Wandering About in The Words

I had a notion to look up the meaning of a word in the dictionary. I started with ORDINARY (common, lacking special characteristics).

This led to COMMON (occurring often, prevalent, unremarkable, not rare, vernacular, vulgar, for shared use, something of the most familiar type).

Which of course prompted a peek at VULGAR (lacking sophistication, unrefined, course, sexually rude, belonging to the masses or common people). Which now sounds a bit dirty, but once referred mainly to the general population.

The MASSES (from Old French, Latin, and Greek and referring to a barley cake or kneading) are the ORDINARY people, of course.

RUDE (offensively impolite or ill-mannered, or dealing in a taboo subject, or crudely made, or lacking subtlety and sophistication, or unwrought, uncultured, and uncultivated from a word meaning ‘broken stone’) rode along with common and vulgar.

Then I couldn’t help but look at CRUDE (natural or raw, not yet processed, of rudimentary or makeshift construction, offensively coarse or rude, especially in a sexual sense).

Of course I had to check out COARSE (rough or loose in texture or grain, made of large particles, not elegantly formed or proportioned, of an inferior quality, rude, crude, and vulgar, from the Middle English ordinary or inferior, or habitual and ordinary in manner).

And I almost forgot PUBLIC, which is a complicated and many-faceted definition but I loved the source. From Latin (via Old French and Middle English) PUBLICUS, a blend of POPLICUS (of the people) and PUBES (adult or enfranchised individual).

What do we do with this nerdy etymological wandering in the dictionary? I’m going to revel in the irony that all of these words make a heady mix of common, unrefined, shared, and related to the (adult or responsible and enfranchised) people. And they all dance very near sexuality and innuendo.

When was the last time you wandered/wondered through the dictionary?

Update on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 9:29PM by Eglentyne

From VULGAR issues VULGATE (the principal Latin version of the Bible or a commonly recognized edition or text, OR common or colloquial speech). And don’t forget the etymology: from the Latin, VULGATA (prepared for the public, the feminine past participle of VULGARE, from VULGUS—the common people). 

Who wants to make the jump to COLLOQUIAL?