DIFFERENT WORDS WITH THE SAME MEANING, AND THE SAME WORDS WITH
DIFFERENT MEANINGS.
We have seen that there are great numbers of words in English which
come from the Latin language. Sometimes they have come to us through
Old French words borrowed from the Latin, and sometimes from the Latin
words directly, or modern French words taken from the Latin. The fact
that we have borrowed from the Latin in these two ways has led
sometimes to our borrowing twice over from the same word. Different
forms going back in this way to the same origin are known as
"doublets." The English language is full of them, and they, too, can
tell us some interesting stories.
Many of these pairs of words seem to have no relation at all with each
other, so much has one or the other, or both, changed in meaning from
that of the original word from which they come. A familiar pair of
doublets is _dainty_ and _dignity_, both of which come from the Latin
word _dignitas_. _Dignity_, which came into the English language
either directly from the Latin or through the modern French word
_dignité_, has not wandered at all from the meaning of the Latin word,
which had first the idea of "merit" or "value," and then that of
honourable position or character which the word _dignity_ has in
English. _Dainty_ has a quite different meaning; though it, too, came
from _dignitas_, but through the less dignified way of the Old French
word _daintie_.
The English words _dish_, _dais_, _desk_, and _disc_ all come from the
Latin word _discus_, by which the Romans meant first a round flat
plate thrown in certain games (a "quoit"), and secondly a plate or
dish. In Old English this word became _dish_. In Old French it became
_deis_, and from this we have the English _dais_--the raised platform
of a throne. In Italian it became _desco_, from which we got _desk_;
and the scientific men of modern times, in their need of a word to
describe exactly a round, flat object, have gone back as near as
possible to the Latin and given us _disc_. It is to be noticed that
the original idea of the Latin word--"having a flat surface"--is kept
in these four descendants of a remote ancestor.
The words _chieftain_ and _captain_ are doublets coming from the Late
Latin word _capitaneus_, "chief;" the former through the Old French
word _chevetaine_, and the latter more directly from the Latin.
_Frail_ and _fragile_ are another pair, coming from the Latin word
_fragilis_, "easily broken;" the one through Old French, and the other
through Modern French.
Both these pairs of words have kept fairly close to the original
meaning; but _caitiff_ and _captive_, another pair of doublets, have
quite different meanings from each other. Both come from the Latin
word _captivus_, "captive," the one indirectly and the other directly.
_Caitiff_, which is not a word used now except occasionally in poetry,
means a "base, cowardly person;" but _captive_ has, of course, the
original meaning of the Latin word.
Another pair of doublets, which are quite different in form and almost
opposite to each other in meaning, are _guest_ and _hostile_. These
two words come from the same root word; but this goes further back
than Latin, to the language known as the Aryan, from which nearly all
the languages of Europe and the chief language of India come.
_Hostile_ comes from the Latin _hostis_, "an enemy;" but _hostis_
itself comes from the same Aryan word as that from which _guest_
comes, and so these two words are doublets in English. They express
very different ideas: we are not generally "hostile" or "full of
enmity" against a "guest," one who partakes of our hospitality.
Another pair of doublets not from the Latin are _shirt_ and _skirt_,
which are both old Germanic words. _Skirt_ came later into the
language, being from the Scandinavian, while _shirt_ is an Old English
word.
The word _cross_ and the many words in English beginning with
_cruci_--such as _crucial_, _crucifix_, and _cruciform_--the adverb
_across_, as well as the less common word _crux_, all come from the
Latin word _crux_, "a cross." The word _cross_ first came into the
English language with Christianity itself, for the death of our Lord
on the cross was, of course, the first story which converts to
Christianity were told. It came through the Irish from the Norwegian
word _cros_, which came direct from the Latin. All the words beginning
with _cruci_ come straight from the Latin. _Cruciform_ and _crucifix_
refer to the form of a cross, and so sometimes does the word
_crucial_. But, as a rule, _crucial_ is used as the adjective of the
word _crux_, which means the "test," or "difficult point," in deciding
or doing something. The Romans did not use _crux_ in this sense; but
it is interesting to notice that they did use it in the figurative
sense of "trouble" just as we do. This came from the fact that the
common form of execution for all subjects of the Roman Empire except
Roman citizens was crucifixion.
