Words are like containers that hold meanings. Some word containers are shallow, but other containers are deep, and some are like a bottom-less pit. So, I have reached into these containers and examine what I pullout. Every word seems to possess a lesson for life. Perhaps this word search is like a quest to find primordial consciousness. What are the characteristics and the function(s) of an action, a creature, or an object contained in any word? The answers point to why the definitions of a particular word have evolved and find their way into print in the dictionary.
Words have a wonderful story behind them. The etymologist, William E. Umbach, wrote in the Introduction to Webster’s New World Dictionary (WNWD), Third College Edition, “Words like poetry, can be treated like arbitrary mathematical symbols or formulas. Sometimes this is necessary and expedient. But to do so can be like treating a diamond simply as a material for the cutting of refractory substances. Seen as the product of perhaps three thousand years of human experience, a word may have not only facets, but may somehow reflect with brilliant intensity the concentrated experience or insights of the generations. It is still true that words can have a mysterious power to conjure up images, or evoke visions, or stir up emotions deep-seated in the shared experience of mankind.”
Words, then, are like jewels having many facets representing different points of view or definitions. In the present day words seem to have lost their luster and need to be polished so when we speak, write, or make a gesture communication will be enriched. The dictionaries in schools, including universities, gather dust. Today’s students have difficulty writing or composing. The vocabulary of most people in the US is severely diminished. I ask how can this be remedied?