Genuflection

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Genuflection

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:06 pm

• genuflection •

Pronunciation: jen-yê-flek-shên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass (no plural)

Meaning: 1. Bending one or both knees as a sign of respect, as when leaving a church. 2. Kow-towing, behaving in a servile manner, groveling.

Notes: Today's noun is derived from the verb to genuflect, the head of a substantial family of words. It has an adjective, genuflectory, and someone who genuflects is a genuflector. Bowing on both knees is known as a double genuflection and expresses twice the respect as a single bent knee. The British spelling of today's word is genuflexion, in keeping with its spelling of inflexion, reflexion, etc.

In Play: We English speakers have been quite modest in our bowing. The Chinese expression kòu tóu "knock the head", whence English kow-tow, indicates that the Chinese clearly took bowing much more seriously than our ancestors. But as long as sycophants are around, we will find metaphorical uses for today's word: "Rathbone's genuflection before the president in the boardroom gets on everyone's nerves." Keep in mind, however, in some churches genuflection before God, especially while praying, remains a sign of respect, as it has been for millennia.

Word History: Today's word comes from Late Latin genuflectere "to bow" based on genu "knee" + flectere "to bend". The latter stem is related to our word flexible, borrowed from Latin. The origin of genu is a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "joint" that had three forms: genu-, gonu- and gnu-. While we do not know the functions of these forms in PIE, they do appear consistently across all Indo-European languages. Latin obviously used the first. Greek chose the second for its gonia "angle, corner", found in words borrowed from Greek, like diagonal and orthogonal. Russian and English chose the third form for Russian gnu "I bend" and Old English as cneo "knee". Today cneo is spelled, of course, knee, with an initial silent K, which came to be pronounced H and was then lost over the course of the history of English. The K is preserved in German Knie "knee" and Swedish knä "knee". (Today we sincerely genuflect to the mother of David Fleischhacker, who came across today's Good Word and passed it on to David, who shared it with us.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Genuflection

Postby Slava » Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:01 pm

This word and its relatives always make me think of Tom Lehrer and his "Vatican Rag."

First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect,
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: Genuflection

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:21 pm

That bit of doggerel reflects my understanding of the word genuflect. I always thought it referred to the act of crossing oneself, perhaps because crossing oneself is normal when one bows the knee. Anyone else besides me and Tom Lehrer that uses the word that way?
pl

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Genuflection

Postby Slava » Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:35 pm

I've been trying to figure out how to genuflect when you're already on your knees. Now I get it, though I've never been aware of that usage before this. One doesn't cross oneself when genuflecting before a sovereign, after all.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

User avatar
bamaboy56
Lexiterian
Posts: 363
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 8:20 pm
Location: The Deep South

Re: Genuflection

Postby bamaboy56 » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:26 am

I've always thought of genuflection in the religious sense. The motion I've seen others do to sovereigns, to me, is bowing not genuflecting. I've only seen kow-towing in Oriental movies.
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I'm going to change myself. -- Rumi

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Genuflection

Postby LukeJavan8 » Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:25 pm

In the Roman Church it was done on both entering and
leaving one's pew before leaving the church. On both
knees in the same respect if the Eucharist was
exposed in an ostensorium or monstrance. If the
Eucharist was being carried in procession one would
genuflect as it passed by one's location. The crossing
of oneself while genuflecting was a personal gesture
only. However, Hispanic people always seem to do it
and then kiss their fingers.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 46 guests