The third example is the one which is literal. The other two are recent idioms which derived from it. I think it’s fine if people get poetic with their connotations - so long as they are aware that this is what they are doing. It should not be surprising that people may find some connotations more or less productive to suggest than others.
“recent”
Sense of “person who is hurt, tortured, or killed by another” is first recorded 1650s; meaning “person oppressed by some power or situation” is from 1718.
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I grew up in Chicago; we used to play with a software that was 16 inches.
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Traditionally, “victima” est animal quod interfectum est ad deorum gloriam, sed nunc non loquimus lingua Latina. Verba ab illo tempore multo mutata sunt.
Ah, sorry, I was using the words in the traditional way.
You actually do have a point about the word’s original, literal meaning, and its misappropriation. Only, you’re several centuries late. Back then, it was anthropomorphic hyperbole. But back then, people probably agreed that natural disasters were indeed acts of God with quite some agency behind them.
So you suggest we use the word “casuality” instead?
Literally, “casus” means a fall. As in, the act of falling down. A bit later, it started to take on the additional meaning of “chance”, and the word “casualiter” was made up to mean “accidentally” or “fortuitously”.
So, “casuality” basically means “accidentality”. Being hit by a meteor certainly has a high degree of accidentality about it, but I’m sure you would agree that this word describes the event which is accidental, not the person* who suffers** from the accident. Applying that word to a person is very dehumanizing.
The only way for a smart and educated person to escape all the misused words and misplaced connotations of modern language is to switch to the most ancient language you can find, so that all possible earlier meanings of your words are safely forgotten.
* person: A theater mask. Often interpreted as per+sonare “to sound through”. Applying that to a human being means accusing them of being false and hiding their true character. Not nice.
** suffer: contains “ferre”, to carry. This time, you’re flattering the accident victims by implying that they manage to bear their burden and do not succumb to it.
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What of “a victim of circumstance”?
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This is presuming that they indeed can be said to have a true character, that existence and sense of self are not merely a succession of ephemeral masks.
I suppose it may be construed as flattery, but I think of it as trying to be respectful and encouraging.
To bring this somewhat more on topic - I attended school with somebody who had a meteor crash through their house prior to moving to our area. In a hallway they had the meteor as well as news clippings about the event.
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Murphy?
Traditions have changed. No one makes sacrifices or speaks Latin anymore. Personally, I blame Constantine and his silly new singular God.
Ouch. Insult to injury.
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Are you getting that mixed up with
?
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This could be really bad. Imagine being hit on the head by something heavy like Eclipse or Windows NT server 2002.
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Something about this article does not compute.
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I’ve also heard that “person” comes, via Latin, from the Etruscan phersu (again meaning a theatrical character), which would make it the only word of Etruscan origin in English.
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Damned, that software has some serious relief notches!
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Oh, no no no. Through Latin, English has many Etruscan words. Like “vulture” for example.
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