It’s only words… 2

As I had mentioned in one of my previous articles, English is a very exciting and intriguing language, especially ‘Etymology’, the study of the origins and development of words.

This time we have three more words with interesting origins, the first of which is ‘tantalize’, which means, ‘to tease or torment by showing or promising something that cannot be obtained’.

The word has its origin in Greek Mythology. Tantalus was the king of a region in Asia Minor, a broad peninsula that lies between the Black and Mediterranean seas, corresponding roughly to modern day Turkey.

Being a favourite of the Gods, Tantalus was allowed to dine with them and thus came to know many of their secrets, but instead of being grateful he took advantage of his position and shared their secrets with his mortal friends. He also attempted to share with them the food of the Gods (Ambrosia), which would have conferred immortality onto them.

And if that was not enough, he crossed all heights of perversity by inviting all the Gods to a banquet at his place and serving his own son Pelops to them as he was running short of food. All the Gods recognized what was being served to them and refused to eat it, except Demeter, the goddess of harvest, who was grieving for her lost daughter and so did not notice and ate Pelop’s shoulder. The Gods later brought him back to life and gave him an ivory shoulder as replacement.

Tantalus was punished for his treachery and his terrible crimes by being made to stand in chin deep water. But what was most damning was that whenever he was thirsty and tried to drink the water, it would immediately recede. Also trees filled with the most delicious fruits surrounded him, but the moment he reached out for them, winds would blow the branches out of his reach. Thus he was forever condemned to hunger & thirst, with the means to satisfy them right in front of him, but just out of reach. As one would say, ‘so near, yet, so far’.

Even today, to tantalize someone is, in a way, a form of punishment, irrespective of whether the subjected deserves it or not.

From tantalize, we move to vandalize, which means to purposefully damage or destroy property. The word vandalize comes from Vandals, an ancient Germanic tribe of the Teutonic race that was infamous for destroying artifacts and monuments of art and literature.

The vandals dwelled on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, during the 4th and the 5th century, and were very fierce and barbaric. They invaded almost the whole of Western Europe, Gaul in France, the British Isles, Spain and Portugal. Italy, the Baltic region and went as far as North Africa.

In 455, led by their King Genseric, they invaded Rome and completely ransacked it. This was the first time that Rome had been invaded since the third century BC. Their rule was later overthrown, but their ferocity, barbarism and the fact that they successfully invaded Rome - amongst the most powerful cities at that time - has immortalized the ‘Vandals’ in history and in our dictionary.

And moving on from ancient history to recent history, another interesting word is ‘SOS’. Generally considered to be an acronym for ‘Save Our Souls’, it has other interesting full forms, including ‘Save Our Ship’, ‘Send Out Succor’ and ‘Sure Of Sinking’, none of which are true. In fact you might be surprised to learn that the letters SOS by themselves have no meaning.

In July 1908 during the ‘International Radio Telegraph Convention’ the word ‘SOS’ was agreed upon as the universal distress signal because in Morse code (a series of dots and dashes, used mainly by ships to communicate with each other), SOS is represented by a combination of three dots followed by three dashes followed by three dots ( ... --- ... ). This combination is easy to send and recognize.

The Marconi Yearbook of Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony, 1918 states, ‘This signal [SOS] was adopted simply on account of its easy radiation and its unmistakable character. There is no special signification in the letter themselves, and it is entirely incorrect to put full stops between them [the letters].’

Before ‘SOS’, the distress signal was ‘CQD’. ‘CQ’ was a general notice for an incoming message and the ‘D’ probably stood for distress or danger. The Morse code for it [ -.-. --.- -.. ] was however complicated and so it was decided to come up with a distress signal that would be simple and easy to remember, especially in an emergency and could even be transmitted by an amateur with basic knowledge of Morse Code. It was decided that the signal would be a simple combination of threes, three letters represented by three marks. Now in Morse Code, the letter ‘O‘ (three dashes) and the letter ‘S’ (three dots) are the only two letters represented by three identical marks. The committee argued between OSO and SOS, but dashes being longer signals than dots, would take more time and power, while a distress signal needed to be broadcasted with as little requirement of time and power as possible, and so SOS became international standard.

The first recorded mention of the false acronymic origin of ‘Save Our Souls’ is with reference to the sinking of the ‘Titanic’ in 1912 and the enduring enigma of the Titanic may be one reason why the acronymic origin has survived and thrived. The Titanic's initial distress signals were 'CQD' and it was almost near the end that the new distress signal 'SOS' was used. The sinking sent shock waves around the world, Titanic entered the realms of mystery and ‘SOS’ confirmed its place in history.