Inhaltsverzeichnis

 What is criminology?
o Definition
o What is the subject of criminology? – The concept of crime
 The concept of crime from a legal perspective
 The concept of crime from a criminological perspective

 Introductory literature

What is criminology?
Criminology derives from the Latin word ‘crimen’ (crime) and the Greek
word ‘logos’ (doctrine). The “invention” of the term criminology (here:
criminologia) is attributed to the Italian scholar Raffaele Garofalo, who
published the book “Criminologia: Studio sul Delitto, Sulle sue Cause e sui
Mezzi di Repressione” in 1885. The British criminologist David Garland
(2002) states that the historically still relatively young discipline of
criminology can be characterized by two essential core areas. This is on the
one hand a “governmental project” and on the other hand the “Lombrosian
project”. Behind the first category lies a criminology that has dedicated itself
to administrative purposes and records the development of crime in
empirical studies and evaluates the work of state institutions such as prisons
or the police. The Lombrosian project goes back to the Italian psychiatrist
and prison doctor Cesare Lombroso, who is regarded as the founder of an
empirically founded (positivist) criminology. Through studies on prisoners,
Lombroso wanted to determine the nature of criminals and thus determine
the causes of crime (see below). Garland further notes that these two areas
have increasingly overlapped and merged in recent times.

Definition

Criminology can therefore be defined as the study of crime. Criminological

knowledge is created both theoretically and empirically (i.e. in the form of
scientific studies).

The Latin word crimen, however, not only stands for crime, but can also be
translated as accusation (it is derived from cernere – select, decide -).
Criminology therefore deals not only with behaviours that we perceive as
crimes, but also with the question of which behaviour, when and why are
perceived as criminal. These two perspectives become clearer when we take
a closer look at the subject of criminology.

What is the subject of criminology? – The concept of crime

The concept of crime from a legal perspective
At first glance, the question of what a crime is seems easy to answer:
namely, all actions that violate a criminal law. In Germany this is regulated in
§ 12 of the StGB. Here it says that crimes are unlawful acts which are at least
punishable by imprisonment of one year or more. Misdemeanours are
unlawful acts which are at least punishable by a lesser prison sentence or
which are punishable by a monetary penalty.

If you now look at individual legal norms, it is clear that, for example,
counterfeiting (imprisonment for not less than one year) is a crime, pimping
(imprisonment for between six months and five years) is a misdemeanour,
and so on. Actions that are not covered by any law (e.g. feeding gremlins
after midnight) cannot constitute crime or misdemeanour following the
principle of law nulla poena sine lege. Despite its unambiguousness, this
concept of criminal crime is insufficient from a criminological point of view.

The concept of crime from a criminological perspective

The initially plausible definition of crime according to the Criminal Code
must, however, be further differentiated if one considers the object of
criminology – i.e. the crime. We all use the term and it seems to us to be
plausible at first, without further reflecting on its meaning. If you asked
someone to define what a crime is, that person would probably conclude
that a crime is an act that violates a penal code. However, this legalistic
approach – although found in many criminology books – is useless; this
definition means that no crime can exist if there were no criminal law.
Certain acts, however, seem to us to have a great wrongfulness that we
would judge as evil, morally reprehensible or unjust even without legal
background knowledge. But where is the line between criminal on the hand
and and undesirable acts on the other? Whose value judgement do we take
into account – that of the majority of society, that of the smartest, richest,
loudest members of a community?

Crime has no ontological reality, no fixed and unchangeable nature. Unlike,

for example, a table, which can be described as a physically present object
by a tabletop, four table legs and a fixed purpose and use. By contrast the
concept of crime is an attribution. The table has its own “table-like” nature –
regardless of whether it is described as such or used. A crime, on the other
hand, only becomes a crime through its designation, and that people
behave accordingly to it. Certain acts are called crimes. However, this is not
a quality of the corresponding actions per se. Which actions are referred to
as crimes is subject to historical and cultural change. Crimes are therefore
social constructs. This thought, which may initially appear abstract, becomes
clear when we look at examples:

 Mugshot of Al Capone (1931)

In the years 1920 to 1933 alcohol prohibition applied in the USA. The
production, transport and sale of alcohol was prohibited. Those who
circumvented prohibition committed a crime and were punished.
Despite the prohibitions, many Americans did not want to give up
drinking and found themselves in so-called speakeasies, which illegally
served alcohol or they illegally produced their own moonshine.
Providing alcohol for the Americans who were willing to drink proved to
be a financially lucrative field of activity for organized crime. Men like
Meyer Lanski or Al Capone became rich and public enemies of the state
through alcohol smuggling. Alcohol prohibition is difficult to imagine
from today’s perspective. Alcohol consumption is widespread in our
culture and a ban could hardly be enforced (just like eighty years ago in
the USA). The example shows, however, that it is not the intrinsic quality
of an action (drinking alcohol) that constitutes a crime, but the social
attribution (alcohol is bad, ergo: alcohol is banned from now on).

