{"id":6700,"date":"2024-04-09T22:35:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T22:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=6700"},"modified":"2024-04-09T22:39:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T22:39:32","slug":"word-of-the-day-subterfuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2024\/04\/09\/word-of-the-day-subterfuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Subterfuge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day, courtesy of Dictionary.com, is subterfuge, a noun which means \u201can artifice or expedient used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc.\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/e\/word-of-the-day\/<\/a>). It entered the language in the \u201c1570s, from French subterfuge <\/em>(14c.) or directly from Medieval Latin subterfugium \u2018<\/em>an evasion,\u2019 from Latin subterfugere<\/em> \u2018to evade, escape, flee by stealth,\u2019 from subter \u2018<\/em>beneath, below;\u2019 in compounds \u2018secretly\u2019 (from PIE *sup-ter-<\/em>, comparative form of *(s)up-<\/em>; see sub-<\/strong><\/a>) + fugere \u2018<\/em>flee\u2019 (see fugitive<\/strong><\/a> (adj.)).
\u201cIn English subter-<\/em> sometimes is a word-forming element, \u2018under, below, less than,\u2019 in opposition to super-<\/strong><\/a>. Compare subterfluous \u2018<\/em>running under water\u2019 (1650s); subterconscious <\/em>(adj.), 1856; subternatural <\/em>“subnormal” (1870); subterhuman<\/em> (1833)\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=subterfuge<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did not know that subter<\/em>– was a regular word-forming element in English, other than in subterfuge<\/em>. So I went to the OED app on my phone to look it up. The only other words I found that began with subter <\/em>were subterranean<\/em> and subterminal<\/em>. The first is made up of the prefix sub<\/em>– and the root terra<\/em>. The second word, which means \u201coccurring near but not at the end,\u201d is made up of sub<\/em>– and terminus<\/em>. So subterfuge<\/em> is the only current word that uses this comparative form of sub<\/em>. A comparative form is usually associated with the ideas of more or less, \u201cmore under\u201d or \u201cless under,\u201d in this case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have noticed that the etymology says that subter<\/em> is from a comparative form of \u201c(s<\/em>)up<\/em>-\u201c (ibid.). The PIE prefix is actually \u201c*upo<\/em>.\u201d Here is the entry: \u201cProto-Indo-European root meaning \u2018under,\u2019 also \u2018up from under,\u2019 hence \u2018over.\u2019
\u201cIt forms all or part of: above; assume; Aufklarung; eave; eavesdropper; hyphen; hypo-; hypochondria; hypocrisy; hypotenuse; hypothalamus; hypothesis; hypsi-; hypso-; opal; open; oft; often; resuscitate; somber; souffle; source; soutane; souvenir; sub-; subject; sublime; subpoena; substance; subterfuge; subtle; suburb; succeed; succinct; succor; succubus; succumb; sudden; suffer; sufficient; suffix; suffrage; suggestion; summon; supine; supple; supply; support; suppose; surge; suspect; suspend; sustain; up; up-; Upanishad; uproar; valet; varlet; vassal<\/em>.
\u201cIt is the hypothetical source of\/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit upa<\/em> \u2018near, under, up to, on,\u2019 Greek hypo<\/em> \u2018under,\u2019 Latin sub<\/em> \u2018under, below,\u2019 Gothic iup<\/em>, Old Norse, Old English upp<\/em> \u2018up, upward,\u2019 Hittite up-zi<\/em> \u2018rises\u2019\u201d (ibid.). For instance, hypothesis<\/em> originally meant an assumption that was the foundation of further study, an underlying thesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned about Robert Toombs when I lived, very briefly, in Washington, GA, working for the Royal Manufacturing Company. I learned a little more about him when I was in grad school at UGA. He was not, to me, a hero, though some people I knew thought he was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toombs\u2019s fame at UGA had to do with his being a ne\u2019er-do-well as well as his natural talent. Toombs was admitted to Franklin College when he was 14, but he was expelled for \u201cunbecoming conduct in a card-playing incident\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Robert_Toombs<\/a>). The story goes that \u201cToombs returned on the next commencement day after he was expelled and spoke so eloquently under the tree that the entire audience left the chapel to hear him. Later, it was said, that the tree was struck by lightning on the day Toombs died and never recovered. The tree finally collapsed in 1908 and the remains were cut into mementos that have since been handed down by alumni\u201d (https:\/\/www.georgiahistory.com\/ghmi_marker_updated\/robert-toombs-oak\/<\/a>). I do not know whether that story is true, but the stump of the Toombs oak tree stood outside the north campus chapel and the Hall of the Demosthenian Literary Society when I was a student there. Like Toombs, I was a Demosthenian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Toombs became a Confederate, even the Vice President of the CSA during the Civil War. As the South was losing, the Union soldiers were tasked with apprehending the leading confederate. They arrested Jefferson Davis. They sent a group of soldiers to Robert Toombs\u2019s home in Washington, one of those beautiful ante-bellum homes with the pillars in front. As a side note, it survived the war and probably still stands because Sherman didn\u2019t bother with Washington, GA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the soldiers arrived at Toombs\u2019s home, he was upstairs. His wife invited them in and, being a good Southern hostess, she asked them if they would like tea, an offer which they accepted. While she entertained her husband\u2019s would-be captors, he jumped from the read balcony onto his horse and fled to New Orleans and finally to France. He returned to Georgia two years later. He never asked for nor received a pardon from the Union, but he did re-establish his law practice and became influential in Georgia politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t have much respect for Robert Tooms, but his wife, Martha Juliann (“Julia”) nee DuBose (1813-1883) pulled off a marvelous piece of subterfuge to save her husband, no matter how bad a scoundrel he was. She also returned to Georgia to care for her grandchildren after her last child died in 1866.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s image is of Robert Toombs\u2019s home in Washington, Georgia, a photo taken and posted by Bruce Tuten (https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/savannahgrandfather\/9216003260<\/a>). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s word of the day, courtesy of Dictionary.com, is subterfuge, a noun which means \u201can artifice or expedient used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc.\u201d (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/e\/word-of-the-day\/). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[238,395,284,665,664],"class_list":["post-6700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-dictionary","tag-etymology","tag-linguistics","tag-robert-toombs","tag-subterfuge","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700","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=6700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6703,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6700\/revisions\/6703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}