The Etymology of Happiness, and Some Related
Words
St. Mary’s
There arrives a point in some
philosophical discussions about happiness at which the question arises of the
adequacy of the terms we use in our discussions. One sees the issue arise, for
example, in discussing the following:
Compare some of these (at
least) closely related traits:
Happiness
This is from the Middle
English hap meaning "chance" or "good luck." We can
see the remnants of this in our words perhaps and happenstance.
This origin makes the common usage of happiness odd, for although what
we usually mean by the word has some element of chance in it, we rarely mean
something that is exclusively a matter of happenstance.
Satisfaction
This comes from the same
Indo-European root that gives us "sad." At first this may seem a
curiosity fated to remain inexplicable. After all, what could be more opposed
than being satisfied and being sad?
A closer look, however,
provides not only a sensible historical explanation, but points to a
philosophically significant aspect of satisfaction. In Middle English,
"sad" means "sated, tired, satisfied" (Partridge, p. 580).
When one is sated, like after a good meal, one is subdued, even tired.
"Satisfaction" is literally "making (in Latin, facere) sated."
Philosophically, isn’t there
something saddening about satisfaction? To be at rest after a
pursuit is to not be in pursuit anymore. The loss of engagement constituted by
the loss of the pursuit can be saddening.
Perfection
From per and facere, meaning "to make or do throughout or thoroughly."
Completion and fulfillment
These words share an
Indo-European root: ple- (meaning
"to fill") and its synonymous variant pel-. This variant gives
us "fill," and hence "fulfillment."
Words for "to fill"
are plethein in Greek and plere
in Latin. The com- prefix in Latin is an intensifier, and so complere in Latin means "to fill up."
Success
This word is from the Latin succedere, meaning "to go under" (and
hence later "to follow"). This itself is from sub
("under") and cedere ("to
go").
Perhaps oddly then,
"success" is tied to being a follower. We can see this explicitly in
such uses as "successive odd integers" and "the successor to the
throne." Ayto says (p. 509) that the Latin sense of getting near to something
evolved in Latin into indicating prospering, though he provides no mechanism
for how this would have evolved.
Fortunateness
The Latin base is fors, perhaps akin to the Latin ferre,
and so meaning "that which life bears or brings." Hence, "being
fortunate" in its original meaning is the Latin version of the Anglo-Saxon
"being happy."
Flourishing
This is from the Latin flor, meaning "flower." Latin florere
means "to grow like a flower" or "to flourish." The
emphasis of this word is on development and movement.
Actualization
This is from the Latin
actus, meaning "to drive, to do." In its emphasis on activity,
this is very different from "happiness" and
"fortunateness."
Contentment
From the Latin continere, meaning "to hold (tenere) together (con-)," which is also
the root for such words as "container" and "continence."
The Latin contentus means a quiet
satisfaction.
So to be contented means, literally, to
be holding together. There is the etymological
suggestion, therefore, of contentment being a static state.
Enjoyment
From the Latin gaudium, meaning "joy." The prefix
"en-" is an intensifier added in the Old French. Interestingly, our
derisive term "gaudy" comes from the same root. In obsolete English,
"gaud" meant "a jest," and later came to mean "a
trinket."
9/99
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