Providence and Provision

Providence and Provision Providence and Provision Providence and Provision By Mark Nichol Providence and provision, and their forebear provide, all ultimately pertain to the notion of foresight. This post discusses these words and others with the same origin. That ancestor word is videre, the Latin verb meaning â€Å"see,† which gave birth to providere (â€Å"see ahead†). Provide’s literal sense extended to the figurative meanings of â€Å"act with foresight† and â€Å"prepare.† The noun form provision, originally used in the context of a church official’s appointment to a position not yet vacant, later also meant simply â€Å"something provided† and came to pertain, in plural form, to food supplies provided for a certain purpose, such as an expedition. (One who provides, meanwhile, is a provider.) Proviso, Latin for â€Å"provided,† refers to an introduction of a contractual condition or stipulation. Purvey, cognate with provide, is not as common as the latter word, but one who provides is sometimes referred to as a purveyor, as in a mercantile context. (The word took that form based on a passage through Old French and Anglo-French.) Purview, meaning â€Å"a range† or â€Å"a limit† or â€Å"the essence of a statute,† entered English by way of Old French and Anglo-French, descended from the same word as purvey. Provedore, likely from an Italian dialect by way of Portuguese and Spanish, is a synonym of purveyor, as is proveditore, which in the Republic of Venice also referred to a government official. Providence, which literally means â€Å"foresight,† had an implication of divine guidance as well as a secular connotation first in Latin and then in Old French as well as in English; in the religious context, the English word is often capitalized. Improvidence is the failure to foresee or prepare; the adjectival forms of the antonyms are provident and improvident. Cognate synonyms are prudence/prudent and imprudence/imprudent (the last word not to be confused with the unrelated word impudent, meaning â€Å"immodest† or â€Å"insolent†), which refer more broadly to discretion, shrewdness, or wisdom or the lack thereof. Improvisation, and the verb improvise, are also descended from providere, in the sense of improvised, or unprepared, behavior being unforeseen. The truncation improv refers to extemporaneous presentation, especially a spontaneous musical performance or a comedy routine, the latter sometimes based on topical prompts from audience members. (Improve and improvement are unrelated.) By extension, to improvise is to do something without forethought, as when reacting to an emergency or another unexpected situation. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Definitely use "the" or "a"Writing the CenturyWords That Begin with Q

Meanings of Tool

Meanings of Tool Meanings of Tool Meanings of Tool By Maeve Maddox A reader wants to know who’s right about the use of the word tool: My brother vehemently asserts that a tractor counts as a tool, since it is an invention that helps someone do something. However, the rest of [my friends and family] maintain that since it is mechanical as opposed to manual, it does not fit the general connotation of a tool. Please help in settling this discussion once and for all. Like many common English words, tool is used with both literal and figurative meanings. Take the word hammer, for example. At the most basic level of meaning, a hammer is an implement for pounding nails or breaking something up. But pianos contain hammers that strike strings without breaking them, to produce sound. King Edward I of England (1239-1307) is known as â€Å"the Hammer of the Scots† because of his military incursions into Scotland, when he did his best â€Å"to hammer† the inhabitants into submission. So is it with tool. The noun tool has been with us since King Alfred’s day, when he used it in his translation of Boethius to refer to one of the necessities of life: â€Å"a tool [to practice] some craft.† Tool derives from an Old Germanic verb that meant â€Å"to prepare† or â€Å"to make.† In his dictionary of 1755, Dr. Johnson (1709-1784) defined tool as â€Å"any instrument of manual operation.† The OED expands on this basic definition: tool noun: a mechanical implement for working upon something, as by cutting, striking, rubbing, or other process, in any manual art or industry; usually, one held in and operated directly by the hand (or fixed in position, as in a lathe), but also including certain simple machines, as the lathe; sometimes extended to simple instruments of other kinds, [like a lens]. By extension, tool can refer to anything that helps a person carry out a job. For example, the tools I use to write these articles about language include a computer, the Google Ngram Viewer, and an assortment of reference books. Shakespeare plays on two meanings of tool in the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet. Sampson and Gregory, characters in the employ of the Capulets, make jokes laced with sexual innuendo. When two men employed by the Montagues enter, Gregory says, â€Å"Draw thy tool! here comes [sic] two of the house of the Montagues.† One meaning of tool common in Shakespeare’s day was â€Å"a weapon of war, especially a sword.† Another meaning for tool that the audience would have been aware of was â€Å"the male generative organ.† In reference to a person, a tool is â€Å"a person used by another for his own ends; one who is, or allows himself to be, made a mere instrument for some purpose†: Making a shocking statement of moral equivalence, Turness  stated  in 2006,  We have to ask ourselves, are we being the tool of terrorists or the tool of the government?    The idiom â€Å"tools of the trade† refers to anything that used in a particular occupation to achieve an intended goal: While the strategic goal of professional  campaigning  remains the same as it ever was- finding enough votes to win an election- the  tools of the trade  have undergone, and continue to undergo, a permanent technological revolution. The expression â€Å"to down tools† means, â€Å"to refuse to work, especially because you are not satisfied with your pay or working conditions,† as in this headline: Clinical interns threaten to down tools over allowances To get back to the question that prompted this post, the reader’s brother is not wrong to refer to a tractor as a tool in the context of something used to perform a task. Here, in an article about missionaries in Belize, the word tool is used with both meanings, â€Å"a handheld implement† and â€Å"a means of getting something done†: Fortunately, Paul  had  shipped his tractor, bush hog, plows, tools and other farming implements to Belize. The tractor has proved to be an invaluable tool, especially with rock removal. Note: Tool has other uses as a verb. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Addressing A Letter to Two PeopleOne Fell SwoopGrammar Review #1: Particles and Phrasal Verbs