WORDSPEAK
Linguistic niceties
BY ANAND
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More on the origin and development of dislogistic words.
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READERS who were intrigued to know in last month's Wordspeak ("Vandals and Barbarians") that the pejorative term vandalism refers to the warrior Germanic tribe Vandals who sacked and looted Rome in 455 AD, and that the architecture style that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries was called "Gothic" or "barbarous" by Italian artists of the Renaissance after Goths who had invaded Europe, might give a further chuckle after reading my speculation about the origin of "avarice".
Avars were Central Asian nomads who invaded central Europe on the heels of Vandals, Goths and Huns, occupied the Byzantine (eastern) half of the tottering Roman Empire and established their own empire in Danube Valley in the sixth century. Taking a cue from the derogatory name-calling seen in the case of other non-Christian tribes who looted the possessions of the Roman emperors, it is quite likely that the actions of Avars could be at the etymological root of "avarice".
The root of avarice is in Latin avarus `greed'. Other than avarice meaning reprehensible acquisitiveness and extreme desire for wealth, certain early meanings of the word that included "grasping" and "desire to plunder" made me wonder about its origin. Latin was evolving at the time Avars were driving Roman subjects away from central Europe. Therefore, if the guess as to how avarice might have originated gains any credibility with scholars, readers of Wordspeak were the first to read it here.
Story behind assassin
The story behind assassin, another dislogistic term, lends credence to my hypothesis. English language dictionaries define an assassin as a murderer (esp. someone who kills a prominent political/religious figure), who kills by a treacherous surprise and is often hired to do the deed. It comes from the Arabic hashishyun, "smoker of hashish". The hashishyun were members of an Ismaili Muslim sect in the time of the Crusades, and were known for their alleged killings of religious opponents.
If the hashishyun were indeed responsible for killing Christian members of military expeditions to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims, they were simply defending their land from an invader. In other words, it was one jihadi against another (The popes promised spiritual benefits to warriors willing to fight under Christian banners). Of course, the verb crusade became a eulogistic term meaning a vigorous campaign in favour of a cause; a long and determined effort to achieve something that you believe to be right, or to stop something you believe to be wrong. The exploits of leaders of the Crusades such as Richard I (Richard the Lion-Heart) who vilified the Muslims and made martyrs of themselves became medieval legends; the Assassins got stuck with the derogatory label of being murderers for the sake of money or for political reasons.
Conquistadors (Spanish for conquerors) were adventurers and soldiers of fortune who explored and plundered South and Central America for the fabled riches of its civilisations, and also to spread Christianity. Although the worst crimes against humanity pale before the descriptions of the Spanish treatment of the Amerindian people and natives living in the conquered territories, conquistadors such as Cortes, Pizarro and Velazquez became heroes for their people and the Church. May be in the languages spoken by the descendents of the Aztec, Mayan and Inca, conquistador is as negative a term as assassin is for English-speakers.
Meaning of villain
In response to the last month's column, reader Jayaram Suryanarayana wrote, "I trust you know that [the] word [villain] arose out of the mouths of the downtrodden, when they categorised the rich living in villae in France, as evil people... ."
Villain does mean "one from the villa", but not the rich living in villas (country houses), rather the poor peasants or those who lived in villages. It derives from Latin villanus, a serf, and the word seemed to have been first used in the 14th century for feudal serfs in England. Soon its meaning of "a poor, low-born, base-minded rustic" acquired the sense of an "unprincipled or depraved scoundrel naturally disposed to base or criminal acts". Charles Lamb in 1822 first applied the word to a play's antagonist. In the 20th century, cinema discovered the value of a villain's role for dramatic effect, and the rest is history. Perhaps the best-known villains now are those whom James Bond has the licence to assassinate. One Indian movie magazine gives an award for the Best Villain, which seems like an oxymoron. Since those responsible for the award are unlikely to turn the pages of Literary Review, such linguistic nicety may be lost on them.
Villagers, it seems, were always given short shrift. A Wordspeak column ("A Civil Question") about the origin of the word "civil", explained how — over time — civil began to mean not only the affairs of a city, but also behaviour: one who had learned civility and did not behave like a country bumpkin (spit on the floor or step on people's feet) was called as civilised.
Readers are invited to send their guesses about the origin of the word `average.' No peeking into the dictionary for help, but where you think the word came from.
E-mail: anand@journalist.com
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