We find a joke funny. We find a concept compelling.

Sometimes, things are lost on us.

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People laugh along with jokes they don’t get.

They know the definition of each word. They comprehend the sentences. Yet, they don’t get “it”.

Sometimes a person will explain her understanding of a joke, and you’re left wondering whether she’s ever experienced humor. If you explain what is funny about the joke, she might memorize and repeat your explanation without ever finding the joke funny.

She might be blind to the possibility that a joke is more than a social ritual. Laughing in the right place means one belongs.

If you’ve never gotten a joke, you cannot know what it is to have missed one.

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People nod along with concepts they don’t get.

They know the definition of each word. They comprehend the sentences. Yet, they don’t get it.

Concepts are not thoughts, but something behind a thought that is “gotten” or “missed”.

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If humor were as rare as love of concepts, people would openly sneer at comedy and call it “bullshit”. They’d call jokes pure fiction, and they would be mostly right.

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It is perfectly possible to memorize and flawlessly reproduce dance steps but never dance. But when we dance we naturally perform the steps. Or rather, the dance itself dances the steps through us.

One can work out flawless systems without the guidance of an overarching concept. But working by concept naturally (eventually) produces systems. Or rather, the concept itself unfolds as a system through us.

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Some people are so good at imitating the real thing that rationality cannot discern the difference, even if intuition can. But intuition cannot argue. It can only show.

Jokes, philosophies, designs, dances, songs, tastes, conversations… wherever there is letter and spirit, there will be those who know and those arguing that there is nothing to know but what is arguable.

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A tough room makes even the best comedian doubt his powers.

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Some related etymologies:

Conceive, concept, conception: ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French concevoir, from Latin concipere, from com– ‘together’ + capere ‘take.’

Receive, receptive, reception: ORIGIN Middle English : from Anglo-Norman French receivre, based on Latin recipere, from re- ‘back’ + capere ‘take.’

Perceive, perceptive, perception: ORIGIN Middle English : from a variant of Old French perçoivre, from Latin percipere ‘seize, understand,’ from per- ‘entirely’ + capere ‘take.’

Synthesis, synthesize: ORIGIN early 17th cent.: via Latin from Greek sunthesis, from sun- ‘together’ + tithenai ‘to place.’

Antithesis, antithetical: ORIGIN late Middle English: from late Latin, from Greek antitithenai ‘set against,’ from anti ‘against’ + tithenai ‘to place.’

Accord, concord, discord all share the same root: cord– ‘heart.’ Concord means “together-heart”.

Magnanimous come from magnus ‘great’ + animus ‘soul’.

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I indexed on my wiki a long string of passages on the sublimation of personality in art. In art (and philosophy is a species of art) an author’s soul makes itself representative of something greater and more universal than the biography of a single individual. It becomes common property, something others can inhabit, see from, participate in, live out.

“The name on the title-page. — That the name of the author should be inscribed on the book is now customary and almost a duty; yet it is one of the main reasons books produce so little effect. For if they are good, then, as the quintessence of the personality of their authors, they are worth more than these; but as soon as the author announces himself on the title-page, the reader at once dilutes the quintessence again with the personality, indeed with what is most personal, and thus thwarts the object of the book. It is the intellect’s ambition to seem no longer to belong to an individual.”

Another:

The book becomes almost human. — Every writer is surprised anew when a book, as soon as it has separated from him, begins to take on a life of its own. He feels as if one part of an insect had been severed and were going its own way. Perhaps he almost forgets the book; perhaps he rises above the views set down in it; perhaps he no longer understands it and has lost those wings on which he soared when he devised that book. Meanwhile, it goes about finding its readers, kindles life, pleases, horrifies, fathers new works, becomes the soul of others’ resolutions and behavior — in short, it lives like a being fitted out with mind and soul and yet it is nevertheless not human. — The most fortunate author is one who is able to say as an old man that all he had of life-giving, invigorating, uplifting, enlightening thoughts and feelings still lives on in his writings, and that he himself is only the gray ash, while the fire has been rescued and carried forth everywhere. — If one considers, then, that a man’s every action, not only his books, in some way becomes the occasion for other actions, decisions, and thoughts; that everything which is happening is inextricably tied to everything which will happen; then one understands the real immortality, that of movement: what once has moved others is like an insect in amber, enclosed and immortalized in the general intertwining of all that exists.

