The Bible says: "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God." This would suggest that God used words to communicate with other parts of the world, including ourselves.
Words are sounds. Sounds help those who can hear to understand what is happening around them. Other beings, and even objects, make noises that are not words, yet we can, if we try very hard, understand what is happening. An animal's cry can indicate to us whether or not it is happy, sad, or in pain; a piece of wood, when it is under great pressure from a pressing weight, can make a cracking noise, warning us it cannot take any more without breaking; the wind may roar, telling us it is too is under a lot of pressure and will bowl over anything that is unable to match its strength and power, or it may whisper gently, caressing our cheeks as it slowly drifts past, wanting to be kind to us.
Humans
tend to use words to communicate with each other. Unfortunately, not all
of the words a human utters are immediately understandable. It has been
suggested that in the past there was only one language for all the peoples
on the Earth. However, the people became arrogant, imagining they could
reach the heavens and be just like God, so they were scattered to the four
corners of the Earth, after the tall tower they had built in Babel was
struck down, and they were given a variety of tongues (languages) so that
they would find it difficult to create such an arrogant monstrosity again.
This is an interesting story with which to explain the vast
variety of languages people use to communicate with each other, but we
can't confirm its authenticity. Yet there are people, Etymologists, who
have studied ancient languages, discovering the pathways in which words
have travelled, changed, evolved, throughout the centuries. They do seem
to be saying that despite Languages changing so much, English included, it
is possible to trace many of the words which have been absorbed into our
language through to their roots.
Would you please forgive me whilst I quote for a short while from Walter W Skeats: "Concise Dictionary of English Etymology". In it he states that English has many words which come from the 7 Aryan Groups of languages, i.e. Indian, Persian, Celtic, Graeco-Latin, Teutonic, Slavonic and Lettic(Lithuanian). And the most important languages to study for English are:
1) Sanskrit (Indian Group),
2) Greek (Graeco-Latin Group),
3) Latin (Graeco-Latin Group),
4) Anglo-Saxon (Teutonic Group),
5) Icelandic (Teutonic Group),
6) Old High German (Teutonic Group).
He also believes that the Old Slavonic and Lithuanian languages help us understand and explain some of the roots of words we use. As an example: Teutonic BAR = to bear; AS = baer (past tense of verb beran); Gothic = bar (past tense of bairan, to bear). I would personally add that the other languages which have had as great an influence on English are, Danish, Dutch, Old French, and those of Celtic or Ancient Briton origin. They certainly seemed to have an influence on the meaning of some words, and in some instances their spelling.
Please forgive the technical jargon, I know how boring it can be reading a list of unnatural word groupings, but it is necessary to quote it now and again, if only to show how words have similar sounds and meanings despite their spelling and variation in pronunciation. You only have to listen to a person from Norfolk saying a particular phrase, then listen to someone from Northumberland saying the same thing, to realise how easy it is to misunderstand what is being said.
I remember visiting a distant cousin on my mother's side, who I was told had moved to the South West of Scotland shortly after she had married, long before I was born. This cousin had a daughter, who like me was still prepubescent, and when I first met her I shyly asked her her name. What she said sounded like "Arthur" but I knew that was a boy's name, so later I purposely asked my mother was the girl's name really was. I was really shocked to find that her name was "Cathy"! Her accent was so different to mine, that I completely misunderstood what it was she said. It was then that I vowed to learn more about language, and the various pronunciations and dialects within it.
Later I learned that English did not gain a standardised form of spelling until around the 1700s. Prior to that people who were capable of writing would usually spell a word several different ways within the same document, depending on which way their mood dictated. Even England's most famous writer, William Shakespear spelt his name in different ways at different times.
Having brought the subject of different spellings of words which sound the same, I would like to consider this pair of words: WHOLE and HOLE
I have always found it strange that this sound could be spelt in two different ways and each have the OPPOSITE meanings. HOLE - empty space: WHOLE - filled space. The letter W seems to have been used to fill the empty space!
The word WHOLE, etymologically speaking, is the same as the Scandinavian word - HALE; Middle English - HEIL; Icelandic - HEILL; Danish - HEEL; Swedish - HEL, HALEThe English word HEAL is derived from this; Middle English - HELEN; Anglo-Saxon - HOELAN - to make whole.
The word HOLE, on the other hand is Middle English - HOLE, HOL; Anglo-Saxon - HOL (a cave); Dutch - HOL; Icelandic - HOL; Danish - HUL; Swedish - HAIL; German - HOHLE; Gothic - USHULON - to hollow out, also it is the past participle of the verb HELAN - to cover.
When looking at the definition of the word HOLE the reader is told to look at the meaning of the word HELL. Middle English - HELLE; Anglo-Saxon - HEL originating from that which hides, from Anglo-Saxon HELIAN, to hide.
Once this has all been digested it becomes clear that way in the past, despite someone trying very hard to translate and understand what was being heard, two words, which were very similar and probably sounded the same to the untrained ear, were considered to be the same, and the two opposite meanings were attached to the same sound. Later someone did try to differentiate between the two meanings and the word had an extra letter added. I think this demonstrates how easy it is for spellings and sounds from different languages to become transposed or misdirected in translation. Such errors can prove a nightmare if someone else tries to use the erroneous information to investigate a different aspect of language, but it illustrates how language evolves.
