Scourge

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:

Scourge

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Dec 09, 2014 11:18 pm

• scourge •

Pronunciation: skêrjHear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A whip, sometimes with multiple lashes, used for torture or punishment. 2. Any cause of great suffering, an extreme menace, as in 'the scourge of Ebola'.

Notes: The order of the definitions above is historical, and not based on frequency of occurrence. The second meaning is the most frequently encountered, but I wanted to show the semantic development of today's word. This noun may be used as a verb meaning "to whip or flog with a scourge", which makes possible a personal noun scourger, about as useful as the verb it is based on.

In Play: Even though the first sense is outdated, we sometimes meet it in literature with historical settings: "Seamen of old who displeased the captain faced the scourge." Now the second sense is the more prevalent: "Youth gangs are the scourge of US cities."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes to us from Anglo-Norman escorge, related to Old French escorgiee, the past participle of escorgier "to whip". French inherited this word from Vulgar (street) Latin excorrigiare, a verb resulting from the confusion of corrigia "thong" with Classical Latin excoriare "to skin, strip off". Excoriare is made up of ex- "from, off" + coriare "to skin" from corium "skin, hide". The past participle of this word, excoriatus, went into the making of English excoriate "to flay the skin off, or to viciously berate". The root, cor-, is also seen in Latin cortex "bark", which we borrowed directly from Latin to refer to the outer layer of the brain.
• 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: Scourge

Postby Slava » Fri Dec 12, 2014 9:39 pm

About the seamen of old and the scourge; I've never come across anything but the "cat". I was a big fan of both Hornblower and Bolitho and don't recall any whippings with a scourge. Anyone out there come across it?
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: Scourge

Postby Perry Lassiter » Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:34 pm

Apart from reference to Jesus after his arrest, I don't remember any references other the people. Genghis Khan was the scourge of the Orient. My kid's teacher was the scourge of gum chewers. ( Hey! Who made her the gum sheriff?)
pl

misterdoe
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 619
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:21 am
Location: New York City area
Contact:

Re: Scourge

Postby misterdoe » Tue Dec 16, 2014 7:24 pm

About the mention of Latin corrigia meaning "thong": any connection to incorrigible? :?

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Scourge

Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Dec 18, 2014 12:56 am

Incorrigible is straight from the Latin incorrigibilis. It's meaning: not to be corrected, is obvious from the prefix and root word corrigibilis. It hasn't taken on much in the way of new meanings over time. There seems to be no relationship to corrigia, thong. Many of us old curmudgeons are incorrigible, and proud of it.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 62 guests