Experience – ORIGIN late Middle English : via Old French from Latin experientia, from experiri ‘try.’ Compare with experiment and expert.

Empirical – ORIGIN late Middle English : via Latin from Greek empeirikos, from empeiria ‘experience,’ from empeiros ‘skilled’ (based on peira ‘trial, experiment’ ).

Pirate – ORIGIN Middle English : from Latin pirata, from Greek peirates, from peirein ‘to attempt, attack’ (from peira ‘an attempt’).

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“A new species of philosophers is coming up: I venture to baptize them with a name that is not free of danger. As I unriddle them, insofar as they allow themselves to be unriddled — for it belongs to their nature to want to remain riddles at some point — , these philosophers of the future may have a right, it might also be a wrong, to be called experimenters [Versucher, i.e. attempters]. This name itself is in the end a mere attempt [Versuch] and, if you will, a temptation [Versuchung].” — Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Economy – ORIGIN late 15th cent. in the sense of management of material resources: from French économie, or via Latin from Greek oikonomia ‘household management,’ based on oikos ‘house’ + nemein ‘manage.’ Current senses date from the 17th cent.

Ecology – ORIGIN late 19th cent. (originally as oecology): from Greek oikos ‘house’ + –logy.

Atom – ORIGIN late 15th cent.: from Old French atome, via Latin from Greek atomos ‘indivisible,’ based on a– ‘not’ + temnein ‘to cut.’

Individual – ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense of indivisible): from medieval Latin individualis, from Latin individuus, from in– ‘not’ + dividuus ‘divisible’ (from dividere ‘to divide’ ).

We each have a pair of eyes which look out onto the world from slightly different angles. Because of the ordered similarity and difference between the two views the world gains stereoscopic depth.

Likewise, our two ears hear a similar sonic world, but each ear hears some sounds a little louder and some sounds a little softer. Because of the ordered similarity and difference between the two views the world gains stereosonic depth.

The stereosonic depth and the stereoscopic depth are perceived separately but can also be related (to use the word incorrectly) synesthetically to create an abstract depth. (Or is it this abstract depth that gives meaning to stereoscopic/stereophonic depth?)

The abstract depth is confirmed (or established) in our experiences, which are always twofold: reflection on the past related to our ongoing anticipations of the future. Without this play of future and past (which constitutes our present) time would not be time to us. It is hard to imagine that we would be ourselves anymore. I imagine we would be like Edwin Muir’s animals.

They do not live in the world,
Are not in time and space.
From birth to death hurled
No word do they have, not one
To plant a foot upon,
Were never in any place.

For with names the world was called
Out of the empty air,
With names was built and walled,
Line and circle and square,
Dust and emerald;
Snatched from deceiving death
By the articulate breath.

But these have never trod
Twice the familiar track,
Never never turned back
Into the memoried day.
All is new and near
In the unchanging Here
Of the fifth great day of God,
That shall remain the same,
Never shall pass away.

On the sixth day we came.

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On the sixth day we came… We who speak to one another as a fellow I, as a thou. Together we call the world out of empty air.

We who, like pairs of eyes or ears, like the past and the future, bring together in language a stereo-ontic sense of the world, and bring out another divine dimension: the subject.

Without We, I am negativity, a nothing, a void, a dreamed thing populated with images.

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Like two hands of a common body touching in gassho, two people speaking a common language meet in respect and transcend the illusion of the ultimacy of the ego. We say Namaste or Shalom to someone who hears our voice in world and understands. In dialogue we are changed and renewed and finally understand that in authentic we – dialogical we – none of us can believe he is alone.

