This week, Webb’s “Weird Words” takes a break from its series involving X, Y and Z; indeed, rather than looking at the end of our alphabet, we will honor the beginning of something else: namely, Donald J. Trump’s forthcoming inauguration — which marks only the second time a U.S. president has served two nonconsecutive terms. (The other was Grover Cleveland, elected in 1884 and 1892.)
But this is not a history lesson. Nope; “Weird Words” is more interested in definitions and etymologies. That latter term refers to origins: where the word came from, what it used to mean and how it arrived at its current connotation.
Here are some for Jan. 20:
As a verb, inaugurate means “to make a formal beginning” or “to install” (Dictionary.com). It is closely related to (and actually comes from) our less-common augur, which means “to serve as an omen; to bode, predict or foretell.” (One might say, for instance, “Those rainclouds augur a downpour!”) Fittingly, then, both the old and new meanings have to do with looking ahead.
Augur originally referred to a Roman figure whose job was to foretell the future. According to Online Etymology Dictionary (OED), it is probably related to the bird-root avis (as in avian and aviation) — because in the ancient world, “the flights, singing, and feeding of birds were important objects of divination.”
Getting back to current practice: Trump will take an oath — a practice so old that the word’s etymology is essentially untraceable. (Taking oaths, after all, goes all the way back to God’s rainbow-promise in Genesis 8!)
The actual presidential vow, by contrast, offers some interesting etymologies. Here it is in full:
“I do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Swear is another ancient word of uncertain origin; but perhaps you’ve wondered how its two meanings are related — that is, “make a promise” and “use foul language.” Happily, that is easier to explain: It has to do with taking an oath by profanely using the name of a god. So a phrase like “I swear to God” eventually become “For God’s sake” — or something worse, like angrily hollering out the name of Christ. This “profanity,” in turn, eventually came to apply to other ugly language as well.
Less distressingly, our word answer contains that unpronounced W because it’s related to swear. I guess in olden times, any old “response” was considered solemn enough to constitute an oath!
And speaking of solemn: That’s from the Latin sollus, meaning “whole, unbroken, complete” (OED). Other English words from that base include solid, consolidate and solder.
As for the vow’s execute — along with the related executive (which happens to describe our nation’s presidential branch): This is actually related to the word consecutive, which I used at the outset of this piece.
Secu(t), also sometimes spelled sequ, is a Latin base meaning “to follow” — as in sequence, sequel, prosecute and consequences. Together with ex, a common Latin prefix meaning “out,” execute simply means “to follow out (or follow through).” But of course, since ex already has an S sound, that letter gets dropped when combining the two Latin items. (Same thing happens with the base spect — meaning “look” — when added to ex, giving us a word that literally means, “Look out!”)
Sticking with Latin roots: The oath’s office and constitution each contain one of our most commonly used bases.
Fic, also spelled fict, fec(t) and fac(t), means “to do or make.” It has given us literally hundreds of words, including fiction, faculty, facility, manufacture, effect, infected, confection, proficient, sufficiency and even just fact (something “done” or “settled”).
Stit, meanwhile, can also be spelled sta(t) and has generated a similarly dizzying array of terms: state, status, statue, statute, standard, destitute, institution and prostitute — among many others.
President itself combines the well-known Latin prefix pre (“before, in front of”) and sed, meaning “to sit” (as it sedentary). It literally means “to sit in front of.” In America, it can be shortened to the acronym POTUS (“President of the United States”) or — as we saw in a recent column — the slangy but delightful prexy.
Which brings us back to X and Y — and Z, which will be our focus next week.
See you then — when our new prexy is in office.
