Monday, April 4, 2022

Etymology of Abundance

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I came that [the sheep] might have life and have it abundantly. John 10.9-10

To live abundantly:

Is it ab-, "away," as in abnormal,
with unda, as in undulation, wave,
a once-in-a-lifetime tsunami,
overflowing shorelines, fences, streets,
obliterating boundaries

creating wilderness
as in, the Shepherd's forty days
a-, "not" bound to family, synagogue, carpentry,
when he refused both wealth and power.
He gathered a flock to heal the world
without a cent, a change of clothes, or plan.

Or can it mean "jump,"
with a- for "at" as in aloud, astir,
my dog sends squirrels abounding to trees,
rounding her backyard boundaries.
She then bounds up the stairs to me,
undulating tongue to tail.

Surely "dance" is in the answer
as in this grateful abundancer.

Image by Susan Rouse.

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When a seventh grader asked why we spent so much time on vocabulary in a class called 'Literature,' I answered that almost every substantial word is a short poem, rooted in an image or a metaphor.

Sometimes, my own theories for words' origins are better than what the dictionary tells me, so this may be the first in a series of etymythologies. - WSS

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