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Namaste/shalom/thou is said dialogically, or nothing is said in the word. It is just idle repetition of a word. All dialogue is practical namaste/shalom/thou. Dialogue is the opposite of idle repetition of words.

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Some of us want to be left alone, except we don’t realize the extent to which we are sustained by togetherness.

The most antisocial man breaks down in solitary confinement almost immediately. The most antisocial thinker must necessarily go insane. He uses the same words, but cannot communicate. Nobody can save him.

Dialogue is what stabilizes our world and makes the primordial chaos of the phenomenal flux solid and real.

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Take note those times when you speak to your friend and lose yourself in conversation; when you are absorbed in your work and forget yourself; when in collaboration nobody knows who thought of what and everybody knows that what the group produced was impossible for any of the individuals; when you speak to someone and only that someone and what is being said is revealed you you as you hear it…

Take note of how you feel afterwards.

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If you can never lose yourself, you can never find yourself.

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Stereo – ORIGIN from Greek stereos ‘solid.’

Parallax – ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French parallaxe, from Greek parallaxis ‘a change,’ from parallassein ‘to alternate,’ based on allassein ‘to exchange’ (from allos ‘other’ ).

Dialogue –  ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French dialoge, via Latin from Greek dialogos, from dialegesthai ‘converse with,’ from dia ‘through’ + legein ‘speak.’

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Love and duality. – What is love but understanding and rejoicing at the fact that another lives, feels and acts in a way different from and opposite to ours? If love is to bridge these antitheses through joy it may not deny or seek to abolish them. – Even self-love presupposes an unblendable duality (or multiplicity) in one person. – Nietzsche

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When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” – Matthew 22:34

Dialogue – ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French dialoge, via Latin from Greek dialogos, from dialegesthai ‘converse with,’ from dia ‘through, across’ + legein ‘speak.’

Dialectic – ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French dialectique or Latin dialectica, from Greek dialektike (tekhne) ‘(art) of debate,’ from dialegesthai ‘converse with’. [NOTE: dialogical techne?]

Transcend – ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French transcendre or Latin transcendere, from trans– ‘across’ + scandere ‘climb.’

There’s considerable overlap with similar etymological posts, but I like to place the words together so I can take them together and see them as a whole.

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Design – Late Middle English (as a verb in the sense of to designate): from Latin designare ‘to designate’ (based on signum ‘a mark’), reinforced by French designer. The noun is via French from Italian.

Concept – Mid 16th cent.(in the sense of thought, frame of mind, imagination): from Latin conceptum ‘something conceived,’ from concept– ‘conceived,’ from concipere (see conceive ).

• Conceive – Middle English : from Old French concevoir, from Latin concipere, from com– ‘together’ + capere ‘take.’
• Comprehend –Middle English : from Old French comprehender, or Latin comprehendere, from com– ‘together’ + prehendere ‘grasp.’
  • Prehensile (capable of grasping, chiefly of an animal’s limb or tail) – From French prehensile, from Latin prehens– ‘grasped,’ from the verb prehendere, from prae ‘before’ + hendere ‘to grasp.’

Synthesis – Early 17th cent.: via Latin from Greek sunthesis, from suntithenai ‘place together,’ from sun– ‘with’ + tithenai ‘to place.’

• Thesis – Late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek, literally ‘placing, a proposition,’ from the root of tithenai ‘to place.’
• Antithesis – Middle English (originally denoting the substitution of one grammatical case for another): from late Latin, from Greek antitithenai ‘set against,’ from anti ‘against’ + tithenai ‘to place.’ The earliest current sense, denoting a rhetorical or literary device, dates from the early 16th cent.

