Word of the Day
egalitarian
adjective
asserting, resulting from, or characterized by belief in the equality of all people, especially in political, economic, or social life.
More about egalitarian
Egalitarian “characterized by belief in the equality of all people” is an alteration of equalitarian, with French égal replacing the equal- component. Both English equal and French égal come from Latin aequālis “equal, like,” based on aequus “even, plain, just,” an adjective of unknown origin. Aequus is the source of English adequate, equal, equilibrium, equinox, equivalent, and iniquity. The evolution from Latin aequālis to French égal reflects three common sound changes: Latin ae usually becomes French é, Latin qu between vowels often becomes French g, and Latin suffixes such as -is are either reduced to -e or even dropped entirely. For the first of these changes, compare Latin prae with French pré- “before,” and for the other two, compare Latin aquila with French aigle “eagle.” Egalitarian was first recorded in English in the early 1880s.
how is egalitarian used?
Yet even many couples who pride themselves on a fair distribution of duties aren’t so balanced when it comes to carrying the harder-to-quantify “mental load,” the taxing work of managing a household and anticipating its many needs. (Same-sex couples tend to be more egalitarian, but can end up in lopsided arrangements as well.)
Bitcoin represents a techno-utopian dream. Satoshi Nakamoto, its pseudonymous inventor, proposed that the world run not on centralized financial institutions but on an egalitarian, math-based electronic money system distributed through a computer network.
suffrage
noun
the right to vote, especially in a political election.
More about suffrage
Suffrage “the right to vote” comes from Latin suffrāgium “voting tablet,” and though suffrage resembles suffer, the two are not completely related. While suffer comes from Latin sufferre “to endure,” suffrage is ultimately based on the verb suffrāgārī “to support.” These two Latin verbs share a prefix, the preposition sub “under” (which assimilates to suf- when followed by an f for easier pronunciation), but sufferre combines sub with ferre “to bear,” and the -frāgārī part of suffrāgārī is of uncertain origin. The most popular hypothesis is that -frāgārī is related to the verb frangere “to break,” which would make suffrage a relative of fracture, fragile, fragment, and frangible. Suffrage was first recorded in English in the late 14th century.
how is suffrage used?
Prominent U.S. suffrage organizations ignored the exclusion of Puerto Rican women from the 19th Amendment—just as many of them ignored the struggles of women of color to gain citizenship or exercise voting rights within the states …. Not until another electoral coalition including Socialists won control of the Puerto Rican legislature in 1933 did it become possible to extend suffrage to all women.
References are often made to the challenges concerning universal suffrage in Somalia, but in fact, away from the central government in Mogadishu, some states in the Somali federal system are showing what is possible—for example, the state of Puntland successfully made local elections with a one person, one vote system in some districts in recent months.
liberation
noun
the act or fact of gaining equal rights or full social or economic opportunities for a particular group.
More about liberation
Liberation “the act of gaining equal rights” is adapted from Latin līberātiō “a setting free, a release,” which comes from the verb līberāre “to free” and, ultimately, the adjective līber “free, open, frank.” From here, there is the possibility for confusion, as the adjective līber “free,” the noun līber “child,” and the noun liber “book, bark” are all common words in Latin. Līber “free” is also the source of deliver, liberal, libertarian, and liberty, and it comes from an ancient root meaning “people”; compare the names Leopold (literally “bold people”) and Luther (“people army”). Līber “child” literally means “free one” and almost exclusively appears as plural līberī “children.” Meanwhile, liber “book” is the source of libel, library, and libretto, and it is unrelated to either līber. Take care not to confuse these nearly identical words! Liberation was first recorded in English in the early 15th century.
how is liberation used?
In 1982, … young gay rights activists including [Ralf] Dose hoped to shed light on LGBTQ persecution and activism. He and others were eager to learn about their predecessors in the 1920s, figures like [Magnus] Hirschfeld who’d made great strides in liberation before being exiled or killed by the Nazis …. As he pieced together these findings, Dose realized how much broader Hirschfeld’s focus was than gay liberation.
It is also a good time to remember Anahita Ratebzad, the mother of Afghan women’s liberation, and to uphold the gender equality she fought so hard to achieve. When the April Revolution erupted in Afghanistan in 1978, Ratebzad was in the thick of the battle, a leader of the People’s Democratic Party.