A Stitch in What?

Random google time.

Today's word: tyrant. It was either that or oil of immolation, which was my last Thottbot search...

What does Wikipedia, the first google link, have to say about this notorious word? Basically, it says that in the original Greek, tyranny wasn't associated with bad people - only dictatorial rulers. As these were very pagan times, however, blood succession often didn't continue for too many generations. Tyrants often arose in light of a coup - perhaps this is why such rulers were so popular at the start of their reign. Quite a contrast to how we think of the word now.

Nowadays, a tyrant puts their own interests first and those of the populous as second priority - if that. In human sinfulness, this leaves people destitute and makes any ruler who is tyrannical a bad ruler - hated by his subjects simply because of his selfish choices.

It would be obvious to say that it's interesting to see where words came from and what they actually meant. Of course, as society adapts and transforms, advances and grows, language itself evolves to match the way that people change as a whole. Idioms that are in common use now would confuse the folk of 100 years ago - and language that was in use five centuries ago would now make little sense to anyone not versed in its use. There are some attributes that we do retain, such as structure and root words - and a lot of vocabulary - but accepting the fact that language does change and the use of some words becomes different is something that a lot of people - especially the older generations - seem to find difficult to come to grips with.

History paves the way for the future - but struggling to prevent the changes in our language that are inevitable is like paddling upstream with a popsicle stick.

-Timotheos
Forget about it