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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| Online Etymology Dictionary
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Werd: Service - Part One
Posted by Patrick Snajder Categories: Editorials, Media
Charlie Rose interviewed Tom Brokaw on October 30th. Some of the conversation included a discussion about Brokaw’s general philosophy that is it our duty as Americans and as humans to perform some sort of service for the benefit of our community. Brokaw noted that, in all of his speeches to various organizations, the call for service is the most significant part of his message. Rose, at the 48:20 mark of this conversation, turned the tables, asking: “With all the talk you have made and your experience … [and] all the talk you have evoked at this table about service: suppose two people come to you and say, ‘It’s now time for Tom to make a contribution to the country.’ What are you going to say?”
Brokaw answered by noting his aforementioned lectures, implying that his particular type of service was performed by the message of service he delivered to students and other members of his audience. But Rose pressed him, asking for Brokaw to name something specific, some particular service, that Brokaw would perform when asked. Brokaw, sadly, lamentably, answered only that he was getting old and wanted to spend the rest of his days exploring new rivers to fish in. At the end of the interview, Brokaw admitted that he needed to find a better answer to Rose’s challenge.
Such is service: incredibly easy to hold aloft with words, terribly heavy when placed upon our own shoulders.
SERVICE SERIES
Service - Part One
Service - Part Two
Service - Part Three
Service - Part Four
Service - Part Five
Patrick Snajder publishes A World of Logical Consequences and is currently pursuing his dream to become a professional in the animal husbandry industry.
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