Virgo 11: A boy molded in his mother's aspiration for him

T h e w o r d b oy a p p e a r s t o h a v e e n t e re d t h e E n g l i sh l a n g u a g e i n t he m i d 1 2 t h c e n t u r y a s b o ie , s e r v a n t , c o m m o n e r , kn a v e , b o y . P o ss i b le s o u r c e s i n c l u d e t he O l d F r e n c h e m b ui e , o n e f e t t e r e d , f r om t h e L a t i n b oi a , " le g i r o n , y o k e , le a t he r c o l l a r " a n d t he G r e e k b o ei a i do ra i, " o x h i d e s . " 1 T h e a d j e ct i v e mol de d d e sc e n d s f r o m t h e I n d o - E u r op e a n ( I E ) r o o t med -1 which means to take appropriate m e a s u r e s. 2 A m o n g i t s m a n y d e r i v a t i v e s w e f i n d t h e w o r d s c o m m o di t y, m o de st ,

m o de l , m o de rat e, m o de , m e di ci ne , re m e dy, m e dit a te , m o de rn , m et e ( t o a l l o t o r m e a s u re ) a n d m e e t ( f i t t i n g

a n d p r op e r ) . T h e w o r d mot he r de s c e n d s f r o m IE r oo t ma t e r - w h i c h me a n s m o t he r a n d f r o m w h i c h a l so d e s c e n d t he w o rd s m a t e r, a l m a ma te r, m at e rn a l,

m a t ri c u l a te, m a t rix , m a t ro n, ma t ri m on y, m at t e r, m a te ri al , a n d t h e n a m e D e m e t e r.
T h e w o r d a spi r at i on d e s c e n d s f r o m t he L a t i n a s pi r ar e , t o b r e a t he u p o n , t o b r e a t h e a n d m o r e g e n e ra l l y " t o b e fa v o r a b l e t o, a s s i st ; t o c li m b u p t o, t o e n d e a v o r t o o b t a i n , t o r e a c h t o , t o s e e k t o r e a c h; i n f u s e . 3 T h e b a s e o f t h a t L a t i n w o r d c a n b e t r a c e d f u r t h e r b a c k t o t he L a t i n s pi r i t us , s o u l , c o u r a g e , v i go r , b r e a t h . 4

1 2 3 4

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=boy Watkins, c. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo -European Roots, p. 52 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=aspire http://www.etymonline.com/index.ph p?term=spirit Starling Hunter 2011 1

F i n a l l y , t h e w o r d h i m d e s ce n d s f r o m t h e r o o t k o- , t h e s t e m of d e m o n s t r a t i v e p r on o u n s m e a n i n g t h i s . 5 O t h e r d e r i v a t i v e s i n c l u d e t he w o r d s h e , it , he re, h e n c e, h it h e r, b e hin d, h in d, h in de r, a n d h i n dra n ce . TH EMES : O b v i o u s ly , o n e v e r y w e l l - k n o w n i d i o m a t i c e xp re s s i on d e r i v e s i t s i n s p i r a t i o n f r o m t he w o r d s o f t h i s s y mb o l m a m a s b o y , i . e . a b o y o r m a n s h ow i n g e x c e s si v e a t t a c h m e n t t o o r d e p e n d e n c e on h i s m o t h e r . 6 I n t e r e s t i n g l y , t h e me a n i n g o f t h e r o o t o f b oy d e s c r i b e s s e v e r a l k i n d s o f a t t a c h m e n t s f e t t e r s, t e t h e r s, a n d y o k e s w h i l e o n e o f t h e p a r o n y m s o f hi m i s t h e w o r d h i n de r ( t o o b s t r u c t o r d e l a y t h e p r o g r e s s o f ) . A s v e r b s, hi n de r a n d f e t t e r a re sy n o n y m s w i t h t he s h a r e d s e n s e o f t y i n g u p o r h o l di n g b a c k . 7 T h e c l e a r t he m e i s H I ND RANCE . A s e c o n d t he m e c on c e r n s t h e t i m e le ss d i c h o t o m y b e t w e e n S P I RIT a n d MATTE R . 8 R e c a l l t ha t t h e k e y w o r d a spi rat i o n d e s ce n d s u lt i m a t e l y f r o m a L a t i n r o o t t h a t m e a n s s o u l o r s p i r i t . F u r t h e r r e c a ll t h a t t h e k e y w o r d mot h e r c o u n t s t h e w o r d m a t t e r a m on g i t s p a r o n y m s.

5 6 7 8

Watkins, c. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo -European Roots, p. 43 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mama's +boy?r=66 http://thesaurus.com/browse/fetter http://www.sydneygoodwill.org.au/web -pages/books-aab.php Starling Hunter 2011 2