Dig Into History

17

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WORD STORIES
Intrigue And there certainly has been
plenty of “secret planning to harm or
deceive people” in history. So, what is the
URRWRIWKLVZRUG"(QJOLVK ğUVW XVHG LW LQ
the 1500s as a verb meaning “to deceive,
WRWULFNń%XW(QJOLVKKDG MXVW DGRSWHG WKH
French word, keeping the same spelling
and meaning. And French had done the

same with the Italian

verbintrigare,MXVW

adapting it only a

bit. It was Italian

that made some

DGMXVWPHQWV WR

the Latinintricare

(“to entangle,

to embarrass”).

So what had Latin

done? Well, the

Romans, the speakers

of Latin, had combined their

prepositioninŃLQń ZLWK WKHLU QRXQtricae

ŃWULFNV WR\V KLQGUDQFHVń 4XLWH D MRXUQH\

GRQłW \RX WKLQN"

Medieval The roots here are simple:

medius(Latin for “middle”) andaevum

ŃDJHń 7KH (QJOLVK GHğQLWLRQ LV MXVW DV

simple: “pertaining to the Middle Ages.”

%XW ZKDW DUH WKH 0LGGOH $JHV Ō GHğQLWHO\

D SKUDVH WKDW KXPDQV WKURXJK KLVWRU\ KDYH

XVHG WR UHSUHVHQW D SHULRG EHWZHHQ WZR

RWKHU SHULRGV" )RU WKH SXUSRVHV RI WKLV LVVXH

DERXW WKH %\]DQWLQH (PSLUH PHGLHYDO LV

TXLWH DSSURSULDWH DV KLVWRULDQV RIWHQ XVH

WKH DGMHFWLYH WR PDUN WKH WLPH EHWZHHQ

the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in

476 Ƌƍ. and the fall of Constantinople, the

FDSLWDO RI WKH %\]DQWLQH (PSLUH LQ 

words

ZLWK WKH

UP WKH ZRUG

Byzantine?

+HUHłV RQH WR JHW \RX VWDUWHG

tin

6HQG \RXU ZRUGV WR WKH

address next to Gil in the

orange circle below!

How many w

FDQ \RX PDNH Z

OHWWHUV XVHG WR IRU

Byzant

H

O

W

M

AN

Y?

ŌWKDW WKH ZRUG ŃE\]DQWLQHń LV DOVR XVHG DV

DQDGMHFWLYHLQ(QJOLVK",WPHDQVŃLQWULFDWH

complex.” This meaning derived from the

IDFWWKDWDW&RQVWDQWLQRSOHWKHUR\DOFRXUW

ZDVFRQVLGHUHGFRPSOH[DQGIXOORILQWULJXH

DQGWKDWPDQ\RIWKHPHPEHUVRIWKHFRXUW

ZHUHVHHQDVGHYLRXV

DID YOU KNOW?

Empire