Lexpert Magazine

LEXPERT MAGAZINE | APRIL 2016 67 WORDS | DETOURS | Howard Richler's book Wordplay: Arranged & Deranged Wit will be published in Spring 2016. Words with a political or military origin often enter the common lexicon in unusual ways HAVING BEEN barraged by political verbiage over the past two years, I am re- minded of Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz's quip that "war is a mere continuation of politics by other means." Actually, von Clausewitz may have had it reversed, given that several political terms were originally found in the military arena. For example, both "campaign" and "rally" acquired military senses in the 17th cen- tury and political ones in the 19th century. We see an interplay with politics in other domains as well. Take religion — specifically Catholicism, and two common political terms that were born in the Vati- can. e word propaganda comes from the Latin phrase sacra congregatio christiano nomini propagando, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, which was founded in 1622 by a committee of cardi- nals responsible for foreign missions dur- ing the papacy of Gregory XV. It was in the 19th century that the word acquired its po- litical sense: the systematic dissemination of information, oen in a biased sense. And if you find political nepotism as unsavoury as propaganda, again there is a papal connection. It seems the early popes liked to bestow special favours upon their so-called "nephews" (their illegitimate sons) and in Latin the word for nephew is nepos. By the 19th century the word had come to mean an unfair preference for those within one's sphere of influence. e language of politics has borrowed from other disciplines. Cynics will not be shocked to discover that a political term has been hijacked from the domain of piracy. I refer to the word filibuster, which derives from the Dutch vrijbuiter and combines the word vrij ("free") and bueter ("plunder- er"). Originally, filibuster referred to 17th- century pirates who pillaged colonies in the Spanish West Indies. However, in the mid- Politics Shape Language voted for the winning party in every elec- tion since 1963. Both of these italicized words have a political sense that is re- stricted mostly to Canada. Originally, a bellwether designated the head sheep of a flock whose prize for leadership was hav- ing a bell hung around its neck ("wether" is a term for a male sheep or castrated ram). By the 1930s, the sense of "indicating a trend" emerged. e electoral sense of rid- ing, however, is not a Canadian coinage but rather one from Yorkshire, England. Until 1974, Yorkshire was divided into three rid- ings and the word riding came into Eng- lish in the 15th century from Old Norse thrithjungr, which originally was rendered riding in English as trithing. While the word hustings is now used almost exclusively to refer to the rounds of political activity during an election, its ori- gin was quite different. As early as the 11th century, it was rendered singular as hus- ting, which literally means "house thing," with thing referring to a council meeting. Over time, it referred specifically to the court of law in the Guildhall of London. It was only in the 20th century that it ac- quired the modern sense of electioneering. And finally, the current sense of poll as in "going to the polls" arose only in the 17th century. e source of the word is its literal meaning, "head," and this was its sense starting in the 13th century. One way of counting votes in an election is by count- ing heads, as seen in Shakespeare's Coriola- nus in 1607 when Coriolanus states, "We are the greater poll, and in true fear they gave us our demands." Perhaps the proposed electoral reform in Canada or the election this year in the US will afford some marauding politician the opportunity to hijack other words. dle of the 19th century, bands of adventur- ers organized expeditions from the United States, in violation of international law, for the purpose of revolutionizing certain states in Central America and the West Indies. By the end of the 19th century, the word came to refer to long-winded US Sen- ators whose obstructive practices were seen as akin to the havoc created by marauding pirates; they effectively hijacked the agenda of the Senate. e term caucus in North America re- fers to the members of a legislative assembly that belong to a particular party. Most ety- mologists believe that the word was adapt- ed from the Algonquin Caw-cawaassough, which means "counsellor." e Algonquin word was recorded in a journal by Captain John Smith of Pocahontas fame in the ear- ly part of the 17th century with the sense of one who advises or encourages. Caucus first surfaced in New England in the early 18th century and was virtually unknown in British English until the 1870s, when it became a popular political buzzword. Recently, the electoral district Sarnia- Lambton in Ontario became the cham- pion bellwether riding in Canada, having PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

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