Analysis –  Late 16th cent.: via medieval Latin from Greek analusis, from analuein ‘unloose,’ from ana- ‘up’ + luein ‘loosen.’ (antonym: ‘uptight’)

• Paralysis – Late Old English , via Latin from Greek paralusis, from paraluesthai ‘be disabled at the side,’ from para ‘beside’ + luein ‘loosen.’
• Decision – Late Middle English (in the sense of bring to a settlement): from French decider, from Latin decidere ‘determine,’ from de– ‘off’ + caedere ‘cut.’
• Precision – Mid 18th cent.: from French precision or Latin praecisio(n-), from praecidere ‘cut off,’ from prae ‘before’ + caedere ‘cut.’

System – Early 17th cent.: from French systeme or late Latin systema, from Greek sustema, from sun– ‘with’ + histanai ‘set up.’

Pattern – Middle English patron, as in something serving as a model, from Latin patronus ‘protector of clients, defender,’ from pater, patr– ‘father.’ . The change in sense is from the idea of a patron giving an example to be copied. By 1700 patron ceased to be used of things, and the two forms became differentiated in sense.

• Matrix – Late Middle English (in the sense of womb): from Latin, ‘breeding female,’ later ‘womb,’ from mater, matr– ‘mother.’
• Matter – Middle English : via Old French from Latin materia ‘timber, substance,’ also ‘subject of discourse,’ from mater ‘mother.’

Metaphor – Late 15th cent.: from French metaphore, via Latin from Greek metaphora, from metapherein ‘to transfer,’ from meta– ‘over, across’ + pherein ‘to carry, bear.’

Analogy – Late Middle English (in the sense of appropriateness, correspondence] ): from French analogie, Latin analogia ‘proportion,’ from Greek, from analogos ‘proportionate,’ from ana– ‘up’ + logos– ‘word, reason.’

Paradigm – Late 15th cent.: via late Latin from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknunai ‘show side by side,’ from para– ‘beside’ + deiknunai ‘to show.’

• Anomaly – Mid 17th cent.: via late Latin from Greek anomalos (from an– ‘not’ + homalos ‘even’)
  • Anomie – 1930s: from French, from Greek anomia, from anomos ‘lawless.’
  • Antinomian – Mid 17th cent.: from medieval Latin Antinomi, the name of a 16th-cent. sect in Germany alleged to hold this view, from Greek anti– ‘opposite, against’ + nomos ‘law.’
  • Nominal – Late 15th cent. (as a term in grammar): from Latin nominalis, from nomen, nomin– ‘name.’
  • Denomination – From Latin verb denominare, from de– ‘away, formally’ + nominare ‘to name’ (from nomen, nomin– ‘name’ ).

Model – Late 16th cent.(denoting a set of plans of a building): from French modelle, from Italian modello, from an alteration of Latin modulus (from Latin, literally ‘measure,’ diminutive of modus.).

• Mode –  Late Middle English (in the musical and grammatical senses): from Latin modus ‘measure,’ from an Indo-European root shared by mete; compare with mood.
• Mood – Old English mod (also in the senses of mind and fierce courage), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch moed and German Mut.

Represent – Late Middle English : from Old French representer or Latin repraesentare, from re– (expressing intensive force) + praesentare ‘to present.’

• Present (verb) – Middle English : from Old French presenter, from Latin praesentare ‘place before’ (in medieval Latin ‘present as a gift’ ), from praesent– ‘being at hand’.
• Present (noun, in the sense of in this time or at this place) – Middle English : via Old French from Latin praesent- ‘being at hand,’ present participle of praeesse, from prae ‘before’ + esse ‘be.’
• Interest – Late Middle English (originally as interess): from Anglo-Norman French interesse, from Latin interesse ‘differ, be important,’ from inter– ‘between’ + esse ‘be.’ The -t was added partly by association with Old French interest ‘damage, loss,’ apparently from Latin interest ‘it is important.’

Style – Middle English (denoting a stylus (an ancient writing implement, consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on wax-covered tablets, and a blunt end for obliterating them), also a literary composition, an official title, or a characteristic manner of literary expression): from Old French stile, from Latin stilus.

Gestalt – 1920s: from German Gestalt, literally ‘form, shape.’

