounded
from the two French words "sainte
terre," which means the Holy Land;
and 1t revives the time when all the
chivalry of Europe was on the march
crusading for the possession Of Pales-
tine. We have forgotten Its signih-
canoe of going to "sainte terre," and
apply 1t now to a more peaceful
journeying.
In words without number the social
llsages of primitive times linger on
with us and will still linger while
English is spoken. "Pecuniary" points
to the very earliest times Of the Indo-
European race, when the standard OF
value and exchange was not money,
but a mans fiocks and herds. For
"pecuniary" Is derived from the Latin
for fiock-"pecus," and again we are
back at the cradle Of civilization
in digit" our word for single num-
ber. For digit Is only an Anglicizing
Of the Latin "digitus" and the Greek
'dactulos," which mean finger" and
thus it recalls an age when our rude
ancestors counted by their fingers.
Calculate" Is hardly less remote, for
1t is from "calculi'-that Is, "peb-
bles," the counting stones Of the race
in its infancy.
The word fiscal" Is straight from
the Latin ''fiscus"-"wicker basket
for in this receptacle the money OF
the primitive state was carried.
Lord has a strange history and a
beautiful one. Lord" Is the pro-
nunciation taken in the course Of time
by the Anglo-Saxon compound "hlaf-
weard," which literally means guar
dian of the bread" So II today the
housewife calls her husband lord she
is not making him a deity at all, but
merely acknowledges him as bread
guardian, or, as we say, ead-Winner
That fine old word housewife" by
the way, has produced one extremely
ugly derivative. Housewife was orig
inally, and should be even now, pro-
nounced "huzzif." What pity 1t has
given us "hussy."
But noble words, like noble men,
sometimes have degenerate offspring.
For instance, the sponsors Of q child at
baptism were In Anglo-Saxon god
sibs"-that is literally kindred with
one another in God" But as the god
sibs probably took occasion OF the
christening to talk too much over their
cups, they have left us bad memory
in "gossips." Ounce" too, Is sadly
fallen from its first estate. One OF the
greatest minds or the Ml0Qle Ages was
the philosopher and theologian Duns
Scotus. But since on several points
he opposed the ruling philosophy or
Thomas Acquinas, he was bitterly at
tackled by the adherents Of Thomas,
who left an enduring memorial OF
their onslaught on Duns by giving
his ilustrious name to the blockhead
and the fool.
The common man, or, as we say, the
man in the street, or the ultimate con-
sumner. had hard lot under the old
aristocracies, as words unmistakably
show. The Greek for an ordinary
private, undistinguished person was
'idiotes." Now, as having no high
station or public office, this everyday
Individual was not supposed to know
much, Idiot came to mean first
'uncultivated." and then by speedy
degeneration an imbecile. Clown"