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Finding Hidden Meanings in Words

When I was a kid (and I mean younger than 10) I was already fascinated by words, whether in poetry or stories or general conversation. I remember clearly a number of occasions when, turning a particular word over and over in my mind I realised that you could discern something in its structure that reinforced its meaning. "Together" was one. I tried it out as three separate words: "To get her" and decided that it would be an appropriate word to include in a story about how two people made a joint life for themselves. Starting apart and finishing "together" in fact. I never wrote any such story, of course, even then I was a lazy little bugger, more inclined to think about something than to actually do anything.

Another example was "soldier". My childhood was not long after the Second World War so thoughts and memories of it were strongly present in the cultural atmosphere. I remember thinking: "What is a soldier/ What sets a soldier apart from other men?" What I concluded was that only soldiers are required to die for their countries. When international push comes to shove, the soldiers are the sole diers.

Habits like this have persisted all my life. I suppose it was inevitable that, much later on, I should become obsessed, for a time, with "Finnegans Wake".

Anybody have similar experiences?

Hellbent 7 June 23
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0

When I was younger than ten I remember the word "jazz." It had nothing to do with music and it was used for an ejaculate - cum. We kids had just discovered this word and it had to be used in a guarded way because we could never say "jazz" around the adults. We were in fear of being whipped and punished.

1

Very interesting OP. One of my favorite sayings that I use regarding "words" is; A rose by any other name is still a rose and would smell just as sweet.

1

I studied Latin for years because I loved words since I was a kid as well. My dad had an incredible vocabulary and I was constantly forced by curiosity to look up the words he used and make them my own. I guess that is why I love reading...discovering words and how they are used. I enjoy playing mental games with myself when I am commuting and need to concentrate...like saying out loud all the words I can think of that end in -cious, or -tion, etc. ha ha Yeah, I need a life...but thanks for your post...a reminder that there is joy in the simplest of things...language and words...communicating effectively...

@Hellbent I could tell by your interest in Finnegans Wake that your love of words is an important part of your life and your joy. Joyce is a tough read but is a pleasurable challenge to those who take the time to enjoy the journey and grow with the experience. Do you have other works that you find contain such a litany of words?

@Hellbent May your summer be filled with wonderful words!

@Hellbent lol of course, down under...I missed that...

@Hellbent ha ha ha ha

1

I enjoyed reading your post. You are an artist.

For myself, I don't think about individual words so much, but other things.

Apparently; as someone I know keeps reminding me, there is deliberately contrived hidden meaning planted within in a lot of Oscar Wilde's work.

I sometimes think about idioms ('I'm over the Moon' etc) and how much they are perfect little packages that convey so much using so little.

The study of etymology can reveal the organic birth of words. The pen is indeed mightier.

@Hellbent

I don't have an interest in Oscar Wilde personally. Instead it's someone that I know who keeps enthusing about him.

There are lots of hidden messages contained within his work apparently. So there's more to it than meets the eye. Your post about the meaning within individual words made me think of him.

@Hellbent

He was a genius. The power of words...

0

philanthropist. ??

philanthropy (n.)
c. 1600, from Late Latin philanthropia, from Greek philanthropia "kindliness, humanity, benevolence, love to mankind" (from gods, men, or things), from philanthropos (adj.) "loving mankind, useful to man," from phil- "loving" (see philo-) + anthropos "mankind" (see anthropo-). Originally in English in the Late Latin form; modern spelling attested from 1620s. - online etymological dictionary

Most terms are normal in their cognizance. I find most its the modern terms that create the double entendre or hidden meddage/meaning.

Look at the term. Mortgage. Mort is French for death. Il est mort. He is dead. 48% of English terms are French or derived there of. French is Latin based, though the Franks were a Germanic Tribe. So the term Mortgage is rooted in the term death. Why? Mort/age, death/age, for a person to live past 25 years was a miracle let alone 50 in centuries past, when this term was created. I am guessing 1600?? Let me check..... off by a couple centuries..... lets look at etymological dictionary...

mortgage (n.)
late 14c., morgage, "conveyance of property as security for a loan or agreement," from Old French morgage (13c.), mort gaige, literally "dead pledge" (replaced in modern French by hypothèque), from mort "dead" (see mortal (adj.)) + gage "pledge" (see wage (n.)). So called because the deal dies either when the debt is paid or when payment fails. Old French mort is from Vulgar Latin mortus "dead," from Latin mortuus, past participle of mori "to die" (from PIE root mer- "to rub away, harm," also "to die" and forming words referring to death and to beings subject to death). The -t- restored in English based on Latin.

So my summation differs in contextual meaning, however I believe it has some creedence. Where here the deal is dead upon death and or completion of payment. Where has mine is focused on the life of the borrower living long enough to pay the loan, hence you are pledging to repay the loan on or before your death... hmm.. i guess its semantics and I am not the etymological dictionary. But the premise is there.

So we define mortage as a loan or contract usually agaisnt the borrower's domicile. How digging into the morphological progression of the term we discover it cognates are rooted in death. The signing of a contract. The deal with the devil. A pledge to the death.

1

The one I always mentally parse is "therapist".

Gareth Level 7 June 24, 2018
8

Words are fascinating, yes. I'm reminded of something a wise loved one said...

 "When you meet someone who uses a word correctly, but mispronounces it, don't harangue or belittle them. They've learned that word on their own, through reading."

