DYSFUNCTIONAL

[Dr. Goodword]

• dysfunctional •

Pronunciation: dis-fêngk-shê-nêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Badly or improperly functioning.

Notes: The spelling of today's Good Word is not an oddity but a reflection of the two similar Greek and Latin prefixes at work in English. The prefix dis- was borrowed from Latin and means, approximately, "not, un-", as in dissatisfy, discomfort, and disable. Dys- means "bad, problematic" and was borrowed from Greek: dyslexia is not the non-recognition of words but problematic recognition. Dyspepsia is a disorder of digestion, not nondigestion. The same applies to today's Good Word: dysfunctional people and families function, they just function badly.

In Play: We are dysfunctional at anything we do awkwardly or badly: "Leah Tarde is such a dysfunctional dancer that she comes off as a good stand-up comic at dances." Dysfunctionality applies to groups as well as individuals: "This entire office has been dysfunctional since they removed the water cooler—no one has any idea what is going on any more."

Word History: As mentioned in the Notes above, today's word is made up of the prefix dys- "bad(ly), improper(ly)" + function "to operate, carry out duties". Function is the Latin noun functio(n) "performance, execution", based on functus, the past participle of fungi "to perform, carry out". We know that the root of this word originally meant "enjoy", probably used in the sense of "taking advantage of", for the same root appears in Sanskrit bhunkte "enjoys". We find only skimpy evidence of it outside these two languages, though. The same applies to Greek dys- "bad". (Today we need to thank Joayne Larson for functioning properly and sending us the suggestion to run today's Good Word.)

[neuminous]

I'm curious about the Latin fungi mentioned in today's Good Word. Is the word fungi (to perform; to enjoy) related to the fungi we enjoy on pizza?

[Dr. Goodword]

Apparently there is no connection between function and fungus, so mushrooms are not dysfunctional vegetables, though they do look it, don't they?

The best guess I could find in my library is that fungus goes back to a PIE word with a Fickle S that also produced Greek sphongos "sponge". Many mushrooms, as you may know, look a bit like sponges, especially the best tasting of them, the morels and chantrelles, so this makes semantic sense. The phonological facts also work, so long as we assume the Fickle S that we find in such words as scald and cold which also share a common ancestor.

[neuminous]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks, Dr. Goodword!

[Perry]

Apparently there is no connection between function and fungus, so mushrooms are not dysfunctional vegetables, though they do look it, don't they?

Looks can be deceiving. And with mushrooms, that cuts both ways!