Carved onto clay tablets and stones are the histories of words we’ve fashioned, evolved, and archived over time. In the 18th century, esteemed military statesman John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, was fond of asking his servant for beef served in between two slices of bread. Simply known as “bread and meat” or “bread and cheese” in the past, Montagu found it much easier to keep his hands crumbless this way when gambling with cards. Curious, his friends began asking for the same thing, and time has since catapulted this staple across war and dietary evolution.
In the same vein, our vocal tracts have physically morphed since the early stages of human evolution to accommodate the range of sounds we’ve produced through language and syntax. Our throats are shorter, mouths less protruded, and necks longer. Funnily, Lieberman arrived at the realisation that, as we’ve grown in intelligence and vocabulary, our larynxes have been pushed lower down our throats, effectively making us more prone to choking. Sure, a necessary trade-off for being a cut above the animal kingdom.
Etymology examines the origin and evolution of words moulded by the contexts they were used in. Linguists compare and construct networks that help trace the ancestral roots of words. There are institutes like the Living Tongues dedicated to archiving these Frankenstein languages and loanwords fractured by colonialism and oppression, glued back with travel and cohabitation. Translation and comparative philology help link discoveries like that of Sir William Jones’ in 1786, drawing connections between Sanskrit, Latin, and Greek.
Morphology dissects the internal structure of words—roots, prefixes, suffixes—and how they create meaning. In conjunction, they help us understand a fraction of the power words wield in repatching parts of humanity we’ve lost to time. These traces grow in complexity and nuance as eras repurpose words to fit their narratives.
If any of this piques your interest, Babel by R.F. Kuang was an eye-opening read of January 2023. Historical fiction brewed with fantasy is reeled into an exciting primer on translation and linguistics with nods to the Opium Wars and colonialism, as well as racism and misogyny within academia.
“Betrayal. Translation means doing violence upon the original, means warping and distorting it for foreign, unintended eyes. So then where does that leave us? How can we conclude, except by acknowledging that an act of translation is then necessarily always an act of betrayal?”
― Babel, R.F. Kuang (2022)
Meaning has, in many ways, collapsed in on itself and rebirthed offshoots of what it means to be living through the unglamorous and unfathomable. Age plays into this, but an accelerated reinvention of priorities is built on the unprecedented times we’re in. Economists warn us of an impending global recession, climate scientists predict ecological collapse if human efforts to intervene aren’t stringent enough, war seeps into our daily lives, the white picket fence dream is capricious, and the pathways to financial freedom are crosshatched with internet-native deviations from your typical 9:00-5:00. We’re young and we’ll figure it out, but we’re older and we’re a bit more desperate trying to figure it out.
The efficiency-centered politicisation of our bodies to operate beyond self-discipline is (was) an attractive picture for those who can sustain it, but today, despite millions of “coronapreneurs,” non-financially compensated activities are more respectfully recognised. People continually grow more outwardly aware and pull their heads out of being so deeply submerged in a cycle.
Bias heavily trickles into this because of its media overexposure but the younger generations have cracked at the cycle, baffling job recruiters and upending rural property prices. Of course, it’s bright and revolutionary—the idea that productivity isn’t moored to your professional career. Interestingly, YouTuber Alice Cappelle discusses ‘slow living’ and how, ironically, its aesthetic has become a consumer trend yet again. We see the romanticism of a complete permaculture-driven-homestead lifestyle change not afforded by many but greatly represented online. “Slow living is not a lifestyle choice, but an incentive, a right, or even a social project.”
For instance, there’s a law that bans workplace communication on Sundays in France. Urban politics and infrastructure play into this as well. An interesting debate also crawls on the privatisation of exercise, or poorly regulated planned developments that forgo parks and communal greenery. Anything that’s designed to isolate people will isolate people.
Like words and languages that rely on each other’s evolution, you deserve to rely on others or put them first, free yourself of lone wolf pop psychology. As Bell Hooks brilliantly hashes, “Capitalism and patriarchy together, as structures of domination, have worked overtime to undermine and destroy this larger unit of extended kin… Hardly anyone in our society lives in an environment like this.” Within this, acknowledge the privilege that comes with Western ways of defining meaning through philosophy and work resistance. Beyond this, push for sustainable ways of slow living, communal knowledge-sharing, and language that evolves with resilience and acceptance. Be okay with uncertainty, be kind to it, be ‘nice.’
Finding meaning in the nettles between the grass,
Kristen <3
Thank you for the continued support from friends and random readers! I took 2 months off to recuperate and celebrate time with friends and family over the break, visiting the Philippines. I will be back again to post monthly!
As with all things, I feel like technology has accelerated the adoption of new words and the evolution of old ones. Etymology is so interesting because when we look back in history we see a slow progression of words gaining cultural relevance; now words gain traction within a matter of months or even weeks (gaslight, fake news, binge watch). I wonder if this contributes to the the opposite of "slow living" since the speed at which we consume information is reflected in our every day language.
Great article as always!