Peace
I
would like thoughts of peace to be on my mind always, but I
often let life get in the way. Recent events, though, have brought my
ever-present (if sometimes buried) hopes for peace to the forefront.
The
word
peace came to English in the 1100s, meaning freedom from civil disorder. It came to English through Old French
from the Latin word pacem or pax. Our modern word pact more closely
reflects the initial meaning of peace’s Proto-Indo-European root, pag or pak,
which meant to make firm, to join
together, to agree.
Ah
that we humans of the world might join
together & firmly agree on peace.
Some
modern synonyms for peaceful include:
placid, an undisturbed & unruffled
calm
calm, a total absence of agitation or
disturbance
tranquil, a more intrinsic & permanent
peace than the peace suggested by the word calm.
serene, an exalted tranquility
harmonious, musical agreement or
settled governmental order
In
lieu of leaving a comment for this post, I’m hoping we can all instead bring peaceful
thought & action to the forefront, & maybe, just maybe (with
all due respect to Margaret Meade) a small group of thoughtful word nerds can
change the world for the better.
My thanks go out to this week’s
sources: OED, Merriam Webster, Wordnik, Webster’s New World Dictionary,
1959, & Etymonline
Charlie, I'm so glad you chose Peace for this week's Wordmonger. It's been a couple of terrible weeks news-wise, make it months, and for some reason this week just piled all the misery on. Pax to all of us, sooner than later. All the best, my pal, Paul.
ReplyDeleteAhoy Paul - thanks. I knew other had to be feeling similarly. I'm pleased to be pondering peace with you.
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