• gratuitous •
Pronunciation: græ-tu-ê-tês • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. (Given) without expectation of anything in return, free, for nothing, voluntary. 2. Without call, added or given for no reason, unwarranted, unjustified.
Notes: The noun that this word is based on is gratuity "a tip", money given over and above the charge for a service. In the States, we give gratuities to cabbies, various hotel employees, waiters in restaurants, and others. In fact, gratuities are expected so much in these jobs that salaries are usually lowered in lieu of income on tips. Anyway, because this noun has such a specific meaning, the noun for today's Good Word is gratuitousness. The adverb is gratuitously.
In Play: The first meaning of today's Good Word remains "free, for nothing", as in: "Without the gratuitous help of his supporters, Chick Pease could not have won the election." The other meaning refers to something that is added or provided without motivation, for no reason: "I'm sure that the gratuitous violence on TV these days is no worse for our kids to watch than violence justified by the plot."
Word History: Today's Good Word is Latin gratuitus "free, spontaneous, voluntary", unchanged save for an O added to the suffix. The Latin adjective comes from the noun gratia "favor" which, in turn, was built on the adjective gratus "pleasing." The same Latin root turns up in many English words borrowed from Latin, including gracious, gratitude, and congratulate. The Proto-Indo-European root behind the Latin words, gwer- "to favor", apparently also appeared in a compound made up of gwer "favor" + dho "to do", which went on to become Celtic bardo- and, finally, Gaelic bàrd "bard". This word originally referred to a wandering minstrel, who would favor you with a song or poem. This word was borrowed by English and went on to become the epithet of its greatest writer, The Bard, William Shakespeare.
GRATUITOUS
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GRATUITOUS
• The Good Dr. Goodword
This reminds me of lagniappe, which is also the name of an interesting little shop I liked in Des Moines.Meaning: 1. (Given) without expectation of anything in return, free, for nothing, voluntary. 2. Without call, added or given for no reason, unwarranted, unjustified.
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Re: GRATUITOUS
I'll wager it's also the root of Spanish gracias....Word History: Today's Good Word is Latin gratuitus "free, spontaneous, voluntary", unchanged save for an O added to the suffix. The Latin adjective comes from the noun gratia "favor" which, in turn, was built on the adjective gratus "pleasing." The same Latin root turns up in many English words borrowed from Latin, including gracious, gratitude, and congratulate. ...
At the end of the Latin Mass the priest would say, "Ite Missa est" (literal translation: "Go, the Mass is" usually translated as "Go, the Mass is ended." The people responded "Deo gratias" (Thanks be to God). When the Mass began to be said in the vernacular (English for us), there were two ways to take that "Go, the Mass is ended. Thanks be to God!" phrasing. I believe the priest now says "The Mass is ended. Go in peace and love to serve the Lord" to which the people reply "Thanks be to God." That makes it seem less of a sigh of relief.
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
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