Two such different words as _tavern_ and _tabernacle_, the one meaning
an inn and the other the most sacred part of the sanctuary in a
church, are doublets from the Latin word _tabernaculum_, "tent." The
first comes from the French _taverne_, and the second directly from
the Latin.
The words _mint_ and _money_ both come from the Latin word _moneta_,
which was an adjective attached by the Romans to the name of the
goddess Juno. The place where the Romans coined their money was
attached to the temple of Juno Moneta, or Juno the Adviser. From this
fact the Romans themselves came to use _moneta_ as the name for
coins, or what we call money. The word passed into French as
_monnaie_, which is still the French word both for _money_ and _mint_,
the place where we coin our money. In German it became _munze_, which
has the same meanings. In English it became _mint_. But the English
language, as we have seen, has a fine gift for borrowing. In time it
acquired the French word _monnaie_, which became _money_ as the name
for coins, while it kept the word _mint_ to describe the place where
coins are made.
The words _bower_, formerly the name of a sleeping-place for ladies
and now generally meaning a summer-house, and _byre_, the place where
cows sleep, both come from the Old English word _bur_, "a bower." The
word _flour_ (which so late as the eighteenth century Dr. Johnson did
not include in his great dictionary) is the same word as _flower_.
Flour is merely the flower of wheat. Again, _poesy_ and _posy_ are
really the same word, _posy_ being derived from _poesy_. _Posy_ used
to mean a copy of verses presented to some one with a bouquet. Now it
stands either for verses, as when we speak of the "posy of a ring," or
more commonly a bunch of flowers without any verses.
The words _bench_ and _bank_ both come from the same Teutonic word
which became _benc_ in Old English and _banc_ in French. _Bench_ comes
from _benc_, but _bank_ has a more complicated history. From the
French _banc_ we borrowed the word to use in the old expression a
"bank of oars." From the Scandinavians, who also had the word, we got
_bank_, used for the "bank of a river." Meanwhile the Italians had
also borrowed the old Germanic word which became with them _banca_ or
_banco_, the bench or table of a money-changer. From this the French
got _banque_, and this became in English _bank_ as we use it in
connection with money.
The Latin word _ratio_, "reckoning," has given three words to the
English language. It passed into Old French as _resoun_, and from this
we got the word _reason_. Later on the French made a new word direct
from the Latin--_ration_; which, again, passed into English as a
convenient name for the allowance of food to a soldier. It has now a
more general sense, as when in the Great War people talk of the whole
nation being put "on rations." Then again, as every child who is old
enough to study mathematics knows, we use the Latin word itself,
_ratio_, as a mathematical term.
Another Latin word which has given three different words to the
English language is _gentilis_. From it we have _gentile_, _gentle_,
and _genteel_. Yet the Latin word had not the same meaning as any of
these words. _Gentilis_ meant "belonging to the same _gens_ or
'clan.'" It became later a distinguishing term from _Jew_. All who
were not Jews were _Gentiles_, and this is still the meaning of the
word _gentile_ in English. It came directly from the Latin. But
_gentilis_ became _gentil_ in French; and we have borrowed twice from
this word, getting _gentle_, which expresses one idea contained in the
French word, though the French word means more than our word _gentle_.
It has the sense of "very amiable and attractive." The last word of
the three, _genteel_, is rather a vulgar word. It means "like
gentlemen and ladies have to do," and only rather ignorant people use
the word seriously.
Doublets from Latin words for the most part resemble each other in
meaning and form, though, as we have seen, this is not always the
case. We could give a long list of examples where both sense and form
are similar, but there is only space to mention a few. _Poor_ and
_pauper_ (a miserably poor person) both come from the Latin _pauper_,
"poor." _Story_ and _history_ both come from _historia_, a word which
had both meanings in Latin. _Human_ and _humane_ are both from the
Latin _humanus_, "belonging to mankind." _Sure_ and _secure_ are both
from the Latin _securus_, "safe." _Nourishment_ and _nutriment_ are
both from the Latin _nutrimentum_. _Amiable_ and _amicable_ are both
from the Latin _amicabilis_, "friendly."
Examples of doublets which are similar in form but not in sense are
_chant_ and _cant_, which both come from the Latin _cantare_, "to
sing." _Chant_ has the original idea, being a form of singing,
especially in church; but _cant_ has wandered far from the original
sense, meaning insincere words, especially such as are used by people
pretending to be religious or pious. The word _cant_ was first used
in describing the chanting or whining of beggars, who were supposed
often to be telling lies; and from this it got its present use, which
has nothing to do with singing.
