What Are The Meaning Of Words?

     Throughout our lifetime, we use many words; we use them to express ourselves....We use them to convey a message....Words are used to construct this blog.  I have always being interested in the meaning of words.  As a practical guide, I always look up the etymology of a word; etymology means the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

     For example, the word contract in the early 14th century meant to make an agreement; when you separate the word and find out the true meaning of word, it may surprise some people--the first part of the word is con means to swindle or defraud, and the second part of the word tract means little book or treatise.  When you put these words together, it forms the meaning fraudulent treatise. There are other words which I find very interesting; these are husband and family. The etymology of the word husband is male head of household or master of the house then you take the word family, the etymology of this word is servants of the household or slaves if will.  Since the spouse and the children make up the family, this would mean then the family are servants or slaves to the master of the house which would be the husband.  When I found this out, I can say I was really shocked by it's original meaning. Let's take a look at another word which is Church; the word church means a place of worship today, but the word comes from circe which upon further examination relates to the Greek Goddess of sorcery, magic, transmutation, and necromancy.  In essence, the word church means, when put together, is place of worship to the Goddess Circe. The sorcery relates to witchcraft, magic, and enchantment, but the word sorcery comes from the Greek word pharmakeia means the use of medicine, drugs, or spells which is where we get the word pharmacy we use today.  This are just some words that have interesting meanings and connections to one another.