@Hellbent
🙂

Yes, I am a voracious reader, and have been known to learn the correct pronunciation of a word decades after I integrated it into my vocabulary. Curiosity is a hallmark of intelligence; mispronouncing words is not a hallmark of stupidity. But people seize upon it to try to diminish you and feel better about their own ignorance.

@mordant
Indeed!

4

Sol is latin for sun, ancient mythology soul goes back to source, sun god, jesus is a solar deity, Ra, ect... soul/dier. Think about the mental conditioning. Sol/dier they forfeit their soul.

The soul and spirit are not exactly religious concepts. The soul is the natural state of being, a humans constitution. Who they are. The Spirit is the conscious perception of reality. Think... love, haste, hate, envy, jealousy ect...

We are talking esoteric or occult knowledge. Mainstream linguistics follows a more general socially accepted vernacular. No one likes to talk magic or double entendre. But facts are facts, what is is.

Take the term spirit, comes from latin spiritus i believe which relates to the Greek term psyche, have to do with mind or consciousness. Con- is a latin cognate meaning with.... ment is latin cognate from mentis meaning mind.. ect...

The term media... what is it... medes ancient phonecian city were all magi/atronomors were trained. Think 3 wise men, thats where they came from, medes. This is where we get the term media. What is media? Media is a communicative platform for the transference of Artistic and creative endeavors, a medium for the tranference of energies, concepts, thoughts, ideas, ect... when you go to a seance for the envocation of spiritual energies, the medium translates the spirit or consciousness.

This is pretty deep, more deep than most are willing to go. Maggi is where the term Magic Comes from, the maggi were trained in medes.

All words were created from a conscious thought. is spell, like cast a spell... the same as spell a term. I mean you are spelling out the vocation or envocation, envoking the spirit or conscious thought. Casting a spell envolves the envoking of the spoken words made manifest by the intent of the caster, the wish.

I am attempting to explain the action. I am not a magician or practicing wizard witch, I have done several studies which were derived from biblical text and ancient mysteries schools. Yin/Yang magic.

Rember the story of the crusifiction. How Pontius Pilot, not spell checking, washed his hands. He had a bowl brought to him to wash his hands. This was after the jews had chosen to slay the christ. He had to honor the wish of the jews, he was the magistrate. He washed his hands as a symbolic statement, or envocation of Spirit to cleanse his soul for the retribution of the crusifiction of the man jesus. Think karma, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. An object in motion tends to stay in motion until it is met with an equal or opposit force. As above so below.

The spoken word or thought is made manifest from the conscious or spiritual realm into the physical reality. When a human consciously perceives and idea then manifests that idea or concept into reality, that is manifest destiny. That is magic! Not all that devil worsiping, spell casting, disappearing bs, that is mythology. This is it is Occult or Esoteric, hidden from common consciousness. Lying, manipulating, controling mental abuse, are technically forms of magic because you are manifesting destiny by unnatural means or acts/actions against the spirit.

This is actually a lot of fun for me. Yes I do believe in what I stated. Well known in occult societies. Not that I belong, I turned down an offer from the Masons, but for me its just doing the right thing for Earth and all beings, being a good human. The term Pagan is Latin, it means of the Earth.

Etre Level 7 June 24, 2018

I hope people don't think im off my rocker, this is not easy stuff to talk about.

Very well said. I used to study this but it was years ago. You would never know it now.

@DenoPenno
Thank you Sir, little afraid to talk about this its out of the conscious understanding for the most part. Yet these concepts are at the core of our social evolution. Thank you.

1

I enjoy doing cryptic (aka British) style crosswords where there is a lot of word play in the clue in addition to the definition. For example:

Needless danger signal given off by aluminium gasket in plant (5,5)

would be FALSE ALARM

The clue can be broken down as a definition part (needless danger signal) and a cryptic part (the balance of the clue) which can be understood as AL (aluminium) + SEAL (gasket) in F-ARM (plant).

Yes, the whole puzzle is about finding such word play in the grid entries.

@Hellbent I find I like the British grid style (lots of black squares) as it minimizes the crossings making me solve the entries as opposed to the American grid style with solid lines to end the words and much more crossing fill.

(Yes, I realize I am talking "shop" and probably confusing others...here are a couple of images that illustrate the difference. British on the left, American on the right.)

@RPardoe The British style allows for a much greater range of words. I guess the US version is better practice for Scrabble though.

@Gareth Agree which is why I like it.

(And don't get me started on Scrabble - a game which I really don't enjoy. Word Freak by Fatsis is a good read about the game and what is "wrong" with it (at least as I see it) - which is that the game rewards memorization (not skill) of word lists.)

1

Liguistics 101, breaking down systemic morphemes into phonemes, looking at etymological roots, cognates.... you did not even need a class, that is an intelligence quotient!!

Etre Level 7 June 24, 2018
1

I have always been interested in the sources and roots of words, how they evolved from other words, how parts of words impart meaning. I did very badly in French in high school, but did pick up the mal=bad/bene=good and notice how that repeats in English. Malignant, benign, benefit, malign, malevolent/benevolent, malaise.

3

I used to take a word that I would see or read and repeat it in my head until the sound of the word made no sense and I lost all grasp understanding the word. I would repeat it until it became strange and foreign. Just random simple words. My fascination was in pronunciation of the word where yours seems to be in the construction and hidden meaning. Very interesting how your mind works.

Yeah that works with almost any word! Say it enough it sounds like nonsense!

@Hellbent Well we are all here because we are not all there right ?

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