_Blame_ and _blaspheme_, both coming from the Latin _blasphemare_,
itself taken from a Hebrew word, are not, perhaps, quite so different
in sense; but _blame_ means merely to find fault with a person, while
_blaspheme_ means to speak against God.
_Chance_ and _cadence_ both come from the Latin _cadere_, "to fall,"
but have very little resemblance in meaning. _Chance_ is what happens
or befalls, and _cadence_ is movement measured by the fall of the
voice in speaking or singing.
But the most interesting doublets of all are those which have neither
form nor sense in common. No one would guess that the words _hyena_
and _sow_, the names of two such different animals, are doublets. Both
come from the Greek word _sus_ or _hus_, "sow." The Saxons, when they
first settled in England, had the words _su_, "pig," and _sugu_,
"sow;" and later the word _hyena_ was taken from the Latin word
_hyaena_, itself derived from the Greek _huaina_, "sow."
The words _furnish_ and _veneer_, again, are doublets which do not
resemble each other very closely either in sound or in sense. Both
come from the Old French word _furnir_, which has become _fournir_ in
Modern French, and means "to furnish." The English word _furnish_ was
taken direct from the French, while the word _veneer_, which used to
be spelt _fineer_, came into English from a German word also borrowed
from the French _furnir_.
No one would easily guess that the name _nutmeg_ had anything to do
with _musk_; but the word comes from the name which Latin writers in
the Middle Ages gave to this useful seed--_nux muscata_, "musky nut."
It seems strange, when we come to think of it, that great English
sailors like Admiral Jellicoe and Admiral Beatty are called by a title
which is really the same as the name of an Arabian chieftain--_Emir_.
_Admiral_ comes from the Arab phrase _amir al bahr_, "emir on the
sea."
Just the opposite to doublets which do not resemble each other are
many pairs of words which are pronounced alike and sometimes spelled
alike. Very often these words come from two different languages, and
there are many of them in English through the habit the language has
always had of borrowing freely whenever the need of a new word has
been felt.
The word _weed_, "a wild plant," comes from an Old English word, _weod_;
while "widows' weeds" take their name from the Old English word
_woede_, "garment." The word _vice_, meaning the opposite of _virtue_,
comes through the French from the Latin _vitium_, "a fault;" while a
"_vice_," the instrument for taking a perfectly tight hold on anything,
comes from the Latin _vitis_, "a vine," through the French _vis_, "a
screw." Yet another _vice_, as in _viceroy_, _vice-president_, etc.,
comes from the Latin _vice_, "in the place of." _Angle_, meaning the
sport of fishermen, comes from an Old English word, _angel_,
"fish-hook;" while _angle_, "a corner," comes from the Latin word
_angulus_, which had the same meaning.
We might imagine that the word _temple_, as the name of a part of the
head, was a metaphor describing the head as the temple of the mind,
but it has no such romantic meaning. _Temple_, the name of a place of
worship, comes from the Latin _templum_, "a temple;" but _temple_, the
name of a part of the head, is from the Latin word _tempus_, which had
the same meaning in Latin, and also the earlier meaning of "the
fitting time." It has been suggested that in Latin _tempus_ came to
mean "the temple," because it is "the fitting place" for a fatal blow,
the temple being the most delicate part of the head.
_Tattoo_, meaning a "drum beat," comes from the Dutch _tap-toe_,
"tap-to," an order for drinking-houses to shut. But _tattoo_,
describing the cutting away of the skin and dyeing of the flesh so
common among sailors, is a word borrowed from the South Sea Islanders.
_Sound_ meaning "a noise," and _sound_ meaning "to find out the depth
of," as in _sounding-rod_, are two quite different words. The one
comes from the word _son_, found both in Old English and French, and
the other from the Old English words _sundgyrd_, _sund line_, "a
sounding line;" while _sound_ meaning "healthy" or "uninjured," as in
the expression "safe and sound," comes from the Old English word
_sund_, and perhaps from the Latin _sanus_, "healthy."
The existence of so many pairs of words of this sort, which have the
same sound and which yet come from such different origins--origins as
far apart as the speech of the people of Holland and that of the South
Sea Islanders, as we saw in the word _tattoo_--illustrates in a very
interesting way the wonderful history of the English language.