Sana

Good news everyone, this semester I enjoyed my introduction into Latin. I knew English was steeped in the language of Rome but I never realized just how many words we outright steal from them. For example, as the title suggests, sana. Sana means safe or sound (sound as in whole, uncorrupted, etc.) which English uses in the word sane (within one's right mind) so that if we say, "I am a sane man." We really mean, "I am a sound man (or a safe man)." Inversely insanity (non sana) would be likened unto, "I am not a sound man (not a whole, complete, or safe man)."

I'll give a fairly interesting example (which has also changed the way I look at English). After many years of anxious toil and frustration I have solved the mystery between the words dexterity and sinister. In Latin these two words are often found close to each other even though we would hardly think to put them in the same sentence in English. Dextra means right (often combined with hand, road, foot, etc. right as in the direction not the correction) sinister (same spelling!) means left. This made me really think about the history of English and the culture surrounding it. Back way back in time when English was still being formed these words were used and had other connotation besides right and left (it wasn't all black and white). Because most people were right handed they probably connected being nimble with your hands with being right handed. Ergo, dexterous. Left handedness was more rare and you typically do not assume someone to be left handed, and therefore are surprised when they give you a left hook instead of a right cross. This surprise put a pallor of disrespect upon the word "left" and we began to associate sinister with evil tendencies.

Amazing! There are hundreds of examples in Latin of words with the same or a similar meaning to the one English now gives it or of words with the same or similar spelling but completely different meanings! The etymologist in me shrieks with pleasure at the unravelling of often pondered questions like, "Why do we spell words the way we do?" or "How did it come to be that this words means this when it seems to indicate something else?" As my Latin tutor would say, I am a Latin nerd. Well, I proudly hike up my over sized pants and tighten my suspenders because I indeed am a Latin nerd and intend to stay so.

Dt