BANDIT: under summons

　　A bandit is “banned”or outlawed. Our word comes originally from the Germanic root bann, meaning “a summons,” “proclamation.” This entered Late Latin as bannire, which meant “to proclaim,” and then was absorbed into Italian as bandito, or “outlawed”; that is,a proclamation against something. Old English already had the word as bann, ”command,” ”interdict.” So when anyone was put under a ban, he was told he couldn’t do something. Thismeaning is implied in bandit, and also is involved in the word banish. With the banns of marriage we return to the original meaning of “proclamation.”

　　DANGER: ruled by a master

　　A word that has strangely changed its meaning. Danger now means “to be exposed to harm or injury,” but in olden days it meant to be in someone else’s power. As a pensioner wrote in 1461 to his patron: “I am gretly yn your danger and dette for my pension.” This subservience to others is explained by the history of the word. It traces back by many changes of spelling to the Latin dominium, “power,” “l(fā)ordship,” which in turn derives from dominus, “master.” In early England any whim of his master put a serf in danger.

　　DISASTER: the stars are evil

　　If you are faced with disaster, the “stars” are “against” you, for the word disaster is from the Latin dis-, “against,” and astrum, “star.” In their investigations of the cycle theory, scholar seem to have proved that our lives are influenced by such things as the climate, the sun spots, and the stars. Apparently the ancient astrologers (astrum, “star,” and logos, “knowledge”) had an idea by the tail. Our fortunes can sometimes be considered “illstarred.” And then again, with the word consider, we are dealing with astrology, for consider is thought to be from the Latin cum, “with,” and sidus, “star.” When the ancients considered a matter in an effort to come to a decision, they consulted “with” the “stars.”

　　EARL: opposite of churl

　　If a man is churlish in his manner, he is acting like a surly, illbred boor. In the English of another day a churl, or a ceorl as it was then spelled, was at the bottom of the social ladder in the very lowest rank of the freeman. When titles came to be conferred the word eorl was used to distinguish a man of noble rank from the ceorl. The spelling went to erl and finally to earl. During the Norman period an earl was the equivalent of the French count, and the word count traces to the Latin comes, or “companion,” so a count was a sometime companion to a king. Among the other title that the Normans brought across the channel was duke, which eventually goes back to the Latin dux, “l(fā)eader.” Next below the duke is the marquis, borrowed from the French and once spelled marchis. This man controlled a march, which was a tract of borderland. Naturally all of these lesser title follow the prince, since he is actually and etymologically “first” in the land, the ruler. And princeps is derived from primus, “first,” and capio, “take.” So whatever it is, the prince “takes” it “first.”

　　EMANCIPATE: remove the hand

　　According to Roman law there were prescribed ceremonies for the purchase and liberation of slaves. When they were bought, the new master laid his hand upon them in token of possession. This act was called mancipium, “possession by the hand.” Our word emancipate has the opposite meaning, and is from the Latin emancipatus; e-, “away,” manus, “hand,” and capio, “take.” So when our slaves were emancipated, the owners “took away their hands.”

　　ETIQUETTE: a ticket

　　In 16th-century French etiquette meant a ticket or label. As a matter of fact we get our word ticket from this. Also buying things on tick. The first rules of etiquette were tacked up in conspicuous places in the army posts. The list gave the rules of the day. The Old French word was estiquette, from estiquer, “to stick.” The rules were “stuck” up on the walls. Perhaps we could say that etiquette is a “ticket” to polite society.