Luck
The Druid Journal Word of the Day is now over four months old, and we’ve had precious few words of genuinely unknown origin. This fact is a tribute to the last two hundred years of scholarship by historical linguists and philologists, professional and amateur.
But of course there are some tough words out there. Luck is one of those nuts that just won’t get cracked.
It first appeared around 1500 as lucke, borrowed from Dutch luc, meaning “happiness, good fortune”. This in turn was a clipping of gheluc, frequently used in gambling. It appears to be related to German Glück, “fortune, happiness”. But where did gheluc come from? No one has any idea at all!
Quite apart from that, the meaning of luck is a complex and difficult thing. Luck, after all, is not always necessarily good — there is such a thing as bad luck! Luck seems to mean something like “happenstance beyond one’s control”; but depending on your personal beliefs about the forces that control the universe — hard laws of statistics, complete God-controlled predestination, or something else entirely — luck can be very different things. Remarkably, however, the modern concept of luck appears to be very similar to the ancient Anglo-Saxon idea of wyrd, which literally may be translated “that which comes around, that which comes to pass”, but is quite nuanced. The Wikipedia article on wyrd is fascinating:
In a simple sense, Wyrd refers to how past actions continually affect and condition the future, but also how the future affects the past. Indeed, for a true comprehension it is key for the Wyrd to be embraced as a conceptual mystery, wherein the tides and tidings of time and timelessness flow and weave always, entwining the reticulum of the fabric of being and non-being. The Wyrd also foregrounds the interconnected nature of all actions and how they influence each other. Wyrd, though conceptually related, is not congruent with predestination. Unlike predestination, the concept of Wyrd allows for one’s wyrd or agency: albeit agency constrained by the wyrds or activities of others, but nevertheless capable of weaving reality…
“Entwining the reticulum of the fabric of being and non-being”! (Who do they get to write this stuff? If you understand this, could you please add a comment with some explanation…?)
Anyway… back to luck. The primary energy in luck is relaxed and roomy, and sense is of a suffuse, all-encompassing energy that is contained. The energy is thus at once everywhere and diffuse, and yet local and controlled. A fitting paradox for a mysterious word of contradictions!
Thanks to Nio for suggesting this word of the day!
November 28th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Reticulum is defined a network or systematic pattern. This, I think, illustrates well the influence of our individual “wyrds” upon both the physical manifestation of our futures and the past progress of our souls. Both are so intricately entwined with one another that they create a pattern or rhythm that brings us experiences that not only illuminate and color future experiences but also to strengthen the physical understanding of past truths and our spiritual histories. This helps us to integrate both into one Self-Being having many experiences that are brought to us by the pattern which we project before us and then perceive as “luck”. Whether the experiences are perceived as being positive or negative, we are still “lucky” to be given these lessons that will help evolve us. Of course I also believe that “luck” often falls somewhere between chance and providence, but always for our betterment.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Has your “Word of the Day” column ever looked at the word “word”?
Also, have you ever looked at “be” in its various forms (”am/is/are/was/were”/etc.)?
For that matter, why look only at nouns/verbs/adjectives? Why not trace the origins of even commoner words, such as “and/over/out” … or the dummy auxiliary “do[es]“?
January 4th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Hello again, Jeff! Have you seen the extensive (and pleasingly quirky) web-site of the Indo-European Language Revival Association at http://dnghu.org ?
I can describe it only as, well, far better explored than described … start exploring!