[Editors] Which came first, editor or edit?

[William Litant]

Thank you, Robyn. Most interesting!   I would have thought, based on my years at MIT, that "the word editor came first (from Latin edere: to give out)" would read " ... from the Latin: to give up."

Bill




On Apr 27, 2010, at 10:19 AM, Robyn Fizz wrote:

> 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) and Podictionary (podictionary.com).
> 
> Cheers,
> Robyn
> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
>> From: Wordsmith <wsmith at wordsmith.org>
>> Date: April 26, 2010 1:25:02 AM EDT
>> To: Robyn Fizz <fizz at mit.edu>
>> Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cathect
>> 
>>  Wordsmith.org	The Magic of Words 
>> 
>> Apr 26, 2010
>> This week's theme
>> Back-formations 
>> 
>> This week's words
>> cathect
>> 
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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 (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
>> cathect
>> 
>> 
>> PRONUNCIATION:
>> (kuh-THEKT) 
>> 
>> 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" 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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