PRESIDENT

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Dr. Goodword
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PRESIDENT

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:06 am

president

Pronunciation: pre-zê-dênt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A person elected or appointed to preside over an organization, the highest ranking member of a management team, as the president of the New York Stock Exchange. 2. The chief officer of the executive branch of a government or similar political organization, such as the president of the United States.

Notes: Do keep in mind that, even though prez is often used as an abbreviation of today's Good Word, and that the S in the full word is pronounced [z], the fourth letter in this word is S. The adjective is presidential and the office a president holds is a presidency.

In Play: Until 1971, Lincoln's birthday was celebrated on February 12 and Washington's birthday, on February 22. In 1968, however, legislation was passed that combined the two holidays into one to be celebrated on the 3rd weekend of February. The intent was to reduce the number of holidays in February and give government workers a 3-day break from work. The result is that the holiday carries little meaning for most Americans: "The exchange student very proudly gave Galen a Presidents Day gift that triggered snickering among his friends."

Word History: Today's word, of course, is the French version of Latin praesiden(t)s "presiding", the present participle of praesidere "to preside", based on prae "before" + sedere "to sit". If you see a root in this verb that reminds you of English set or sit, you have a good eye for these things: both these words come from the same original root. Almost all Indo-European languages have a reflex of that root: German sitzen, Russian sadit'sya, Italian sedersi—all meaning "to sit (down)".
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gailr
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Postby gailr » Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:34 pm

If you see a root in this verb that reminds you of English set or sit, you have a good eye for these things: both these words come from the same original root. Almost all Indo-European languages have a reflex of that root: German sitzen, Russian sadit'sya, Italian sedersi—all meaning "to sit (down)".
This is interesting; the premise that the leaders get a chair and everyone else stands around at attention goes back a very long way...

If you don't read heiroglyphs fluently,what is the first clue to the identity of this image? The headdress symbol repeats her name: aset/throne. Our rulers may no longer "sit in the lap" of king-makers, but they still symbolically sit in judgement over us.

-gailr


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