leo 4: a man formally dressed a nd a deer with its horns folded

8/3/2019 Leo 4: A man formally dressed a nd a deer with its horns folded

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S t a r l i n g H u n t e r © 2 0 1 1 1

Leo 4: A man formally dressed and a deer with its horns fold ed

The word man descends from the Indo-

European (IE) root man-1 which means

“man” and from which a lso descend

manikin , mannequin, mensch, and Manu. 1

The word formally descends from the

G r e e k r o o t [merph- which means “ form.” 2

Other derivat ives include the suf f ix –

morph , t h e p r e f i x morpho- , the suf f ix –

form , a nd t h e w o r d s morpheme, formation,

formant , format , formula, conform, inform,

platform, re form, transform , a nd uniform .

The word dress means most commonly

t o p u t o n o r a r r a ng e c l o t h e s . I t c a n a l s o r e f e r t o a r r a ng i ng o r a l i g ni ng o f

t r o o p s i n r a nks . 3 B o t h m e a ni ng s d e s c e nd f r o m t h e La t i n directus , i t s e l f

the past part ic iple of dirigere, to direct and both descends from the IE

root reg- , “ to move in a straight l ine .” 4 Several paronyms of dress mean

“to direct in a straight l ine , lead , rule .” These include right , realm,rector , regimen, region, address , alert , direct , erect , rectangle, recti fy ,

source, surge, reich, regal , reign, royal , v iceroy, raj , maharaj , ruler ,

regulate, reckon, interrogate, a nd reckless .

Th e w o r d deer descends from the root dheu-1 . 5 The root is def ined as

being “ the base of a wide variety of derivatives meaning ‘ to r ise in a

cloud, ’ as dust , vapor, or smoke, and related to semantic notions of

br e a t h , v a r i o u s c o l o r a d j e c t i v e s , a nd f o r m s d e no t i ng d e f e c t i v e

perception or wits .” Among i ts many derivatives are the words fume,

perfume, funky (having a moldy or musty smell) , enthymeme, thyme,

1 W a t k i n s , c . ( 2 0 0 0 ) , T h e A m e r i c a n H e r i t a g e D i c t i o n a r y o f I n d o - E u r o p e a n R o o t s , p . 5 1

2 h t t p : / / w w w . e t y m o n l i n e . c o m / i n d e x . p h p ? t e r m = f o r m

3 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / d r e s s

4 W a t k i n s , c . ( 2 0 0 0 ) , T h e A m e r i c a n H e r i t a g e D i c t i o n a r y o f I n d o - E u r o p e a n R o o t s , p p . 7 0




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dizzy, doze, down ( f i ne , s o f t , f l u f f y f e a t h e r s ) , thuja (red cedar) ,

ob f uscat e , dun ( ne u t r a l br o w ni s h g r a y t o d u l l g r a y i s h br o w n) , t h e na m e

Duncan , deaf , dumb, dove, dwell , dolt , doldrums, dul l , dock (sorrel , a

p l a nt ) a nd dudeen .

The word horn descends from the root ker-1 which means “horn,

head.” 6 M a ny o f i t s d e r i v a t i v e s r e f e r t o h o r ne d a ni m a l s , h o r n-s h a p e d

o bj e c t s , a nd p r o j e c t i ng p a r t s , e . g . horn, corn, Capricorn, carat , carrot ,

carotid, cerebel lum, cervix , cheer , cornea, cranium, hornet , a nd reindeer .

The word folded d e s c e nd s f r o m t h e r o o t pel-3 , “ to fo ld .” 7 O t h e r

d e r i v a t i v e s i nc l u d e t h e s u f f i x – ple —from whence we obtain words l ike

decuple, mult iple , tr iple —and the suf f ixes – fold a nd – ploid .

THEMES: O ne t h e m e c o nc e r ns FORM/SHAPE and the lack thereof .

Recal l that the paronyms of formally include form, format , a nd

formation . The root reg- has at least one dist inct ive form associated with

i t —rectangle ( A f o u r -s i d e d p l a ne f i g u r e w i t h f o u r r i g h t a ng l e s ) . A s no t e d

above, paronyms of horn i nc l u d e s e v e r a l h o r n-s h a p e d o bj e c t s . I n m a r ke d

c o nt r a s t , a t l e a s t t w o p a r o ny m s o f deer a r e s h a p e l e s s o r f o r m l e s s , e . g .

fume , perfume . Fu r t h e r r e c a l l t h a t t h e r o o t o f deer i s dheu-1 which

m e a ns “ t o r i s e i n a c l o u d a s d u s t , v a p o r , o r s m o ke . ”

A s e c o nd a nd s o m e w h a t r e l a t e d t h e m e c o nc e r ns OPACITY . R e c a l l

ob f uscat e i s a paronym of deer a nd m e a ns “ to make so confused or

opaque as to be di f f icult to perceive or understand” and “to render

i nd i s t i nc t o r d i m ; d a r ke n. ” C o m p a r e t h i s t o direct , a paronym of dress

which can mean “to manage or guide by advice , helpful information,

instruction” , “ to give authoritative instruct ions to” and “to channel or

focus toward a given result , object , or end.”8

A third theme concerns RULES a n d RULERS . Recal l that one of the

p a r o ny m s o f man is Manu who, in the Hindu rel ig ion, is the primordial



8 h t t p : / / d i c t i o n a r y . r e f e r e n c e . c o m / c i t e . h t m l ? q h = d i r e c t & i a = l u n a



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father or progenitor of the human race and “and sovereign of the earth

who f irst inst i tuted rel ig ious ceremonies and devised a code of laws.” 9 A s

noted previously , several of the paronyms of dress concern rules , rulers ,

a nd a u t h o r i t y f i g u r e s , e . g . reich, regal , reign, royal , v iceroy, raj , maharaj ,

a nd r ul er .

9 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / m a n u

leo 4: a man formally dressed a nd a deer with its horns folded

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