[Editors] Which came first, editor or edit?

[Robyn Fizz]

Greetings You Who Came First,

Thought you might enjoy this post. BTW, if you're interested in a daily dose of word lore, I recommend both Wordsmith (wordsmith.org<http://wordsmith.org>) and Podictionary (podictionary.com<http://podictionary.com>).

Cheers,
Robyn


Begin forwarded message:

From: Wordsmith <wsmith at wordsmith.org<mailto:wsmith at wordsmith.org>>
Date: April 26, 2010 1:25:02 AM EDT
To: Robyn Fizz <fizz at mit.edu<mailto:fizz at mit.edu>>
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cathect

 Wordsmith.org<http://Wordsmith.org>    The Magic of Words

Apr 26, 2010
This week's theme
Back-formations

This week's words
cathect<http://wordsmith.org/words/cathect.html>

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Which came first, editor or edit? This may sound like a chicken-and-egg question, but it's not. It's easy to assume that the word editor was formed from the verb edit. In reality, the word editor came first (from Latin edere: to give out). Then we formed the verb edit from it. Words such as babysit, vaccinate, donate, all were derived from their noun forms, not vice versa.

This re-interpretation of a word to coin a new word is called back-formation: devising a word from what appears to be a derivative word.

This re-analysis of words can be in error or in humor, done on purpose. About 110 years ago British troops were released after a long siege in a town called Mafeking in South Africa. It sparked wild celebrations in Britain. The town name Mafeking was jocularly treated as a gerund and a verb form was coined: to maffick<http://wordsmith.org/words/maffick.html> (to celebrate).

The word we now know as cherry was originally cherise (in French it's still called cerise today), but as that seemed to be plural, people erroneously spoke of a cherry when referring to a single fruit.

In the beginning back-formations are usually frowned upon, for example, the verb enthuse (a back-formation from enthusiasm) is not yet well accepted. Scores of other back-formations are now full-fledged members of the English language: greed (from greedy), injure (from injury), beg (from beggar).

The verb to back-form itself is a back-formation. We'll look at five more this week.

Discuss this week's words and much more on our bulletin board: Wordsmith Talk<http://wordsmith.org/board/>
cathect

PRONUNCIATION:
(kuh-THEKT) [http://wordsmith.org/words/images/sound-icon.png] <http://wordsmith.org/words/cathect.mp3>

MEANING:
verb tr.: To invest mental or emotional energy in an idea, object, or person.

ETYMOLOGY:
Back-formation from Greek kathexis (the investment of emotional energy in something). Ultimately from the Indo-European root segh- (to hold) that is also the source of words such as victory (to hold in a battle), hectic, scheme, and scholar.

USAGE:
"Mortimer divorced Jane Goodall's mother, Vanne, in 1950, consigning Jane to the fate of so many children who cathect with the animal kingdom to compensate for missing parents."
Judith Lewis; Observing the Observer: Jane Goodall, The Woman Who Redefined Man; Los Angeles Times; Nov 19, 2006.

Explore "cathect<http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=cathect>" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
When others asked the truth of me, I was convinced it was not the truth they wanted, but an illusion they could bear to live with. -Anais Nin, writer (1903-1977)

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