Grok (understand intuitively or by empathy, or to establish a rapport.) – mid 20th cent.: a word coined by Robert Heinlein (1907–88), American science fiction writer, in Stranger in a Strange Land.

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Use / Useful / Usable – Middle English : the noun from Old French us, from Latin usus, from uti ‘to use’ ; the verb from Old French user, based on Latin uti.

Desire – Middle English : from Old French desir (noun), desirer (verb), from Latin desiderare (see desiderate).

• Desiderate – Mid 17th cent.: from Latin desiderat– ‘desired,’ from the verb desiderare, perhaps from de– ‘down’ + sidus, sider– ‘star.’ Compare with consider.  (NOTE from anomaloge: shouldn’t we also compare with ‘president’?)
  • Consider – Late Middle English : from Old French considerer, from Latin considerare ‘examine,’ perhaps from com– ‘together’ + sidus, sider– ‘star.’
  • President – Early 17th cent.: from French presider, from Latin praesidere, from prae ‘before’ + sedere ‘sit.’
  • Decider – Late Middle English (in the sense of bring to a settlement): from French decider, from Latin decidere ‘determine,’ from de– ‘off’ + caedere ‘cut.’

Consultants are notorious abusers of words, constantly verbing nouns, nouning verbs, gluing together superficial chunks of words into ugly-sounding lumps with confused meaning, mystifying the obvious. I hope the following etymologies somehow make it all worse by showing how the disgusting word-abuse at the heart of consulting goes back to the dawn of language.

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Practice – Late Middle English : the verb from Old French practiser or medieval Latin practizare, alteration of practicare ‘perform, carry out,’ from practica ‘practice,’ from Greek praktike, feminine (used as a noun) of praktikos (see practical ); the noun from the verb in the earlier spelling practise, on the pattern of pairs such as advise, advice.

Praxis – Late 16th cent.: via medieval Latin from Greek, literally ‘doing,’ from prattein ‘do.’

Pragmatic – Late 16th cent.(in the senses of busy, interfering, conceited): via Latin from Greek pragmatikos ‘relating to fact,’ from pragma ‘deed’ (from the stem of prattein ‘do’ ). The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.

Method – Late Middle English (in the sense of prescribed medical treatment for a disease): via Latin from Greek methodos ‘pursuit of knowledge,’ from meta– (‘with, across, or after,’ expressing development) + hodos ‘way.’

Technique – Early 17th cent.(as an adjective in the sense of to do with art or an art): from Latin technicus, from Greek tekhnikos, from tekhne ‘art.’ The noun dates from the 19th cent.

Process / procedure – Middle English : from Old French proces, from Latin processus ‘progression, course,’ from the verb procedere, from pro– ‘forward’ + cedere ‘go.’ . Current senses of the verb date from the late 19th cent.

Approach – Middle English : from Old French aprochier, aprocher, from ecclesiastical Latin appropiare ‘draw near,’ from ad– ‘to’ + propius (comparative of prope ‘near’ ).

Strategy – Early 19th cent.: from French strategie, from Greek strategia ‘generalship,’ from strategos, from stratos ‘army’ + agein ‘to lead.’

Way – Old English weg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch weg and German Weg, from a base meaning of move, carry.

Style – Middle English (denoting a stylus (an ancient writing implement, consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters on wax-covered tablets, and a blunt end for obliterating them), also a literary composition, an official title, or a characteristic manner of literary expression): from Old French stile, from Latin stilus.

Design – Late Middle English (as a verb in the sense of to designate): from Latin designare ‘to designate’ (based on signum ‘a mark’), reinforced by French designer. The noun is via French from Italian.

System – Early 17th cent.: from French systeme or late Latin systema, from Greek sustema, from sun– ‘with’ + histanai ‘set up.’

Pattern – Middle English patron, as in something serving as a model, from Latin patronus ‘protector of clients, defender,’ from pater, patr– ‘father.’ . The change in sense is from the idea of a patron giving an example to be copied. By 1700 patron ceased to be used of things, and the two forms became differentiated in sense.

