Don't Even Think of Disagreeing with This

Sometimes you can argue a point and sometimes you can’t. Those times you can’t there are several words that might be helpful to know: asseveration, irrefragable, ineluctable, and apodictic.

An asseveration is similar in form and in meaning to assertion. It comes from the Latin word severus, from which we get the word severe (go figure). It means strict and severe. The Latin added the prefix ad- which means “to” and developed the word asseverare, which means “to swear solemnly, act with earnestness, or assert strongly. Its entry into English in the 1550s came with an exaggerated meaning, and means a vehement assertion, or to state positively or seriously. The idea is that there is no room for disagreement. Which brings us to the word irrefragable.

If the word irrefragable sounds familiar, you’re undoubtedly remembering the word from July 11. Irrefragable comes from the Latin root word fragari, which refers to a contest or opposition. The re- in Latin is the same as the ir- in English; it is a negating prefix. As the word came to English from Late Latin (by which time it was irrefragabilis) in the 1530s it was used to refer to that which cannot be refutable. In that respect it is a synonym for irrefutable; the difference is that irrefutable deals with an inability to be able to reason differently. Irrefragable refers to the inability to oppose in any manner – including, one supposes, physically (as in the contest from which its meaning derives). By the way, in my dictionary it is the word above irrefrangible, which is the word above irrefutable, making it easy to compare the three.

Unlike irrefutable and irrefrangible, there is no word refragable.

In the same way there is no word electable, only ineluctable. The Latin root word is similar to fragari in its meaning: it is luctari, which means to struggle. Add an ex-, which means out, lose the x and you have eluctari. Add another prefix, in-, meaning “not” and you get a Latin word ineluctari that means that which cannot be resisted by struggling. Its English counterpart (which arrived in 1623) means certain, inevitable, unavoidable or inescapable. No sense even trying. There is a sense of struggling against it that remains, which is why it’s a good word to use when you wish you could get out of something but know there’s no use trying.

Our final word today is apodictic. An asseveration that can be shown or proven but doesn’t need to be is apodictic. Apodictic is an adjective describing that which is absolutely certain or necessarily true. It is a Greek word, the apo- meaning ”from”, and deiknynai meaning “to show”. Provability is a component in the meaning. It entered English in the 1650s and has the presumption of clearly demonstrated. If you have an opinion or contention that is so obvious as to thwart any opposing view, it is apodictic.

I’m sure you agree; it’s apodictic.