PARENT EMPIRE PARADE VIPER POVERTY Lets see if I can get this straight. Latin PAUPER meant poor and in English it still serves as a noun, though it has today perhaps an old-fashioned or legalistic feel. It seems more common now to read the poor, which also is an adjective used as a noun. The same adjective, in fact. Poor is Latin PAUPER put through the rock-tumbler of French (Old French povre, Modern French pauvre; a related Latin noun came through French as poverty). The Latin word behind them both is from a pre-Latin compound *pau-paros producing little; getting little, from the roots of PAUCUS little (as in paucity) and PARARE to produce, give birth to; bring forth, furnish, provide. Latin PARARE, along with its cousin PARERE, spun a galaxy of words across the map of Europe, including many in English. Both are thought to come from the same PIE root meaning variously to produce, procure, bring forward, bring forth. PAREREs range of meaning in Latin is bring forth, give birth; and figuratively produce, create, effect, accomplish; procure, acquire, obtain. (for intertwined sense of give birth to and obtain, compare get/beget in English). From the basic sense of give birth comes the -parous in multiparous, biparous, nulliparous (having never given birth), oviparous (producing eggs that are hatched outside the body of the female), etc. Also post-partum occurring after birth (Latin PARTUS, past participle of PARERE); and parturient. Also puerperal, from Latin PUERPERUS bringing forth children; bearing a child, with PUER child, boy, which ultimately is from the same root as the PAUCUS (little) in pauper. Put them together one way, you get children, put them together the other way, you get poverty. Parents already know how intertwined those two words are. And parent, from Latin PARENS father or mother, ancestor, noun use of the present participle of PARERE. And, more obscurely, viper, from Latin VIPERA, contraction of *VIVIPERA, from VIVUS alive, living + PARERE. In common with many snake species in cooler climates, in most cases the vipers eggs are kept inside the mother until hatching. PARERE may have taken the give birth sense of the root, but cousin PARARE, which took the prepare, furnish, provide branch of meaning has been more fertile. It developed widespread senses in Romanic languages that grew from Latin, such as holding forth (properly keeping in readiness) and holding off, keeping off, parrying. Parry is one of them. It comes to English 17c. from French parez! (which would have been heard in fencing lessons), imperative of parer ward off, from Italian parare to ward or defend a blow, from the Latin word. The full range of Latin senses in PARARE was make ready, prepare, furnish, provide, arrange, order; also contrive, design, intend, resolve; procure, acquire, obtain, get; get with money, buy, purchase. So in some cases the two Latin words tend to add momentum to one another. The directest descendant of PARARE in English is the verb pare. Its Old French ancestor meant arrange, prepare; trim, adorn, which is close to the Latin sense, and at first the English word meant to trim by cutting close, but by 16c. it had taken on the modern sense of reduce something little by little. In addition, the word comes to English with the full Ginsu set of Latin compounds: apparatus (Latin APPARARE prepare); empire (Latin IMPERIUM, perhaps from *in-perare to demand (the production or payment of), or perhaps literally to bring in); compare (Latin COMPARARE, literally to couple together, to form in pairs); prepare (Latin PRAEPARARE to furnish beforehand, make ready before); repair (Latin REPARARE restore, put back in order); imperative (Latin IMPERARE to command, to requisition); disparate (Latin DISPARARE divide, separate); vituperate (Latin VITUPERARE disparage, find fault with, with VITIUM fault, defect, source of one of the English vices). Also separate (Latin SEPARARE to make to be apart) and its French form, sever, and thus also several. It also makes a prefix, para-, meaning defense, protection against; that which protects from, from the Italian imperative form of parare to ward off. Most English words in para- are from the other para-, which is from Greek and means alongside; beyond; altered; abnormal. But from the Latin-derived para- English has parachute (that which protects against a fall); parasol (literally protection from the sun); and parapet (breastwork, with Italian petto breast from Latin PECTUS). Then theres parade, originally in the military sense of assembly of troops for inspections, ultimately from PARERE in its arrange, prepare, adorn sense. And rampart from Middle French, from remparer to fortify, from emparer fortify, take possession of, properly to make preparations beforehand, from Latin ANTE- before + PARARE.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 22:13:54 +0000
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