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Scorpio 30: The Halloween jester

The word hallow d e s c e nd s f r o m t h e I nd o -

E u r o p e a n ( I E ) r o o t  kai lo- which means

“whole , uninjured, of good omen.” 1 I t s

p a r o ny m s i nc l u d e h ai l , h al e , h al l ow , h eal ,

health , Helga, hol iday, Holly , hol ly , holy ,

Ol g a , Ol eg , a nd whole.  

The word evening descends from the

Middle Engl ish , from Old Engl ish ae f n u n g   

whi c h m eans “ t o be c o m e e v e ni ng ” and from

ae f e n  w h i c h m eans “ev eni ng . ” 2 

The word jester descends from the IE root  

gerere-  which means “to carry , carry on, act ,

d o . ” 3 Pa r o ny m s i nc l u d e  gerent , gerun d, gest ,

  gestation, jest , gesture, gesticulate, armiger ,

bel l igerent , congeries , congest , digest , egest , ingest , register , suggest ,

a n d veliger .

THEMES:   There is at least one pair of loose synonyms above. Theword whole  d e s c e nd s f r o m r o t   kai lo- and has several def ini t ions

i nc l u d i ng “ c o nt a i ni ng a l l c o m p o ne nt s ; c o m p l e t e ” , “c o ns t i t u t i ng t h e f u l l

amount , extent , or duration” , “a number , group, set , or thing lacking no

part or element; a complete thing” and “an enti ty or system made up of  

i nt er r e l at ed par t s . ” T h e l as t m eani ng i s what is intended when we make

s t a t e m e nt s s u ch as “ the value of the whole must be greater than the sum

o f t h e par t s . ” 4 The word con g er i es   d e s c e nd s f r o m t h e r o o t   gerere- and

m eans “a c o l l ec t i o n o r ag g r eg at i o n . ” 5 Even though the words whole  a nd

1 http://web.archive.org/web/20080211183126/www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE198.html2 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/evening

3 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 27

4 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/whole

5 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/congeries

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con g er i es   a r e no t l i s t e d a s s y no ny m s i n m o s t t h e s a u r i , t h e y d o s h o w u p

as synonyms of others words l ike HEAPING . 6 

There is a lso a set of words which are broad antonyms. The word

hallow descends from the root   kai lo   and as a v er b m eans “ t o m ake o r s et  

apar t as h o l y ” and “ t o r es pec t o r h o no r g r eat l y ; r ev er e .” 7 B y c o nt r a s t , t h e

verb jest   m eans “ t o u t t er s c o f f s ; g i b e” and “ t o m ake f u n o f ; r i d i c u l e . ” ` 8 

Th e s e c o nd t h e m e t h e n i s t h e d i c h o t o m y be t w e e n RESPECT a nd

RIDICULE .

6 http://thesaurus.com/browse/heap

7 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/hallow

8 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/jest