Resurge

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:

Resurge

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:53 pm

• resurge •

Pronunciation: ri-sêrjHear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive

Meaning: Rise up again, come back, revive or renew itself or oneself, become active again; to sweep or surge back again.

Notes: Today's Good Word, according to at least one dictionary is "rare", so let's try to prevent its falling into oblivion. We now much more frequently use the adjective, resurgent, and the noun, resurgence, than we use the verb.

In Play: We can find many ways to use today's word if we put our minds to it: "As she slowly walked along the shore, the waves surged and resurged in a regular rhythm in a way that she found soothing." It even works in politics: "The popularity of the candidate resurged with his announcement that he was pulling out of the race."

Word History: Resurge comes directly from Classical Latin resurgere "to rise (from the dead) again", a derivation based on re- "again" + surgere "to rise" (compare Spanish resurgir, Portuguese ressurgir, Italian risorgere [from earlier resurgere or risurgere], and French resurgir). Surge probably comes from an earlier derivation of sub "under" + regere "to direct, lead straight or correctly". The root of regere, reg-, comes directly from PIE reg- "direct straight, lead, rule", which arrived in English as right and reckon. All the offspring of PIE reg- implying government, regal, regent, regime, etc. were borrowed from Latin or its children, the Romance languages. In Hindi we find it in rajah "king, prince". (Today's Good Word represents the resurgence of Susan Ardith's contributions to the series, for which we are rightly grateful.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

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

Re: Resurge

Postby Perry Lassiter » Fri Oct 10, 2014 1:39 pm

The noun form of this word has become famous in the Southern Baptist Convention as referring to a hard right leaning movement that won control of the Convention about 20 years ago. Instigators and supporters call it "the conservative resurgence," believing they are returning the SBC to its roots rather than allowing it to slide into purported liberalism or modernism. Those "moderates" who opposed them now call that resurgence "the Fundamentalist takeover."
pl

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

Re: Resurge

Postby Slava » Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:50 pm

Sorry, but if you have to operate on someone again, is that a resurgence?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Re: Resurge

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:21 pm

Hmmmmm. I think that would be a resurgery.
• The Good Dr. Goodword


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 47 guests