Good Words from Yankee from Olympus

On January 1, 2012 I shared some of the confusing words to come from reading “Yankee from Olympus”. Sometimes when I read I encounter a word or words that are often paired or used instead of a similar word. Today’s blog is about a couple of those I found in the book.

The first pairing of words is ferment and foment. My understanding was that ferment was something that resulted from cooking and heating, while foment is the development of rebellion. The most common usage of foment I’ve encountered has been “foment rebellion”. The word has as its definition “to instigate or foster (discord, rebellion, etc.)” which makes me wonder if it’s wrong to use foment in a positive sense. Can one foment philanthropy? Is this an example of a good word gone bad? “Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?”

Foment came to English in the early 1400s from the Old French word fomenter. It was used at that time to describe the act whereby one would “apply hot compress (to a wound)”. The French got it from the Late Latin word fomentare, which came from the Latin word formentum, that also referred to a “warm application” or “poultice”. It was a contraction of the word fovimentum, which is a form of the word fovere, which means “to warm; cherish, encourage”, according to etymonline.com. By the 1620s the French had developed the sense of instigating in the use of the word. (Those rebellious French!)

Ferment, on the other hand (in case you need a poultice on both hands) has developed meanings that add to the confusion. It is the interloper, the instigator. Originally it referred only to the process by which living organisms such as yeasts, molds, and certain bacteria, cause fermentation. (Don’t you love when a definition uses a form of the word to define the word? Fermentation is the change that converts sugar into alcohol.) But because often the process of fermentation involves heat the word ferment began referring to the heat itself, and now has the additional meanings of agitation, excitement, unrest, commotion, tumult or inflaming. That means that ferment is a synonym for foment. (Unfortunately. I prefer clarity not confusion.)

Ferment has a similar path as foment, coming to English in the late 1300s from the Old French (fermenter) who took it directly from the Latin word for “to leaven” fermentare. By the 1670s it had developed the additional meaning of anger or passion.

So the two words are apposite (another word from the book). Apposite is not the opposite of opposite exactly. It means apt, relevant, suitable or appropriate. The interesting etymology of the word is its back-formation from apposition, which came first into English over a century before apposite appeared in the 1620s, about when the Pilgrims appeared in Plymouth. Apposition is from the Latin word appositionem which is the past participle stem for the word that means “to put to.”

Apposite is a good word – when something is especially well-suited or appropriate, use apposite. If it just fits but not unusually well, use appropriate.

C'est le bon mot.