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complicit

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:32 am
by William Hupy
Shouldn't this word render down to "with" and "legitimate"? Yet it partners only with nefarious type fellows, such as complicit in crime. What gives?

Re: complicit

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:26 pm
by Philip Hudson
Etymology is interesting and useful, but it does not always explain the current definition of a word. Although the source of complicit is silent about the nature of the complicity, our present definition requires complicity to be toward nefarious acts. If one is peripherally involved in the commission of a good deed, he/she is not complicit to the action. It is not ours to reason why, it is but ours to accept what the dictionaries say. Well, not always. We can march to the beat of a different drummer, but we risk being out of step with the total system. If your drummer tells you that complicity can be applied to good actions, by all means try using it that way. Don’t be surprised, though, when the world does not understand you.

Re: complicit

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:19 pm
by Slava
Shouldn't this word render down to "with" and "legitimate"?
Why do you think it should? What I've seen is that the "plicit" here comes from folded.

Re: complicit

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:55 am
by Perry Lassiter
Related to accomplice. The folding implies togetherness and comradeship. Accomplice and complicity are technically neutral, but tend in us to refer to criminal activity though often used humorously.

Re: complicit

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:34 am
by William Hupy
Slava - because illicit is illegal, so licit should be legal?

Re: complicit

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 3:01 pm
by Perry Lassiter
I believe licit does mean legal.

Re: complicit

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 4:20 pm
by Slava
Licit may mean legal, but plicit means fold.

Re: complicit

Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2013 10:24 am
by William Hupy
Ah, I see "plico" in my Latin dictionary. Thanks Slava.