Elect

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Dr. Goodword
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Elect

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Nov 03, 2014 11:39 pm

• elect •

Pronunciation: ê-lektHear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: 1. To choose for a specific function or purpose by voting, as to elect a new president. 2. To freely choose from a variety of choices, as to elect a college course outside one's major.

Notes: Today is Election Day in the United States, a good time to take a look at the verb on which election is based. This verb has given us plenty of offspring: the action noun election and the personal noun elector. This word's adjective, electoral, is prominent in the name of the Electoral College (pronounced Electoral not Electoral) that makes the final choice of presidents in presidential elections. The electorate is the body of electors or voters as a whole. The verb has its own adjective, too, elective, which comes with an adverb electively. Beyond that, the verb itself may used as a postpositional adjective in expressions like president-elect and senator-elect, referring to an elected official who has not yet been sworn into office.

In Play: Elect differs from select in referring to selecting someone for a specific position: "In a democracy, the people always elect the government they deserve." This verb also bears the connotation of selecting freely among an array of choices: "If I elect to shave the top of my head and grow hair on the bottom of it, that is my decision to make."

Word History: Today's Good Word is another Latin gift, taken this time from electus "chosen", the past participle of eligere "to choose". This verb was originally ex "out of" + legere "choose, appoint, read". The root of this verb, leg-, seems to have originally meant "to collect" and "to speak". No one knows why this root bears these two seemingly unrelated meanings. We find the root, though, in Latin lex, legis "law" (a collection of rules), a word curled up inside English legislator. Legislator was originally the Latin phrase legis lator "bearer of laws". But then we also see it in lexical and lexicon, which come from Greek lexis "speech", from legein "to speak".
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Philip Hudson
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Re: Elect

Postby Philip Hudson » Tue Nov 04, 2014 10:05 am

For electoral in the hinterlands, we not only put the accent on the "wrong" syllable but we give it an additional syllable to make the word go down more smoothly. We say ee-lek-TOR-ee-uhl. I know I should adopt citified ways to participate in this forum, but it is hard to get away from what I learned at my mother's knee. Also, most of the people in the hinterlands have no clue as to what it means. :D
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maevek
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Re: Elect

Postby maevek » Tue Nov 04, 2014 3:09 pm

Perhaps because you had to gather (ie, collect)
people together in order to give your speech,
tell your story, deliver the news, etc?
.....
"to have originally meant "to collect" and "to speak". No one knows why this root bears these two seemingly unrelated meanings
"

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Re: Elect

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:26 pm

There is a "collect" in liturgical worship services, not the offering.

Also election is involved in a particular Calvinist theology. Focused on the sovereignty of God, the most controversial teaching is that God elects only some for salvation. Others go further and take on "double-barreled predestination," in which God elects some for salvation and others for damnation. The teaching does not go down well for most of us, as you might imagine.
pl

maevek
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Re: Elect

Postby maevek » Tue Nov 04, 2014 4:34 pm

Also,
Latin, CO = with
Latin, Lectio == choose, lection, reading (aloud)

so, "speak with" (collect)

Oh, this is cool too...
Latin "e" -- out of, from

: )

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Slava
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Re: Elect

Postby Slava » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:20 pm

Whatever it ultimately comes from, don't forget to vote! :!:
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Philip Hudson
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Re: Elect

Postby Philip Hudson » Tue Nov 04, 2014 5:46 pm

Perry: As I understand it, a collect in church liturgy is a stated prayer that is read. Since we make up our prayers as we pray them here in the hinterland, we don't have collects.

As for election in the theological sense, those rascally Hardshell Baptists believe in that. I believe God wants everyone to be in his Kingdom. Of course one could refuse to enter if he/she had rather go to Hell.

If your theology differs from mine and Perry's, just bear with us. We are actually quite harmless. :) .
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


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