Surrender & Rendition

Congressional democrats have proposed a deadline for beginning the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. President Bush and his supporters call this a policy of surrender.

"Surrender" sounds bad, especially to those who think that "winning is the only thing." But an etymological look at the word suggests that a "surrender" isn' the same thing as defeatism or cowardice.

"Surrender" comes to English from the Old French "surrendre," meaning "to give back." Tracing the etgymology further we come to the Latin "dare" "to give." From the same source we get "rendition," as in "a rendition of an old ballad," in other words, a performance given to an audience.

Thus the idea of "giving" is at the heart of "surrender." In the present case, "surrender" might be interpreted as giving Iraq back to the Iraqis, an act that the President promised to do from the start of the war. There is nothing ignoble in returning property to its rightful owners.

Of course, we may not be sure who, exactly, are the rightful owners of Iraq. But waging a war might not be the best way to find out who is.

Campaign & Champagne

In old New England town meetings, all citizens--rich and poor--had an equal opportunity to give their opinions on matters affecting the community. The playing field was small--accommodating perhaps a hundred or two hundred people--but what mattered was that the field was level.

Having noticed that in governmental matters the rich have a far louder voice than the poor, legislators such as McCain and Feingold have tried to rebalance the field of political battle. The opposition argues that there should be no limits to campaign financing because--ironically--doing so would limit "free" speech as guaranteed in the Constitution.

In this debate, etymology supports those who favor restricting the amount of money spent on political campaigns. The word "campaign" comes to us from the Latin "campania," level countryside" or "level field." A military battle on such ground was called a "campaign." (The same linguistic source gives us "champagne," the name of the region where the bubbly beverage was invented.

But back to conflict: On a level field, opposing armies could fight fairly, whereas if the field were slanted, the side on the higher ground would likely win. Such a victory, however, wouldn't demonstrate the winner's superior strength or courage.

The parallel to political campaigning is clear. Politicians with greater financial backing have a better chance of winning. But their triumphs do not assure us that we will get better leadership or better laws.

sullen & solo

According to today's New York Times, the mother of mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho, viewed her son as "sullen."

Synonyms of "sullen" include "morose," "resentful," and "sulky." Such words are descriptive at the surface level, but they don't shed insight on the inner workings of the mind. Etymology takes us deeper.

"Sullen" derives from the Middle English "solein," meaning "alone, soliary," which in turn comes from a Latin word "slus," with the same meaning. We do know that Mr. Cho lived a lonely existence even in the midst of a crowded campus.

"Slus" also gives us "solo" and "solitude," words with positive creative and spiritual connotations.

We might speculate that a limited amount of "slus" is desirable. On the other hand, an excess of aloneness--either impossed deliberately as in solitary confinement or randomly as the result of one's genes or upbrining--may produce horrific results such as the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

As my father used to warn: "All things in moderation."