 Other examples show that cultural change has also taken place in
Germany, including a change in actions that were or are perceived as
crimes. From 1871 to 1994 German law made homosexual acts between
men a punishable offence (it is also interesting to note that only men
are mentioned in § 175 StGB). In the German Empire, the Weimar
 Republic, during the period of National Socialism and also in the
Federal Republic of Germany, many tens of thousands of men were
criminalized, persecuted, punished and (during the Nazi era) deported
to concentration camps. It is obvious that a sexual preference is not a
crime per se. A look at history shows that especially in the field of
sexuality, moral concepts are often the subject of social controversies
and continuous change (e.g. so-called lust boys – puer delicatus, but
also with regard to prostitution, extramarital relationships, polyamory
etc.).

This perspective on crime as socially constructed is particularly widespread

in so-called critical criminology. In contrast to an etiological perspective in
the tradition of the Lombrosian project (see above), scholars developed the
so called labelling approch in 1950s and 60s. Here, crime is not seen as a
consequence of an individual pathology, but rather as a focus on
criminalizing deviant behaviour.

Introductory literature
 Bruinsma, G. & Weisburd, D. (2014) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal
Justice. New York u.a.: Springer.
 Garland, D. (2002) Of crime and criminals : The development of criminology in
Britain . In: Maguire, M.; Morgan, R. & Reiner, R. (Hrsg.) The Oxford Handbook of
Criminology (3. Aufl.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
 Hayward, K., Maruna, S., & Money, J. (Hrsg.). (2010). Fifty Key Thinkers in
Criminology. New York: Routledge.
 Newburn, T. (2017) Criminology (3. Aufl.). London, New York: Routledge.

An Introduction To Etymology: Eight Great Word Origins

What is etymology, and why is it important? Join us on an excursion into the world of eight common words’ delightfully
convoluted backstories.
BY CRISTINA GUSANO
July 6, 2020


Etymology is the study of the origin of words and how the meaning of words has changed over the
course of history. Let’s get meta and take the word “etymology” as an example. “Etymology” derives
from the Greek word etumos, meaning “true.” Etumologia was the study of words’ “true meanings.”
This evolved into “etymology” by way of the Old French ethimologie. That’s all fairly
straightforward, but there are many, many words in the English language that have unexpected and
fascinating origins. Here are a few of our favorite examples.

1. Avocado (Origin: Nahuatl)

The word avocado comes from Spanish aguacate, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl ahuacatl,
meaning testicle. Surprised? Perhaps, but the more one thinks about it, the less surprising it gets —
they do rather resemble a man’s soft spot, and this resemblance becomes even more pronounced when
you see avocado duos dangling clumsily from trees.
Nahuatl is the language of the Aztecs and is still spoken by approximately 1.5 million people native to
Mexico and other parts of Central America. Avocado isn’t the only Nahuatl word that has been
borrowed by the English language; chili, chocolate, tomato and guacamole were also coined by
speakers of Nahuatl. Indeed, the -mole of guacamole is derived from the Nahuatl molli, which means
sauce. It’s a good thing the origin of this word has been obfuscated on its way into the English
language. Otherwise, guacamole (Nahuatl: ahuacamolli) probably wouldn’t be as popular as it is.
2. Cappuccino (Origin: Italian/German)

Next time you’re trying to flirt with someone at your local coffee shop, impress them with this
whimsical anecdote about the origin of the word cappuccino: it’s the diminutive form of the
word cappuccio, which means “hood” in Italian. Wondering what the link is between a (little) hood
and a cappuccino? One must look no further than the Capuchin Monks, whose hooded habits were a
dark, oak brown similar to the color of a good cappuccino.
The first recorded use of the word was in 1790 in Vienna, Austria. Wilhelm Tissot jotted down a
recipe for an exquisite Kapuzinerkaffee (lit. “Capuchin coffee”), which was rather different in
constitution to its modern-day successor, containing sugar, cream and egg yolks. The current,
somewhat simplified recipe now consists of espresso and foamed milk, but there are still parts of
Austria where you can order a good ol’ Kapuziner.

3. Disaster (Origin: Italian/Greek)

The word disaster has been passed around Europe like a hot potato. The English version is most
closely tied to the French désastre, which is derived from the Old Italian disastro, itself derived from
Greek. The pejorative prefix dis- and aster (star) can be interpreted as bad star, or an ill-starred event.
The ancient Greeks were fascinated by astronomy and the cosmos, and believed wholly in the
influence of celestial bodies on terrestrial life. For them, a disaster was a particular kind of calamity,
the causes of which could be attributed to an unfavorable and uncontrollable alignment of planets. It’s
therefore interesting to note that the strict, modern English definition of disaster explicitly stipulates
that a disaster is human-made, or the consequence of human failure.

