The Same Difference

Sometimes the obscurity in words is not in the words themselves but in the various definitions and their differences. For the most part, today’s words are common, but they have meanings with shades of differences that escape some people.

For instance, one definition of a founder (noun) is a person who founds, or establishes. And one definition of flounder (noun) is any of a large group of flatfishes, one of which is halibut. But another definition of founder (verb intransitive) is “to become stuck in soft ground, bog down, fill with water and sink.” And another definition of flounder (verb intransitive) is “to struggle awkwardly to move, as in deep mud or snow.” So a boat or ship can either founder or flounder; if merely stuck in mud it is floundering, and if it begins filling with water it is foundering.

Why the different meanings? Founder is the noun form of the transitive verb found, which in Middle English was founden and in Old French was fonder, came from the Latin word fundare, which meant bottom. (It’s possible the Latin word came from Indo-European and possibly Sanskrit, but that’s debatable.) So a founder is someone at the bottom or start of a construction. Founder (verb instransitive) also comes through Middle English (foundren) and Old French (fondrer). Fondrer means to fall in or sink. It comes from the Latin word fundus, another form of the word fundare. So they have the same root, but have taken a different path to English. The verb founder is an early 14th century arrival in English.

Flounder (noun) comes to Middle English from Scandinavia, as in the Swedish word flundra, which is akin to the Greek word flunder. Flounder (verb intransitive) is less definitive in its etymology. My dictionary says it is a variation of founder, but etymonline.com says it is from the 1590s, perhaps as a variation, but is “influenced by the Dutch word flodderen”, which means to flop about.

Careen and career also have similar meanings: Careen is from the French carener which is from the Italian carena (the Genoese dialect, as you’ve undoubtedly discerned) which is from the Latin carina. Carina is the word for the keel of a ship, and the intransitive verb careen means “to cause (a ship) to lean or lie on one side.” One verb transitive definition is “to lurch from side to side.” It is also from the 1590s, but has been confused with career since at least 1923.

The definition of the intransitive verb career is “to move at full speed; rush wildly.” Something (usually a ship) can either careen or career, and sometimes both at the same time. Career comes to English from the French carriere, which refers to a race course, from the Italian carriera.

I suppose when you are in trouble at sea, whether foundering, floundering, careering or careening, specificity of verbiage is not your primary concern. But now you know the difference between these similar words.