[lit-ideas] LH Makes Me Remember JL
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 13:01:51 -0600
LH:
There is nothing in our human makeup or history to suggest we shall ever
be without wars. The End of History would mean an end to WARY, but it is
in the nature of our species, not necessarily in ever individual but in
our species to be warlike.<< [my emphasis]
I wondered reading Lawrence's typo if "wary" and "war" were cognates.
Apparently not, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php
wary
1552, from O.E. wær "prudent, aware, alert, wary," from P.Gmc. *waraz (cf.
O.N. varr "attentive," Goth. wars "cautious," O.S. giwar, M.Du. gheware,
O.H.G. giwar, Ger. gewahr "aware"), from PIE base *wer- "to cover" (see
weir).
war
late O.E. (c.1050), wyrre, werre, from O.N.Fr. werre "war" (Fr. guerre),
from Frank. *werra, from P.Gmc. *werso (cf. O.S. werran, O.H.G. werran, Ger.
verwirren "to confuse, perplex"). Cognates suggest the original sense was
"to bring into confusion." There was no common Gmc. word for "war" at the
dawn of historical times. O.E. had many poetic words for "war" (guð, heaðo,
hild, wig, all common in personal names), but the usual one to translate L.
bellum was gewin "struggle, strife" (related to win). Sp., Port., It. guerra
are from the same source; Romanic peoples turned to Gmc. for a word to avoid
L. bellum because its form tended to merge with bello- "beautiful." The verb
meaning "to make war on" is recorded from 1154. First record of war time is
1387. Warpath (1775) is from N.Amer. Ind., as are war-whoop (1761),
war-paint (1826), war-path (1775), and war-dance (1757). War crime first
attested 1906. War chest is attested from 1901; now usually fig. War games
translates Ger. Kriegspiel (see kriegspiel).
So I guess it's safe to be wary of Lawrence's incessant call to war.
When you coming home, JL?
Mike Geary
Memphis
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