4. Handicap (Origin: English)

This word originates from the 17th-century English trading game “hand-in-cap.” The game involved
two players and an arbitrator, or umpire. The players would present two possessions they would like
to trade. The umpire would then decide whether the possessions were of equal value or not, and if they
weren’t, would calculate the discrepancy. The owner of the lesser object would make up the difference
with money, and then all three participants would place forfeit money into a hat. If the two players
agreed with the umpire’s valuation, they would remove their hands from the hat with their palm open.
If they disagreed, they would pull out their hands clenched in a fist. If both agreed or disagreed, the
umpire would get the forfeit money, while if one agreed and the other didn’t, the player who approved
the transaction would receive the forfeit money.

Over time, hand-in-cap came to be known as “handicap” and started to be used to refer to any kind of
equalization or balancing of a contest or game. The word handicap is still used in many sports today,
such as golf and horse racing. Indeed, horse racing was probably the first sport to introduce the term in
order to define an umpire’s decision to add more weight to a horse so that it runs equally to its
competitors. This notion of being burdened or put at a disadvantage was carried over to describe
people with a disability in the early 20th century. By the mid-20th century, it was widely used, but it
has since fallen out of the popular lexicon.
5. Jeans (Origin: Italian)

Although jeans are quintessentially American, and their invention is commonly attributed to Jacob W.
Davis and Levi Strauss, the etymology of the popular garment is actually of European origin. The
fabric Strauss used for his patented, mass-produced trousers was first produced in Genoa, Italy and
Nimes, France. Why’s that significant? Well, the French word for Genoa is Gênes, and the name
“jeans” is likely an anglicization of the material’s city of origin. Similarly, the word “denim” most
likely comes from de Nimes, meaning “from Nimes” in French. Although we often talk about denim
jeans nowadays, the two materials actually differed. Denim was coarser, more durable and of higher
quality than the toughened cotton corduroy manufactured in Genoa. Workers in Northern Italy were
sporting jeans as early as the 17th century, long before post-war American subcultures picked up on
them as a fashion accessory.

6. Salary (Origin: Latin)

The word “salary” comes from the Latin salarium, meaning “salt money.”
In ancient times, salt was used for many important things and was often referred to as “white gold.” It
could be used as an antiseptic to treat wounds — In Romance languages one can recognize a
connection between sal/sale, meaning “salt,” and salud/saude/salute, meaning “health”) — and to
preserve food, and also as a method of payment in Greece and Rome.

As far back as the Egyptian Empire, laborers were paid with salt that they could use to preserve their
food. The Roman Empire continued using this form of payment and it took on the name “salary” for
“that which was given to workers at the end of the working month,” which adds a new dimension to
the notion of a company’s solvency.

7. Trivial (Origin: Latin)

“Trivial” originates from the Latin word trivium, which was used to mean “a place where three roads
meet” (tri- meaning “three,” and -vium from via, meaning “road”). A trivium gained the connotation
of being an open, public place — a mini agora — where people from across society’s technicolor
spectrum could relax, chat and simply coexist. The adjective trivialis was a derivative of trivium and
came to mean “vulgar, ordinary, of little importance, common and contemporary,” and the English
adjective trivial carries much of this definition to this day: tired, ordinary, commonplace; of little use,
import, consequence or significance.
8. Whiskey (Origin: Gaelic)

Medieval monks called it aqua vitae, meaning “life water.” The expression was transformed
into uisce beatha when it was transferred to Gaelic. As time passed and the word was
anglicized, uisce evolved into uige, usque, and then uisky, which bears an obvious and close
resemblance to “whiskey.”

You may have noticed that you can spell the drink two different ways — “whiskey” and “whisky.”
Some people believe the extra “e” was added to by Irish and American distilleries to differentiate their
higher quality whiskeys during a period when Scottish whisky had a bad reputation.

Scotch was also introduced to denominate a Scottish whisky, and the word “whiskey” has been
adopted in other countries for quite different reasons. In some South American countries, it’s used as
an alternative to “cheese” to encourage people to smile when being photographed. How and why we
chose “cheese,” and why the South Americans chose “whiskey” (and the Spanish patata, or “potato”)
is a story for another time.
Why Study Etymology?
Etymology not only enhances your understanding of your native language but also gives you insights
into its shared roots with other languages. Prior to reading this article, would you have thought that
every time you say “avocado,” you’re prompting Moctezuma to chuckle in his tomb? Some word
origins are wonderfully idiosyncratic and make for great anecdotes, while others demonstrate common
standards and rules which help you assimilate new words and terms across languages.
Take the simple examples of the Latin prefixes con- (also “com-” in English) and dis-, which are
widely used in Romance languages and indicate “togetherness” and “apartness,” respectively.
Knowing such elements of etymology can vastly improve your guesswork when it comes to
deciphering words, whether it be concatenate (con– and -catenate, from catena, meaning “chain”; a
verb meaning to chain together) or disconsolate (dis- and con– and -solate, from solari, meaning “to
comfort”; an adjective describing someone who can’t be comforted or consoled).

Want to explore further? We encourage you to put on your etymologist’s hat and venture into the
jungle of meaning.
Illustrations by  Raúl Soria