Free at Last! is our Continuing Imprecation - Part 2

Now, back to our irregularly scheduled blog:



...A synonym for the word denigration that is given in my dictionary is defame, but defamation has legal implications that denigration doesn’t, and in my experience has a stronger connotation. Use denigration if it’s just mean-spirited, not willful and potentially illegal.

One more thing about the word denigration before we move on: the Oxford English Dictionary says, as quoted on etymonline.com, “Apparently disused in 18th c. and revived in 19th c.” Denigration is a veritable Lazarus among words.


I made reference ealier to the word defamation and its legal sense. Defamation came to English in about 1300, from the Old French word diffamacion, which they got from the Middle Latin word defamation that was from the Latin word deffamaionem. It means to injure or attack the reputation or honor of someone by false and malicious statements. In legal terminology it covers both slander and libel. According to dancingwithlawyers.com, “Defamation of character is written or spoken injury to a person or organization's reputation. Libel is the written act of defamation, vs. slander, the oral act of defamation.”

Deprecation is a more interesting word. Its noun form came to English in the late 15th century, and didn’t take the verb form for over a century. (Usually it seems the noun is formed from the verb.) It came from the Middle French word deprécation, which the French got from the Latin word deprecationem. The stem word is deprecari, which is again formed by adding the prefix de-, this time to the word translated “plead in excuse, avert by prayer” precari.

Our word pray, which came to English in the late 13th century, also came through French (this time Old French word preier, since it was earlier), from the Latin word precari. The simple definition given in this case is "ask earnestly, beg," also "pray to a god or saint."

Deprecate, the latest of today’s words to come to English, means to feel and express disapproval of; to plead against or belittle. It also comes from Latin, from the word deprecatus, which is the past participle of the word deprecari, which means to pray (something) away. It originally meant “to pray against or for deliverance from” (etymonline.com), but within a couple of decades had come to mean simply to express disapproval.

And how does the word in the title – imprecation – relate? It must have a similar root. Whereas deprecation came in the late 15th century, imprecation came in the middle of the 15th century from the Latin word imprecationem. It has the same stem, precari, but has the prefix in-, which means within, and apparently Latin didn’t worry about the difference between an m and an n. Its formal meaning is the act of invoking evil or a curse on someone, but its common usage is begging or pleading as opposed to praying. Be aware of its formal meaning, especially in reading books written over 100 years ago.


Now, to come full circle back to where we started, the phrase self-deprecating, which is the one for which I was looking, was apparently first used (at least in writing) in 1958. I was being self-deprecating. Although I have forgotten why.

Happy Mother's Day

There are some things in life that, while longstanding traditions, should never become passé or an anachronism. Mother’s Day is one of those things.

An anachronism is something that is out of date, or out of harmony with the present, something that seems more appropriate to another period in time. It comes through Latin (anachronismus) from the Greek word anachronismos, which is formed from ana- (meaning against) and khronos (meaning time). It is first used in English in the 1640s but took its current meaning in 1816.

Something that is passé is old-fashioned or out of date. Coming directly from the French, the word means faded in French, and was in 1775 used to refer to a woman who had passed the period of greatest beauty. Only the French would have a word for that. A mother's beauty never fades.

Mothers never become anachronistic or passé. Their imprecations on behalf of their children are anodyne and cause most problems to deliquesce.

Imprecations came to English in the 15th Century from Latin; mothers were often in church imprecating for their children, praying, asking, sometimes even begging. The Latin word impreccari is formed from in- (within) and precari (to pray, beg or request). Mothers are known for their imprecations for their children.

A mother’s kiss is well-known to be anodyne. In the 1540s the Middle Latin word anodynus came to English. Again the Latin (anodynus) took directly from the Greek anodynos, which was formed from an- (again meaning without or against) and odyne (meaning pain). There is an anodyne miracle in a mother’s kiss of a scraped knee or bruised feelings.

Problems seem to deliquesce, or melt away, in the arms of a mother. While deliquesce comes to us from science, science has not been able to reproduce the recondite effects of a mother’s care. Deliquesce comes from the Latin word deliquere, which is formed from their word for liquid: liquere, with the de- meaning un. It was used in chemistry in 1756 and developed its general meaning in 1858.

Recondite is defined as beyond the grasp of the ordinary mind or understanding; profound. This “good word” has meant what it means in English since 1649, when it was adopted from the Latin reconditus, the past participle of recondere, which meant store away. Recondere is formed from re- (away, back) and condere (to store, hide, or put together). Condere is formed from con- (together) and dere (to put or place).

A mother’s anodyne imprecations may cause cares to deliquesce in a recondite manner, but are never passé or an anachronism. At least I hope they never become so.

Happy Mother’s Day.