Envy
Envy comes from the Latin verb invidere, a compound of in- (upon) + videre (to see), thus literally “to look upon”. But invidere didn’t just mean “to look upon”; it carried connotations of malice, and referred specifically to the idea of the Evil Eye – the casting of misfortune upon someone via an envious or malicious gaze. (Compare the Middle English word for the Evil Eye, which was “over-looking”, i.e. “looking too much.”) The nominal form of invidere was invidia, and this word descended through Vulgar Latin and French to English, being whittled down through heavy use to envie and then envy.
The primary syllable of envy is “env”, which denotes a steady, connecting energy narrowed toward a target, and channeled through a narrow opening (”v”). (You can almost imagine neighbor Jones narrowing his eyes as he “over-looks” your new red sports car…) The secondary syllable, “y”, indicates that the resulting flow is sustained for a long period.
Thanks to Jessa for suggesting this word of the day.
June 24th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Very nice blog!
I once was on a forum where we took three days to chat about the word “Grammar”. We started with cave paintings and ended in medieval Europe. LOL It was a great discussion and grammar is still one of my favourite words.
June 26th, 2007 at 2:15 am
Thanks, Michelle!
Grammar is a word I will have to cover here. Did you discuss Chomsky and Universal Grammar alongside more conventional or usual ideas about what constitutes the rules of language?
June 26th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Hi Jeff
I think you’d probably describe our discussion as unconventional. We were a group of one true academic, a witch, an armchair archeologist and myself - a lover of trivia and unusual information.
We started on the fact that cave men used pictures and symbols to create spells to wander through “glamour” and “grammarye”. We dabbled with the true meaning of being “glamourous” too. It was a magical discussion in every sense of the word!
June 26th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Wow! That does sound cool! To have been a fly on the wall… And you’ve reminded me of just how strange the history of grammar has been. It is now in the queue!
July 2nd, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I had a discussion once with a friend about the word “envy” after I made the statement that I envied her having something that I didn’t have. I don’t even remember what it was that she had. I do remember she asked me if I wanted to take away what she had? Did I want that exact same thing or something similiar? I told her no, that didn’t want to take anything away from her. I wanted something similiar to what she had. She told me I didn’t want to use the word “envy” then because that meant I wanted what she had. I can’t remember the word she told me to substitute for “envy”. I attempt to not use the word “envy” because I do not want to harm another person by removing something from them. I don’t want to take something from another person so that I will be happy. In the end, if it isn’t mine, it won’t make me happy any way. If it is mine, then the Universe will give it to me. Patricia
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:15 am
Patricia, I agree that envy is not a healthy emotion to cultivate.
However, I don’t think your friend was right in saying that “envy” means you actually want to take something away from someone else. “Covet” is closer to that meaning, I think. But as you can see from the history of the word, “envy” has a lot of negative energy around it. I think your attitude of “leave it to the Universe” is very healthy.
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Thanks for the correction in the use of the word “envy”.