ORIENT
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:18 pm
• orient •
Pronunciation: or-ee-yent • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: 1. [Intransitive] To situate facing the east. 2. [Transitive] To focus on or situate facing a specific object. 3. [Transitive] To adjust in the right direction.
Notes: The noun orient and its adjective oriental are considered impolite now in the US so we will focus on the verb. Today's Good Word has a sister, orientate, which many feel is also improper, a misguided back-derivation from orientation, the noun of orient. Although orientate clearly was back-derived, it has been with us on both sides of the Atlantic since the mid-19th century. A person who orients something is an orientator while an orienteer is someone who participates in the sport of orienteering, finding your way through rough terrain with the help of a map and compass.
In Play: The first sense of today's word is most often used in reference to religious objects like churches and coffins: "The parson was dismayed to discover that some of the coffins in the cemetery were not oriented." However, the second and third senses are by far the more common: "The new Wal-Mart store was oriented toward the east." Orient may simply refer to general alignment: "The new president is just trying to orient himself during his first month in office."
Word History: Today's Good Word was copied from Latin oriens, orient- "rising, east", the present participle of oriri "to arise, be born". The same original root gave us early in English and, possibly, are, an odd form of to be. In fact, it is not a stretch to suppose that the R switched places with the vowel (metathesis) before the same stem went on to become raise and rise with an ancient suffix -s found in other words. (We are glad that Kyle McDonald is oriented toward alphaDictionary and rose to the occasion of suggesting today's Good Word.)
Pronunciation: or-ee-yent • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: 1. [Intransitive] To situate facing the east. 2. [Transitive] To focus on or situate facing a specific object. 3. [Transitive] To adjust in the right direction.
Notes: The noun orient and its adjective oriental are considered impolite now in the US so we will focus on the verb. Today's Good Word has a sister, orientate, which many feel is also improper, a misguided back-derivation from orientation, the noun of orient. Although orientate clearly was back-derived, it has been with us on both sides of the Atlantic since the mid-19th century. A person who orients something is an orientator while an orienteer is someone who participates in the sport of orienteering, finding your way through rough terrain with the help of a map and compass.
In Play: The first sense of today's word is most often used in reference to religious objects like churches and coffins: "The parson was dismayed to discover that some of the coffins in the cemetery were not oriented." However, the second and third senses are by far the more common: "The new Wal-Mart store was oriented toward the east." Orient may simply refer to general alignment: "The new president is just trying to orient himself during his first month in office."
Word History: Today's Good Word was copied from Latin oriens, orient- "rising, east", the present participle of oriri "to arise, be born". The same original root gave us early in English and, possibly, are, an odd form of to be. In fact, it is not a stretch to suppose that the R switched places with the vowel (metathesis) before the same stem went on to become raise and rise with an ancient suffix -s found in other words. (We are glad that Kyle McDonald is oriented toward alphaDictionary and rose to the occasion of suggesting today's Good Word.)