In 2023 wars in Sudan and in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel caught people’s attention. Let us take a look at the word “war”. What do the definitions say? They suggest confusion, less good, and ill. People taking sides or not taking sides want to scream.
WAR derivations are: L guerra; ME were, OHG werra and werran meaning strife and confusion; Fr guerre; It and Sp Guerra; and IE base wer. The definitions are: open conflict between two opposing forces; any active hostile action, contention, struggle; conflict; and battle. Related words beginning with “w” are: warrior, ward, warden, wile, and warranty.
A second WAR entry in the WNWD shows WORSE as a definition with a OHG root of werran also meaning evil, bad, and ill. Worse definitions are: bad, evil, harmful, unpleasant, less good, and inferior quality or condition. The “g” is present in many English words associated with WAR. For example: guard, guardian, guile, guerrilla, and guarantee. There might be a relationship of the Tower of Babel and WAR if GARRULOUS is considered. GARRULOUS is derived from L garrire meaning to babble and IE GAR. GARRET is a watchtower with IE base of wer meaning to warn or guard, but wer also means to turn or twist. The IE base of garrulous is GAR meaning to cry out and scream. GAR is also the root of CARE. When people go to WAR they CARE about something enough to fight over it? OE of CARE is caru meaning SORROW, L is garrulous, and the Goth is kara. Definitions of CARE include a troubled state of mind, a worry, a protection or charge, something to watch over, and a wish or desire.
CONFUSE definitions are: to mix up; jumble to together; embarrass; bewilder; to mix up mentally; and failure to distinguish between things. Are these definitions part of the WAR game?
WALL
This commentary is a companion piece to WAR. Derivations and roots are: ME wal; OE weall; L vallum and vallus meaning rampart, stake, or palisade; IE base is wel meaning to turn and is linked to walk. WALL can be defined as a structure that encloses, divides, supports, holds, hides, resists, or protects. There are historical structures such as the Wailing Wall and Great Wall of China. There are also several metaphors such as “off the wall”, and “so and so drives me up the wall”. There are debates over whether WALLS exist between science and religion. WALLS protect as in the WALL of tissue that creates the womb, a safe place for the embryo to develop. Or as in the case of the outer WALLS of universities that protect the student from undesired influences so the student may absorb the required knowledge. “In the Egyptian system of hieroglyphs, the wall is a determinative sign conveying the idea of ‘rising above the common level’; clearly the predominant sense here is that of its height.” (pg. 343, Circlot). Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and could not be put back together again, at least by human effort. WALL can be associated with dualistic themes such as the divisions of good and evil, heaven and hell, light and darkness, lightness and heaviness, and love and hate. WALL implies that there are two sides. The questions for humans who accept the concept of a WALL are, how are you using the WALL according to the definitions above, which side are you on, and then, can you rise above the wall, or can the WALL be dismantled and by what means? Walking the great divide is perhaps like walking a narrow path down the WALL or the “razor’s edge”. Peace can be hard to come by.
So how or why do wars occur? People care and therefore take a position, perhaps take a side. To take a side implies there is a wall. Walls separate. The person representing peace is therefore looking for the gate, the bridge, over which or through which the wall no longer represents the barrier. “The walls came tumbling down”, is a phrase, a metaphor, an image found in mythology and in history as when the Berlin Wall came down. If a wall is to be climbed it is to be scaled. A scale represents a measurement. A metaphor used to represent a sense of frustration is to say, “I’m climbing the wall”. The question is how does one measure the wall in order to go through it, climb over it, around it, or tear it down?
WAR
In 2023 wars in Sudan and in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel caught people’s attention. Let us take a look at the word “war”. What do the definitions say? They suggest confusion, less good, and ill. People taking sides or not taking sides want to scream.
WAR derivations are: L guerra; ME were, OHG werra and werran meaning strife and confusion; Fr guerre; It and Sp Guerra; and IE base wer. The definitions are: open conflict between two opposing forces; any active hostile action, contention, struggle; conflict; and battle. Related words beginning with “w” are: warrior, ward, warden, wile, and warranty.
A second WAR entry in the WNWD shows WORSE as a definition with a OHG root of werran also meaning evil, bad, and ill. Worse definitions are: bad, evil, harmful, unpleasant, less good, and inferior quality or condition. The “g” is present in many English words associated with WAR. For example: guard, guardian, guile, guerrilla, and guarantee. There might be a relationship of the Tower of Babel and WAR if GARRULOUS is considered. GARRULOUS is derived from L garrire meaning to babble and IE GAR. GARRET is a watchtower with IE base of wer meaning to warn or guard, but wer also means to turn or twist. The IE base of garrulous is GAR meaning to cry out and scream. GAR is also the root of CARE. When people go to WAR they CARE about something enough to fight over it? OE of CARE is caru meaning SORROW, L is garrulous, and the Goth is kara. Definitions of CARE include a troubled state of mind, a worry, a protection or charge, something to watch over, and a wish or desire.
CONFUSE definitions are: to mix up; jumble to together; embarrass; bewilder; to mix up mentally; and failure to distinguish between things. Are these definitions part of the WAR game?
WALL
This commentary is a companion piece to WAR. Derivations and roots are: ME wal; OE weall; L vallum and vallus meaning rampart, stake, or palisade; IE base is wel meaning to turn and is linked to walk. WALL can be defined as a structure that encloses, divides, supports, holds, hides, resists, or protects. There are historical structures such as the Wailing Wall and Great Wall of China. There are also several metaphors such as “off the wall”, and “so and so drives me up the wall”. There are debates over whether WALLS exist between science and religion. WALLS protect as in the WALL of tissue that creates the womb, a safe place for the embryo to develop. Or as in the case of the outer WALLS of universities that protect the student from undesired influences so the student may absorb the required knowledge. “In the Egyptian system of hieroglyphs, the wall is a determinative sign conveying the idea of ‘rising above the common level’; clearly the predominant sense here is that of its height.” (pg. 343, Circlot). Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and could not be put back together again, at least by human effort. WALL can be associated with dualistic themes such as the divisions of good and evil, heaven and hell, light and darkness, lightness and heaviness, and love and hate. WALL implies that there are two sides. The questions for humans who accept the concept of a WALL are, how are you using the WALL according to the definitions above, which side are you on, and then, can you rise above the wall, or can the WALL be dismantled and by what means? Walking the great divide is perhaps like walking a narrow path down the WALL or the “razor’s edge”. Peace can be hard to come by.
So how or why do wars occur? People care and therefore take a position, perhaps take a side. To take a side implies there is a wall. Walls separate. The person representing peace is therefore looking for the gate, the bridge, over which or through which the wall no longer represents the barrier. “The walls came tumbling down”, is a phrase, a metaphor, an image found in mythology and in history as when the Berlin Wall came down. If a wall is to be climbed it is to be scaled. A scale represents a measurement. A metaphor used to represent a sense of frustration is to say, “I’m climbing the wall”. The question is how does one measure the wall in order to go through it, climb over it, around it, or tear it down?