Matter – Middle English : via Old French from Latin materia ‘timber, substance,’ also ‘subject of discourse,’ from mater ‘mother.’

Consult – Early 16th cent. (in the sense of deliberate together, confer): from French consulter, from Latin consultare, frequentative of consulere ‘take counsel.’ (NOTE: I’d have thought: Not con– ‘together’ + + saltare, from salire ‘to leap.’ However, see counsel, below)

• Insult – Mid 16th cent. (as a verb in the sense of exult, act arrogantly): from Latin insultare ‘jump or trample on,’ from in– ‘on’ + saltare, from salire ‘to leap.’ The noun (in the early 17th cent. denoting an attack) is from French insulte or ecclesiastical Latin insultus. The main current senses date from the 17th century.
• Somersault – Mid 16th cent.(as a noun): from Old French sombresault, from Provencal sobresaut, from sobre ‘above’ + saut ‘leap.’
• Counsel – Middle English : via Old French counseil (noun), conseiller (verb), from Latin consilium ‘consultation, advice,’ related to consulere.
• Conference – Late Middle English (in the general sense of bring together): from Latin conferre, from con– ‘together’ + ferre ‘bring.’
• Converse – Late Middle English (in the sense of live among, be familiar with): from Old French converser, from Latin conversari ‘keep company (with),’ from con– ‘with’ + versare, frequentative of vertere ‘to turn.’ The current sense of the verb dates from the early 17th cent.

Perspective –  Late Middle English in the sense ‘optics’: from medieval Latin perspectiva (ars) ‘science of optics,’ from perspect– ‘looked at closely,’ from the verb perspicere, from per– ‘through’ + specere ‘to look.’Perceive – Middle English : from a variant of Old French perçoivre, from Latin percipere ‘seize, understand,’ from per– ‘entirely’ + capere ‘take.’

Conceive / concept – Middle English : from Old French concevoir, from Latin concipere, from com– ‘together’ + capere ‘take.’

Participate – Early 16th cent.: from Latin participat– ‘shared in,’ from the verb participare, based on pars, part– ‘part’ + capere ‘take.’

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Whole – Old English hal, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch heel and German heil, also to hail. The spelling with wh- (reflecting a dialect pronunciation with w-) first appeared in the 15th cent.

Holism – 1920s: from holo- [whole] + –ism ; coined by J. C. Smuts to designate the tendency in nature to produce organized “wholes” (bodies or organisms) from the ordered grouping of units.

Organize – Late Middle English : from medieval Latin organizare, from Latin organum ‘instrument, tool’ (see organ ).

System – Early 17th cent.: from French système or late Latin systema, from Greek sustema, from sun– ‘with’ + histanai ‘set up.’

Synthesis – Early 17th cent.: via Latin from Greek sunthesis, from suntithenai ‘place together.’

Synopsis –  Early 17th cent.: via late Latin from Greek, from sun– ‘together’ + opsis ‘seeing.’

Articulate – Mid 16th cent.: from Latin articulatus, past participle of articulare ‘divide into joints, utter distinctly,’ from articulus ‘small connecting part’.

Article – Middle English (denoting a separate clause of the Apostles’ Creed): from Old French, from Latin articulus ‘small connecting part,’ diminutive of artus ‘joint.’

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Object – Late Middle English : from medieval Latin objectum ‘thing presented to the mind,’ neuter past participle (used as a noun) of Latin obicere, from ob– ‘in the way of’ + jacere ‘to throw’ ; the verb may also partly represent the Latin frequentative objectare.

Subject – Middle English (in the sense of (person) owing obedience): from Old French suget, from Latin subjectus ‘brought under,’ past participle of subicere, from sub– ‘under’ + jacere ‘throw.’ Senses relating to philosophy, logic, and grammar are derived ultimately from Aristotle’s use of to hupokeimenon meaning material from which things are made and subject of attributes and predicates.

