Sometimes, English takes words directly from Latin: mea culpa, alma mater, et cetera. That's the case with today's word: dictator. Even if "dictator" has a rather simple etymology, it has a complex and fascinating political history, which includes infamous Romans like Sulla and Julius Caesar. To conclude, we look at Hannah Arendt's classic work The Origins of Totalitarianism, in which she provocatively claims that the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century should not, in fact, be called dictatorships but instead constitute a novel form of government.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Today's world is full of "consultants" and "advisers" in the domains of business, politics, and even education. But the verb "consult" is an old one, coming directly into English from the Latin consulere. Its etymology, even in the ancient world, is pretty muddled, and this confusion persists today in the often-mistaken words "council" and "counsel." We also consider an essay by the American author Flannery O'Connor on the problems surrounding reading lists in English classrooms.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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When we think of "anarchy," we might imagine rioters in the streets. But the etymology of this word extends well beyond the world of politics. Today we explore the curious roots of "anarchy," which builds on a Greek term that means both "origin" and "authority." Finally, we read a brief passage from Igor Stravinsky's The Poetics of Music on the challenges and temptations of artistic originality.

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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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https://originalpublicmeaning.com