Love and Joy (but not the way you think) to You and Yours

I was listening to a famous conservative talk show host this week as I Rushed to do some last minute shopping, and thought I heard the misuse of either the word averse or adverse, and went to see if I'd covered those words. They are linked to the posts in which I'd included them, and in reading those posts I discovered a couple of words on which I had not posted.

The first was internecine, a good word I could have mentioned in the post on interregnum, interrex and antebellum. It is defined as conflict within a group, and is often used in the phrase "internecine warfare," referring to, for instance, fighting between children or within a political party. Inter- as a prefix is understood to refer to something in the middle of two other things, but -necine is not something that brings a reference to mind. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (in this blog when we refer to the OED we must bow) though, the inter- prefix is not used to mean between or mutual but is used as an intensive. 

The Latin word from which it came to English (in the 1660s) is internecinus, which meant very deadly or murderous. When Johnson wrote his influential dictionary he made the mistake of assigning the prefix meaning as "between" and it's caused confusion ever since. The dictionary contains both definitions (mutual destruction and infighting), so you have your choice. But now you can be pedantic by correcting those who use internecine instead of the word infighting.

Another word used in the post on averse and adverse that I haven't covered is the word lascivious. Lascivious is an adjective that describes something that arouses sexual desire or is suggestive of lust (like a gesture or a look). Lust is the noun for a strong sexual desire or appetite. 

Lascivious has been used in English since the mid-1400s, when it arrived from the Middle French word lascivieux. The Middle French word came from the Late Latin word laciviosus. In Latin lascivia meant not only lewdness but also playfulness or frolicsomeness. 

Lust goes much further back in time. It was an Old English word that may have come from Old Saxon, Old Frisian, German, or Dutch, all of whom have the word lust. In Middle English it could refer to not only pleasure and delight, but also an appetite or a liking for someone. It developed its sexual connotation when it was used to translate the Bible into English. When the translators got to I John 2:16, they encountered the Latin phrase concupiscentia carnis. Looking for a suitable Old English word to describe sexual desires of the flesh (or concupiscence) they settled on the words "lusts of the flesh."

Concupiscence has been used in English since the mid-1300s, and came directly from the aforementioned Latin word, which means "eager desire." At this point, the only desire it refers to is sexual desire, but originally it could have referred to that chocolate bar or the feeling children (or their dads and grandpas) have when they get up on Christmas morning. 

I hope your Christmas is replete with fulfilled concupiscence (in its old Latin sense) and no internecine conflicts.