Members Popular Post her_chrissy Posted January 14, 2022 Members Popular Post Report Share Posted January 14, 2022 As an academic, and something of a pedant, I find it useful to understand ideas and concepts by thinking on their roots, their historical foundations. This morning I had an unexpected visit from an older, local gentleman. A hermetic eccentric, traits that I myself have adopted as of late. As I opened the door, his initial words were "you're bereaved", to which I nodded solemnly. We spoke on these words at length, and exchanged wisdoms. Etymologically, "to bereave" is derived from the Old English "bereafian" or the German "berauben", which means "to take away, to despoil, to rob". Each of us has been robbed, I think, some through more violent and traumatic means than others. We've been robbed of our closest friends, of our loves, of our futures, and of a deep and irreplaceable piece of ourselves. But unlike with a common theft or a stolen valuable, there is no justice, no answers, no restitution, and no lasting peace from the invisible hand who has robbed us. We only remain, bereft, clutching the fragments of what we managed to save. Gripping them close, terrified to lose anything, while living with nothing else left to lose. -c 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Michelene Posted January 14, 2022 Members Report Share Posted January 14, 2022 Gripping them close, terrified to lose anything, while living with nothing else left to lose. yes 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kay2021 Posted January 15, 2022 Members Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 "We've been robbed of our closest friends, of our loves, of our futures, and of a deep and irreplaceable piece of ourselves. But unlike with a common theft or a stolen valuable, there is no justice, no answers, no restitution, and no lasting peace from the invisible hand who has robbed us." How true this is. I am bereaved on many levels. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members foreverhis Posted January 15, 2022 Members Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 I'm getting ready for the house and garage to be fumigated, so I may be off the forums for a few days. But I just wanted to say it's nice to "meet" another word/language geek. My John and I used to "read the dictionary for the plot" according to my mother. We'd get out my compact full OED to look up a word and be so enamored of that word and the ones around it that we'd still be there 45 minutes later. He was a CPA and software developer, but his love of language was as strong as mine. We were well matched that way. And now our daughter, a French language major, has ended up as the copywriter for a Flipgrid development team. I guess our love of words rubbed off on her after all because she called the other day and told me that our granddaughter had to come find her when 30 minutes had passed while "Mom, you said you were looking up one word!" I'm a technical writer, editor, and document designer by profession. Etymology is fascinating because it shows us how our languages evolved and thus, how society developed. There's a short exchange in a show (can't remember which off the top of my head) where someone says "That word is made up!" and the other person responds, "All words are made up!" I've always chuckled over that. Thanks for showing us why our modern word "bereave" is so on target to describe grieving for the loves of our lives. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators KayC Posted January 15, 2022 Moderators Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 I love how you express this, you're so right, all of you, it helps to understand the historical value of words, to grasp their full meaning. He got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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