Original Public Meaning

Words for modern technology—computer, electricity, and so on—often draw from ancient vocabulary to describe novel objects and phenomena. Such is the case for "incandescent," which first appeared in the eighteenth century in a report about combustible fuels. As we see in the contemporary novel Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, this word's application ultimately extends well beyond the filament of a light bulb and into moral matters.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Like many of our words, "ramify" borrows its meaning from the natural world—in this case, from the complex branches of a tree. Today, we use "ramify" and "ramifications" to discuss all kinds of matters, not just trees, such as the future consequences of important historical events. In this episode, we explore the broadest ramifications taking place over millions of years in Charles Darwin's 1859 text on natural selection, The Origin of Species.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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The etymology of "convention" is simple enough—it means a "coming together," combining the Latin roots for "together" and "to come." But how does this idea of a physical meeting develop into our idea of customary practices and social norms? We look at a brilliant passage from Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America for clarification.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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The word ectoplasm, for people of a particular age, will undoubtedly bring the Ghostbusters franchise to mind. But the word has a longer history, stretching from its ancient Greek roots to modern spiritual quackery. Here, we look to Arthur Conan Doyle and Ralph Ellison for understanding what it means to be invisible or real, fabricated or true.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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A quip is a little, witty remark, but it's also a bit of Latin that has sneaked into English. In today's episode, we consider all those qu- words in Latin like quis and quae to help understand the underlying meaning of "quip." We look, too, at the opening of Vergil's Aeneid for an example of a quip hiding in plain sight.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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If someone can be "untrammeled," can they also just be "trammeled"? And what does it mean to "trammel" something in the first place? Today we look at a word whose negative form dominates its usage. After uncovering the roots of "untrammeled" in fishing traps, we turn to human biology and the biography of the Roman Emperor Claudius to consider how people have found themselves caught up in nets.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Hypocrisy is a moral failing we find in deceitful, duplicitous people. But this word—which originally comes from a Greek verb that simply means "to reply"—wasn't always associated with deception or compromised principles. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus and the novelist George Eliot give us literary examples to consider how our notion of hypocrisy came to us today.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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We negotiate with friends and rivals alike in the modern world: at the dinner table, in the workplace, and among relatives. The notion of "negotiating," however, has its roots in ancient Latin vocabulary—chiefly, in the noun negotium. In this episode, we consider how Romans understood work and leisure, and we look to Shakespeare to see how this ancient idea evolved in later English literature.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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To kick off this podcast, we're starting with the word "principal," whose close relative "principle" can trip up even native English speakers. These two words—even if they have some shared history—aren't interchangeable. In this first episode, we turn to Isaac Newton and the King James Bible for help.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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