{"id":6605,"date":"2024-03-14T18:32:08","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T18:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=6605"},"modified":"2024-03-15T00:19:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T00:19:17","slug":"word-of-the-day-emulate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2024\/03\/14\/word-of-the-day-emulate\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Emulate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster, is emulate<\/em>. Emulate means \u201cto try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass\u201d or \u201cto rival with some degree of success.\u201d It can also mean \u201cto imitate (a particular computer system) by using a software system, often including a microprogram or another computer that enables it to do the same work, run the same programs, etc., as the first\u201d or \u201co replace (software) with hardware to perform the same task,\u201d but both of those definitions are specific to computer technology (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/emulate<\/a>). Merriam-Webster says, \u201cIf you emulate someone or something, you try to be like that person or thing. The word is used especially when one is trying to equal or surpass someone in accomplishment or achievement\u201d (https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/word-of-the-day<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merriam-Webster says further, \u201cThey say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but we\u2019ll posit that emulation is even more so. What\u2019s the difference between imitating and emulating? Sometimes not a thing: emulate<\/em> can be used as a synonym of imitate<\/em>, as in \u2018a painter who emulates her teacher\u2019s style.\u2019 But more often, emulate<\/em> is about trying to equal or surpass someone you admire by striving to master what they\u2019ve accomplished. The word was adopted in the late 16th century from a form of the Latin word aemul\u0101r\u012b<\/em>, meaning \u2018to vie with; to rival; to imitate.\u2019 Imitate<\/em> was adopted about fifty years earlier from a form of the Latin word imit\u0101r\u012b<\/em>, meaning \u2018to follow as a pattern; to copy.\u2019 Emulate emulated its success\u201d (ibid.). And that is clever, except that emulate is something a person does for a reason, trying to accomplish something. Words have no will of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word entered the language in the \u201c1580s, a back-formation from emulation<\/a><\/em>, or else from Latin aemulatus<\/em>, past participle of aemulari<\/em> \u2018to rival\u2019\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=emulate<\/a>). So perhaps it came into English from Latin, but it\u2019s more likely that it is a backformation. A backformation, in linguistics, occurs when a word like emulation<\/em> caused somebody to think, \u201cOh, that must be from the verb emulate<\/em>, right?\u201d when in reality the noun came into the language without its supposed predecessor verb. And in this case, emulation<\/em> entered the language in the \u201c1550s, from French \u00e9mulation<\/em> (13c.) and directly from Latin aemulationem<\/em> (nominative aemulatio<\/em>) \u2018rivalry, emulation, competition,\u2019 noun of action from past-participle stem of aemulari<\/em> \u2018to rival, strive to excel,\u2019 from aemulus<\/em> \u2018striving, rivaling\u2019 (also as a noun, \u2018a rival,\u2019 fem. aemula<\/em>), from Proto-Italic *aimo<\/em>-, from PIE *aim-olo<\/em>, suffixed form of root *aim<\/em>– \u2018copy\u2019 (from PIE root *aim-<\/a> \u2018to copy\u2019) (ibid.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be wondering, why have so many words come into the language through French. The answer is a number: 1066. That is the year that the Normans conquered England. The Normans spoke French, or what we call Norman French. The real French, those living in Paris, looked down on the Norman French speakers, kind of the way Brits who speak RP (Received Pronunciation\u2014the highbrow speech of England) look down on those who speak Cockney. Norman French is a dialect of Old French that was spoken by Norsemen from Scandinavia who settled in what is called Normandy, and these Normans incorporated a handful of linguistic characteristics from their Norse language. Anyway, after 1066, when William the Conqueror, a Norman, conquered the Anglo-Saxons, French became the language of the aristocracy, at least until it blended with Old English to form Middle English. And Middle English became Early Modern English, which became Contemporary English (or Englishes, as some people say).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to March 14th<\/sup> (3\/14) being \u201cpi day\u201d in America, it is also the birthday of Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Einstein was, of course, the prototypical scientific genius of the 20th<\/sup> century. We all know, I hope, about his discovery of relativity, and his famous equation, E=mc2<\/sup>. You may also know that he was born in Germany, in the Kingdom of W\u00fcrttemberg, in the city of Ulm. In 1895, he moved to Switzerland to continue his education, and while there, he renounced his German citizenship so that he would not be drafted into the military. The Swiss did not conscript him for health reasons. He became a Swiss citizen in 1901.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He \u201cgraduated from the federal polytechnic school in 1900, duly certified as competent to teach mathematics and physics\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albert_Einstein<\/a>). But he couldn\u2019t get a job. Within five years, Einstein would be publishing some of the most important work in physics, in science! But he couldn\u2019t get a job teaching in a Swiss school. He applied for teaching jobs for two years, and he couldn\u2019t land a teaching job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did get a job with the Swiss Patent Office, where he worked for roughly seven years. It was during this time, in 1905, that he completed his doctorate and began to publish papers. In 1905, Einstein had his own annus mirabilis<\/em> (\u201cwonderful year\u201d or \u201cyear of wonders\u201d; there have been a number of these throughout history, most notably 1666, the year that Isaac Newton \u201cmade revolutionary inventions and discoveries in calculus, motion, optics and gravitation\u201d [https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Annus_mirabilis]), during which he published papers on \u201cthe photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, his special theory of relativity and the equivalence of mass and energy\u201d as well as completing his dissertation on molecular dimensions (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albert_Einstein<\/a>). He became famous after that year, though he continued working at the Patent Office. Eventually he became a professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While visiting the United States, and undertaking a visiting professorship at the California Institute of Technology in 1933, Einstein realized that he couldn\u2019t go back to Germany. The Nazis had seized power, and Einstein was Jewish. In Germany, his books were burned. And he was instrumental in helping the United States get the world\u2019s first atomic bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also was married twice: the first ended in divorce in 1919, and the second ended with the death of his wife in 1936. Along the way he had other relationships, which I have to say, really surprised me. When I think of Einstein, I picture him when he was old, with the wild, white hair. But he started with women when he was pretty young, and he didn\u2019t stop. He may have even had a brief affair with a Russian spy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suppose that, were I science oriented, I would have wanted to emulate Einstein, except for the affairs with married women and spies. Still, even with his flaws, he was a remarkable man.\\<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s image is a photo of Einstein from the early 1900s, posted on Flickr by huanjo, who said, \u201cEinstein thought out his theory of relativity around this age.\u201d But is he a ladies\u2019 man?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s word of the day, thanks to Merriam-Webster, is emulate. Emulate means \u201cto try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass\u201d or \u201cto rival with some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[238,613,612,395,284],"class_list":["post-6605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-dictionary","tag-einstein","tag-emulate","tag-etymology","tag-linguistics","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6605","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=6605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6608,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6605\/revisions\/6608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}