{"id":6171,"date":"2022-12-29T21:22:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T21:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=6171"},"modified":"2022-12-29T21:25:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T21:25:49","slug":"word-of-the-day-turpitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2022\/12\/29\/word-of-the-day-turpitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Turpitude"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s Word of the Day, thanks to the Dictionary Project, is turpitude<\/em>. Turpitude<\/em> is a noun meaning \u201cdepravity; moral corruption; vileness\u201d or more specifically \u201ca depraved act or practice\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionaryproject.org\/<\/a>). According to dictionary.com, the word entered the English language from Latin between 1480 and 1490, borrowed from the Latin \u201cturpit\u016bd\u014d,<\/em>\u00a0equivalent to\u00a0turpi<\/em>(s<\/em>) base, vile +\u00a0-t\u016bd\u014d <\/em>-tude<\/a>.\u201d Etymonline.com adds additional detail: \u201cfrom Old French\u00a0turpitude<\/em>\u00a0(early 15c.), from Latin\u00a0turpitudinem<\/em>\u00a0(nominative\u00a0turpitudo<\/em>) \u2018baseness,\u2019 from\u00a0turpis<\/em>\u00a0\u2018vile, foul, physically ugly, base, unsightly,\u2019 figuratively \u2018morally ugly, scandalous, shameful,\u2019 a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan finds proposed connections to IE words meaning \u2018to turn\u2019 (via the notion of \u2018to turn away\u2019) as \u2018too constructed\u2019 to be credible. Klein suggests perhaps originally \u2018what one turns away from\u2019 (compare Latin\u00a0trepit<\/em>\u00a0\u2018he turns).\u201d It\u2019s interesting that linguists and even grammarians can disagree about things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this date in 1170, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in the cathedral. Becket and the king, Henry II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becket was born in London, specifically in Cheapside, in 1120. According to https:\/\/medievallondon.ace.fordham.edu\/collections\/show\/73, \u201cCheapside . . . was a street and market dating back to the late ninth century. It was one of two great markets that may have been established during Alfred’s reign (871-899).\u201d His father was a well-connected merchant, though not wealthy, and he attended school as a boy. Apparently he was a bright boy. He crossed the channel to study in Paris, and upon his return he became a clerk to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theobald of Bec. Theobald made Becket the Archdeacon, and then, after Henry II was crowned king of England in 1154, Theobald recommended Becket to Henry for the position of Chancellor, a position he held from 1155 to 1162.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Becket and Henry became close, spending time together outside of their official duties. In 1161, Theobald of Bec died, and a year later Becket was appointed Archbishop. Henry seemed to think that having his good friend in both the political position of Chancellor and the chief spiritual position of Archbishop of Canterbury would give Henry more influence over both the state and the church. He expected Becket to hold both positions. But Becket had other ideas\u2014apparently he was more devoted to the Church than Becket thought. He resigned his position as Chancellor against Henry\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the resignation, the relationship between Becket and the king deteriorated, to the point where Becket actually fled England for France, where he lived in exile for about six years, although he maintained his position as Archbishop. But Becket returned to England in the Spring of 1170. And by the end of the year, he was murdered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Frank Barlow, Henry said, \u201cWhat miserable drones and traitors have I nurtured and promoted in my household who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk!\u201d (Thomas Becket<\/em>. California: University of California Press, 1986, p. 235). Other sources claim that he said, \u201cWill no one rid me of this troublesome priest?\u201d Or maybe he said, \u201cturbulent priest,\u201d or \u201cmeddlesome priest.\u201d Whatever he actually said, four knights and a clerk went to Canterbury to arrest him, but he refused to be arrested and fled to the cathedral, thinking that it would provide him sanctuary, but the knights pursued him into the cathedral and murdered him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monks left in the church didn\u2019t really know what to do, so the body stayed where it was bleeding. Some took cloths and dabbed up some of that blood, and others put some of the blood into vials, mixed with water. Later, the bloody cloths and the Becket\u2019s water were credited with healing people. Thereafter, Canterbury became a destination for pilgrims, particularly those looking for healing through Becket\u2019s relics. And Becket was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in record time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geoffrey Chaucer began his Canterbury Tales by describing April in England and pointing out that that is when people go on pilgrimages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimage<\/strong>s,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And palmeres for to seken straunge<\/strong> stronde<\/strong>s,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ferne<\/strong> halwe<\/strong>s, kowthe in sondry londe<\/strong>s;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And specially, from every shire<\/strong>s ende<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of Enge<\/strong>lond, to Caunterbury they wende<\/strong>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hooly blisful martir for to seke<\/strong>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke<\/strong>. (https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poems\/43926\/the-canterbury-tales-general-prologue<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Then people long to go on pilgrimmaes, and palmers seek strange shores, to distant shrines, known in sundry lands, and especially, from every shire\u2019s end in England, to Canterbury they go, the holy blissful martyr for to seek, who has helped them when they were sick.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the murder, Henry II repented pretty extensively for his involvement in the saint\u2019s death, allowing members of the clergy to strike him with a rod. The four knights who murdered Becket were sentenced to fourteen years of military service in the Holy Land, though all four died before their time of service was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, the turpitude of the four knights, and of Henry, and in truth of Becket, who was not without blame in the dispute with the king, led to Becket\u2019s sainthood, to Henry\u2019s penitence, and eventually to one of the great literary works in the English language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image today is a 15th<\/sup> century painting of the murder of Thomas Becket (https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-3604319\/Relic-murdered-archbishop-Thomas-Becket-England-pilgrimage.html<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Word of the Day, thanks to the Dictionary Project, is turpitude. Turpitude is a noun meaning \u201cdepravity; moral corruption; vileness\u201d or more specifically \u201ca depraved act or practice\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionaryproject.org\/). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[425,395,129,424,239],"class_list":["post-6171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-becket","tag-etymology","tag-language","tag-turpitude","tag-words","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6174,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6171\/revisions\/6174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}