• enemy •
Pronunciation: en-ê-mee • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1, One or more hostile, unfriendly things or people, one or more things or people that want to harm you. 2. An opponent, rival, adversary, foe, someone who takes a position opposite yours.
Notes: Here is a noun that has been blended with its antonym, friend, to create frenemy "a rival who pretends to be a friend". The adjective for enemy is inimical, taken directly from Latin. It comes with an adverb inimically and two nouns, inimicality and inimicalness.
In Play: Enemies can be concrete beings: "They were friends in high school, but when Melanie married Marigold's boyfriend, they became enemies for life." They can also be abstractions: "In American politics ignorance is the enemy and cold, hard facts are the weapons."
Word History: Today's Good Word was captured from Old French enemi, which is today ennemi "adversary, foe". Old French legitimately inherited its word from Latin inimicus "enemy" (whence English inimical), literally "an unfriend", comprising in- "not, un-" + the combining form of amicus "friend", a word based on amare "to love". The prefix in- originates in PIE ne- "not", found unvarnished in Czech, Polish, Russian and Serbian ne "not" and German nein "no". It appears modified in English and German un-. Where amare came from is an open question. Some think it comes from PIE ama- "to take, hold" by way of "to hold hands", source also of Sanskrit amisi "take hold of, swear", and Greek omnymi "to swear". Others think it comes from ama- "mother", source also of Sanskrit amba "mother", ancient Greek ammia "mother, nurse", Albanian amë "aunt", Icelandic amma "grandmother", and German Amme "wetnurse". (Now a bow to Devashni Vedanta of South Africa for spotting the interest in today's common though remarkable Good Word and sharing it.)