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Individual – Late Middle English (in the sense of indivisible): from medieval Latin individualis, from Latin individuus, from in– ‘not’ + dividuus ‘divisible’ (from dividere ‘to divide’ ).

Atom – Late 15th cent.: from Old French atome, via Latin from Greek atomos ‘indivisible,’ based on a- ‘not’ + temnein ‘to cut.’

Collective – Late Middle English in the sense of representing many individuals): from Old French collectif, –ive or Latin collectivus, from collect– ‘gathered together,’ from the verb colligere.

Cooperate – Late 16th cent.: from ecclesiastical Latin cooperat– ‘worked together,’ from the verb cooperari, from co– ‘together’ + operari ‘to work.’

Collaborate – Late 19th cent.: from Latin collaborat– ‘worked with,’ from the verb collaborare, from col– ‘together’ + laborare ‘to work.’

Coerce – Late Middle English : from Latin coercere ‘restrain,’ from co– ‘jointly, together’ + arcere ‘restrain.’

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Apprehend – Late Middle English (originally in the sense  of grasp, get hold of (physically or mentally): from French appréhender or Latin apprehendere, from ad– ‘toward’ + prehendere ‘lay hold of.’

Comprehend – Middle English : from Old French comprehender, or Latin comprehendere, from com– ‘together’ + prehendere ‘grasp.’

Contain – Middle English : from Old French contenir, from Latin continere, from con– ‘altogether’ + tenere ‘to hold.’

Content – Late Middle English : from medieval Latin contentum (plural contenta ‘things contained’ ), neuter past part. of continere.

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Influence – Late Middle English : from Old French, or from medieval Latin influentia ‘inflow,’ from Latin influere, from in– ‘into’ + fluere ‘to flow.’ The word originally had the general sense of an influx, flowing matter, also specifically in astrology of the flowing in of ethereal fluid affecting human destiny. The sense of imperceptible or indirect action exerted to cause changes was established in Scholastic Latin by the 13th cent., but not recorded in English until the late 16th cent.

Inspire –  Middle English enspire, from Old French inspirer, from Latin inspirare ‘breathe or blow into,’ from in– ‘into’ + spirare ‘breathe.’ The word was originally used of a divine or supernatural being, in the sense of imparting a truth or idea to someone.

Intend – Middle English entend (in the sense of direct the attention to), from Old French entendre, from Latin intendere ‘intend, extend, direct,’ from in– ‘toward’ + tendere ‘stretch, tend.’

Extend – Late Middle English : from Latin extendere ‘stretch out,’ from ex– ‘out’ + tendere ‘stretch.’

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Responsible – Late 16th cent. in the sense of answering to, corresponding): from obsolete French, from Latin respons– ‘answered, offered in return,’ from the verb respondere.

Conditions – Middle English : from Old French condicion (noun), condicionner (verb), from Latin condicio(n-) ‘agreement,’ from condicere ‘agree upon,’ from con– ‘with’ + dicere ‘say.’

Context – Late Middle English (denoting the construction of a text): from Latin contextus, from con– ‘together’ + texere ‘to weave.’

Situation – Late Middle English: from French, or from medieval Latin situatio(n-), from situare ‘to place.’

Circumstance –  Middle English : from Old French circonstance or Latin circumstantia, from circumstare ‘encircle, encompass,’ from circum ‘around’ + stare ‘stand

Environment – Middle English (formerly also as inviron): from Old French environer, from environ ‘surroundings,’ from en ‘in’ + viron ‘circuit’ (from virer ‘to turn, veer’ ).

Surroundings – Late Middle English (in the sense of overflow): from Old French souronder, from late Latin superundare, from super– ‘over’ + undare ‘to flow’ (from unda ‘a wave’ ); later associated with round . Current senses of the noun date from the late 19th cent.

Etymologically, “matrix” is one of the most feminine words in our language. “Motheress.”