03 Feb Life-Affirming Words We Should Bring Back Into Use
Words are powerful.
The words we speak in our minds impact on our feelings and behaviours; so they effect our happiness and success.
Some words, especially, can have a massive positive effect. And sadly, some words have been forgotten, or not used as much as they could be.
This great article from Only Good News Daily lists some wonderful words we should probably try to bring back into fashion …
Breathing new life into hope-giving words might help to cultivate happiness and boost wellbeing, writes Sara Pons-Sanz.
Lexicographer and TV personality Susie Dent recently embarked on a curious, self-appointed mission. She is determined to bring the word “respair”, last used around 1525, back into common usage.
“Respair”, Dent explains, means “fresh hope; a recovery from despair”. To her mind, the English language has something of a pessimistic bent. It tends to retain the negativity of various words, but not their more positive counterparts. For instance, we say “unkempt”, but have forgotten that “kempt” was once an adjective too.
Words fall out of use for all sorts of reasons. Some are ousted by words with similar meanings. We no longer use the Old English verb niman but have instead adopted the Viking equivalent, “take”.
Others represent a concept, an object or a stylistic trend that has lost its relevance. “Butter” and its variant, “butteris”, were used to refer to a tool for trimming the hooves of a horse before shoeing, which is not something many people do anymore.
There is a direct relationship between a language and the society that uses it. Our needs, beliefs and history are fundamental principles that shape language. Lexicographers have shown that the pandemic has led to an explosion of new words and phrases, including “Blursday” and “covidiot”.
Given the uncertainty and stresses Covid-19 continues to inflict, we might take Dent’s lead and seek out further words to bring back in order to lift people’s spirits. Here are five terms recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary which are connected, in different ways, with the importance of appreciating and loving oneself, one another and life in general.
1. Adamate: to love very much
This verb is formed on the root of the Latin verb amare, which means “to love”. There is evidence of its use by dramatists in the 17th century.
Amare is also represented by the French word amant, which means “lover” and is now mainly used in English in connection with adulterous relationships. While it is difficult to establish exactly why “adamate” did not become popular, the more negative associations of the French loan might have played a role…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE