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Why Does Written Language Have to Be So Particular? Why Does Written Language Have to Be So Particular?
(about 3 hours later)
After his indictment last week, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social, “These Thugs and Radical Left Monsters have just INDICATED the 45th President of the United States of America.”After his indictment last week, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social, “These Thugs and Radical Left Monsters have just INDICATED the 45th President of the United States of America.”
We know he meant “indicted,” and that the typo is typical of his bed-head version of public language. However, on a certain level, one understands the cause of the slip. The “c” in “indict” is confusing because it’s silent, and there is a semantic overlap between indication and indictment — both are about pointing out, pronouncement. It’s because they began as highly similar Latin words with those meanings: “indict” from “indictare,” and “indicate” from “indicare.”We know he meant “indicted,” and that the typo is typical of his bed-head version of public language. However, on a certain level, one understands the cause of the slip. The “c” in “indict” is confusing because it’s silent, and there is a semantic overlap between indication and indictment — both are about pointing out, pronouncement. It’s because they began as highly similar Latin words with those meanings: “indict” from “indictare,” and “indicate” from “indicare.”
The sire of “indict,” “indictare,” lost its “c” in French, and that’s what Middle English borrowed to create “indite.” We still pronounce it closer to that way, but some underoccupied pedant around 1600 decided that the word needed to salute its history and have the Latin “c” jammed back in. It’s similar to the reason “island” isn’t spelled “iland.”The sire of “indict,” “indictare,” lost its “c” in French, and that’s what Middle English borrowed to create “indite.” We still pronounce it closer to that way, but some underoccupied pedant around 1600 decided that the word needed to salute its history and have the Latin “c” jammed back in. It’s similar to the reason “island” isn’t spelled “iland.”
“Indicate” was borrowed centuries later than “indict,” directly from Latin, complete with that original “c.” Hence, we have variations on, essentially, the same Latin word. And on top of that, the word still exists in English with its original spelling: the word “indite,” which means “to put in writing.” Or at least the dictionary says so.“Indicate” was borrowed centuries later than “indict,” directly from Latin, complete with that original “c.” Hence, we have variations on, essentially, the same Latin word. And on top of that, the word still exists in English with its original spelling: the word “indite,” which means “to put in writing.” Or at least the dictionary says so.
Is all of that mess really necessary? It’s ultimately a symptom of the unnaturalness of writing. Writing rankles me in endless ways despite the fact that my life and livelihoods are couched in it. I haven’t a shred of pity for Trump specifically, but if English were only spoken, the indict/indicate muddle would not have happened.
“Indict,” without its “c” confusing us on the page, would never be confused with “indicate.” Plus, without the permanence of writing to preserve in amber words long lost to living minds, there would be no zombie words like this “indite” word that props up, in fact, the earlier meaning of “indict” from several centuries ago. The dictionary is full of words like this, existing more as puckish abstractions than actual words. They remind me of the 32-inch-waist herringbone pants from the 1980s that I have never been able to bring myself to get rid of, along with my compass and my protractor.