Insurgent and Surge

We have been trained to view the insurgents in Iraq as the "bad guys," even though it's quite clear that our revolutionary heroes (G. Washington, T. Paine, & Company) were themselves insurgents, one and all. There is, then, nothing inherently wrong with "rising up in revolt." Jefferson even recommended it as a remedy against tyranny. We may conclude, therefore, that what determines our feelings about insurgents relates to who is revolting against whom.

The same government that has encouraged us to despise the insurgents has also urged us to support the surge, a temporary increase in the number of soldiers. So we surge against the insurgents.

At this point, you have probably guessed that "insurgent" and "surge" are etymologically linked, both coming from the Latin "surrigere" meaning "to rise." "Surrigere is a compound of "sub" and "regere "to keep straight," the source of many English words including "regulation" and "rectitude."

Thus, the Iraqi insurgents and the surging soldiers who oppose them are linked not only in battle but in linguistics.

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.