For me, the easiest way to remember the correct spelling of these words and which of the meanings should be attributed to them all I have to do is look at the position of the letter O in HOLE, see that is has 1 letter to its left, but 2 to its right, and say, it doesn't balance, there is something missing, so the meaning is an empty space. I then look at the letter O in the word WHOLE, see that it has 2 letters to its left and 2 to its right, and say, it does balance, so the meaning is the space is complete. Simple, but effective don't you think?
But these are not the only words I find interesting in our language. A phrase, "Go with the flow", is often made to encourage people to emotionally stop fighting any difficulties they are encountering and let things happen. Difficulties can suddenly arise out of nowhere, and not everyone finds it easy to take them in their stride. When a volcano erupts, the lava suddenly shoots out from a hole in the Earth's crust and the red hot liquid magma is forced down the mountainside and across the land, until the cool outside air has managed to solidify the molten lava, and so stop its progress. Because the lave has flowed, the landscape has changed, and everyone else must now adapt to new surroundings. Whose who find this difficult to do usually end up suffering in some way, sometimes with serious consequences. Only those who do accept the changes are likely to survive. It is the way of things in nature, and the universe.
But not everything that flows is as thick or as solid as lava. Water flows, in a stream, and as long as it can move easily without hindrance it will not prove too difficult to deal with. Certain gases can be seen to flow through the air in what is called a stream; even light is said to flow from the sun. Even a wave "flows", whether it be in the sea, or in the form of electricity.
If everyone considers the spelling of the word FLOW to be linked with the way water moves, why do Seamen, who work with the water more than the rest of us, spell the word FLOE? Actually the phrase they use is "go with the floe", which means a piece of ice, or iceberg, floating in the ocean. Most of us have heard about the fateful journey of the ship The Titanic, which is said to have hit an iceberg, during one foggy evening, in the Atlantic Ocean. Icebergs are recognised as a serious hazard to shipping and it is advisable for any water vehicle to keep its distance from the iceberg and monitor the dangerous object's movements. Hence, "go with the floe".
The word FLOE is Danish, and means "a flake of ice". The word comes from iis-flage and literally means "ice-flake". FLAKE means "a think slice" (Scandinavian) and the word FLAW means "a crack, a flake", so the words FLOE and FLAW refer to the same idea - something that has broken, cracked, away from the main source, and as the ice floe is usually moving along in water it reminds people of how water flows in a stream, and it is necessary to "go with the stream" or "flow" if you don't want to encounter any further difficulty. Good advice!
When you try to go with the flow you tend to be watchful and cautious. Etymologically speaking, the words for people acting in this way are WARD(EN), WATCH(ER), GUARD(IAN). I have always found the words GUARD and GOD to sound the same, and in some instances we tend to perceive GOD as our GUARD, every watchful, every protective, defending us in times of peril. Religion tends to encourage us to see GOD as related to GOOD(NESS) and there are many good things in the world around us, especially in nature for which we can be grateful and give thanks. But some of those who have studied the various languages, rightly or wrongly, tend to dismiss the link between GOD and GOODNESS. The Imperial Dictionary of 1871 makes the following observation:
As the word God and Good are written exactly the alike in Saxon it has been inferred that God was named from Goodness. But the corresponding words in most of the other languages are not the same, and I believe no instance can be found of a name given to a Supreme Being, from the attributes of Goodness. It is probably an idea too remote from the rude conceptions of men in early ages. Except for the word Jehovah, I have found the name of the Supreme Being to be usually taken from his supremacy or power, and to be equivalent to lord or ruler, from some root signifying - to press or exert force.
I am still pondering on this question but feel that the word GUARD has more in keeping with how we see GOD today, trying to help us and protect us from the evil that surrounds us. The goodness that is present in nature comes from the Creator, and we can relate to that Supreme Being GOD and attribute to him the additional role of GUARD then it would make sense as to why the definition has become so clouded and confused.
One last observation. As I watched a young mother guard over her child, I saw her reach out to grab him before he toddled too close to an open fire. She did not want to see him hurt and was trying to protect him. She also shouted the word "NO" as she grabbed him, in attempt to communicate to him that he was about to do something that was dangerous to him. At that moment I realised that she had said another word, "KNOW"! It was as if she was trying to instill into him some understanding, despite his young age and lack of language comprehension.
How often have we thought that when someone said "NO" they were trying to stop us doing something that was just a bit of fun, and that they were being a spoilsport. Could they actually have been trying to imbue us with a bit of wisdom, understanding, knowing, to enable us to to make the best decision and do the "right" action? Just saying "NO" is not always enough to instill this wisdom, especially if it is the first time the incident has occurred, and a further more detailed explanation is required. But later, the word "KNOW" or "NO" can sometimes be enough to draw our attention to a possible problem, and we are then usually grateful for the warning.
We need to remember "NO" can sometimes mean "KNOW"!!!
Except from the Hermitage Chronicles