Werd: Service - Part Five

Posted by Patrick Snajder Categories: Editorials, Education

Until a kind benefactor/patron finally purchases the Oxford English Dictionary (complete set, please) for me, I will be using the excellent (free) resource Online Etymology Dictionary for my Friday updates.  Here’s how the latter OED defines the roots of our word, “serve”:

c.1175, “to render habitual obedience to,” from O.Fr. servir “to serve,” from L. servire “to serve,” originally “be a slave,” related to servus “slave,” perhaps from an Etruscan word (cf. Etruscan proper names Servi, Serve). Meaning “to attend to (a customer)” is first recorded 1362; that of “to set food on (a table)” is from c.1386. [Full entry here.]

So we find here that the Latin root for the word “serve” essentially refers to a “slave.”  Though modern usage has updated that interpretation to include a more general implication of noble intent, I think the root still is still relevant.  It also puts our discussions my monologue this week in a different context.

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Werd: Service - Part Four

Posted by Patrick Snajder Categories: Editorials, History

While we may have noticed a mingling of church and state in the past few years, it seems that church and stage are as far apart as ever.  In the modern music scene, most popular musicians of note either move from a religious message towards a more secular message (e.g., Evanescence and Kate Perry) or tone down their religious leanings to offer a message that can be more broadly applied to a larger audience (e.g., U2 and Sufjan Stevens).  Certainly, there are large markets that promote strictly religious music, but you will find their audiences homogeneous in belief.  Similarly, there are allusions to religious belief in all types of popular music, but very few artists promote their religion ahead of their marketable product.

In 1978, spurred by a cross flung on stage during a concert, a road-weary Bob Dylan decided to go against the grain.  Not only would he embrace his born-again religion, but within a year he would transform from the rebellious voice of the hippie generation to a Bible-wielding evangelist gospel singer.  In 1980, after the release of his gospel album Slow Train Coming, Dylan received a Grammy for the single “Gotta Serve Somebody.”

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