Most people think of words as labels. A chair is a chair. A story is a story. Vision means seeing. Provision means supplies.

But once you begin studying etymology, you discover something strange.

Words are not labels.

They are fossils.

Each one preserves a little piece of how our ancestors understood the world.

And sometimes, if you look carefully enough, an ordinary word turns out to contain an entire philosophy.

Vision Is Not Just Seeing

Take the word vision.

Most people understand it as sight.

Yet the word comes from the Latin videre — “to see.”

That seems straightforward enough until we notice that modern English uses “vision” in a much broader sense.

When someone says:

“I have a vision for the future.”

They are not talking about eyesight.

They are talking about mentally seeing something that does not yet exist.

A vision is therefore not merely perception.

It is perception extended beyond the present moment.

In a sense, it is future-sight.

This same root appears everywhere:

• visible
• video
• evidence
• review
• supervise
• visit
• vista

Even the word video literally means:

“I see.”

Every time you watch a video, you are unknowingly using a two-thousand-year-old Latin verb.

Provision: Supplies Created Through Foresight

Now consider a word that looks surprisingly similar:

provision.

Most people think it means food supplies.

But if we break it apart:

• pro- = before, ahead
• videre = to see
• -ion = result or process

Provision literally means:

the result of seeing ahead.

Imagine a Roman army preparing for a campaign.

Someone must anticipate:

• food shortages,
• water needs,
• equipment requirements,
• winter conditions.

The goods acquired through this foresight become provisions.

In other words:

Provisions are foresight made tangible.

The future element is not hiding in “-sion.”

It is hiding in pro-.

To provide is literally:

to see before.

Narrative: Knowledge Turned Into Story

Another fascinating example is narrative.

The word comes from Latin narrare:

to tell.

But narrare itself is related to gnarus:

knowing.

This means that narrative originally carries an idea much deeper than “story.”

A narrative is:

knowledge arranged into telling.

The narrator is not merely entertaining.

The narrator is making something known.

This connection survives in surprising places.

Consider these words:

• gnosis
• cognition
• recognize
• diagnose

All are connected to ancient roots involving knowledge and knowing.

Narrative, then, is not just a story.

It is knowledge transformed into sequence.

Perspective: Looking Through

One of the most beautiful etymologies in the language belongs to perspective.

It comes from:

• per- = through
• specere = to look

Literally:

looking through.

This explains why perspective is not simply an opinion.

Perspective is a viewing position.

It is the place from which reality becomes visible.

This same root gives us:

• spectacle
• spectator
• inspect
• suspect
• prospect
• retrospect
• speculate

Notice something remarkable.

Even speculation originally involves seeing.

The speculator is mentally looking out across possibilities.

The Secret Life of Suffixes

Much of English is built from a simple formula:

Prefix + Root + Suffix

Once you understand the pieces, large words become surprisingly transparent.

-ion

Usually means:

act, process, result

Examples:

• action
• creation
• narration
• vision
• provision

The suffix itself does not create the meaning.

It simply turns an action into a thing.

-ity

Means:

quality or state

Examples:

• possibility
• equality
• activity

Think:

what-it-is-like-to-be-X

-ness

The Germanic cousin of -ity.

Examples:

• darkness
• kindness
• awareness

Again:

the state of being.

-hood

Examples:

• childhood
• brotherhood
• nationhood

Not merely a condition.

A mode of existence.

-ship

Examples:

• friendship
• leadership
• scholarship

Often denotes a relationship, office, or social condition.

-dom

Examples:

• kingdom
• freedom
• wisdom

Originally suggesting a realm or domain.

-ism

Examples:

• capitalism
• liberalism
• nationalism

A doctrine, system, or characteristic practice.

-ology

One of the most powerful suffixes.

From Greek:

• logos = word, account, reason

Thus:

• biology
• sociology
• theology

All literally mean:

a reasoned account of something.

The Power of Prefixes

Just as suffixes shape endings, prefixes shape beginnings.

Pro-

Forward.

Ahead.

Before.

Examples:

• provide
• progress
• project
• promote

Everything is moving outward or forward.

Retro-

Backward.

Examples:

• retrospect
• retroactive

Meta-

Beyond.

About itself.

Examples:

• metadata
• metaphysics
• metanarrative

Dia-

Through.

Examples:

• dialogue
• diachrony

Syn-

Together.

Examples:

• synthesis
• synchrony
• synergy

Hyper-

Beyond.

Over.

Examples:

• hyperactive
• hypercritical
• hyperbole

Hypo-

Under.

Below.

Examples:

• hypothesis
• hypodermic

Why Etymology Feels Like Philosophy

Eventually, you realize something profound.

Words are compressed ideas.

They are little conceptual machines.

Consider:

• Vision = seeing.
• Provision = seeing ahead.
• Narrative = knowing transformed into telling.
• Perspective = looking through.
• Speculation = looking beyond what is immediately visible.

None of these meanings are obvious when we first learn the words.

Yet they are all still there, hidden beneath the surface.

That is one reason etymology becomes addictive.

It reveals that language is not merely a collection of sounds.

It is a museum of ancient ways of thinking.

Every word is a tiny historical artifact.

And every once in a while, when you pry one open, you discover an entire philosophy hiding inside.

Today I will talk about politics and the English language again, but from a drastically different perspective.

I live in Malaysia, where the language you use is the subject of constant political discussion – Wherever you go on the Malaysian internet, it seems that people want you to not speak English, or at least it seems so, because there are so many comments from people who would prefer that you speak Malay, or that you don’t respect the national language. 

Not a day seems to go by in this place where people treat what you speak as their business: They are deeply interested in whether you speak one language or another, and the English language is closest to the aggregate of all crosshairs in this country.

They consider the language that you use to be a non-neutral choice – a political choice that they do not agree with.

Some of these people say, as they complain and complain, that they would rather have you speak a language that they prefer rather than what you want to speak. 

They consider it very much their business that you comply in order to make them feel better about the world.

Now, why is this so? 

From having browsed the internet just enough to understand how many of these people think, I see that it is the fruit of a toxic mix of nationalism and an apparent misunderstanding of the entire purpose of language. 

The whole point of what we are doing here is to communicate, to speak to one another, to genuinely exchange ideas that are meaningful between ourselves. 

For some people though, that is not the purpose of language. 

Rather, for them, the purpose of the words we use is not to communicate but to signify identity and allegiance.

Leaving aside the question of why such people are so insecure about their own identities, to the point that they think it is their business to intervene in what language another person speaks, it is sometimes interesting to think about how language can be a choice, one that we choose to make use of and to appreciate on our own terms. 

Certainly, it is nice sometimes to spite people by conversing in a language that they do not understand and are unlikely to appreciate, but fundamentally spite is a very thin reason to excel in something.

On my part, at least, learning English was a matter of survival – to be able to do well in exams, to in turn have that performance feed into being able to do well on a scholarship assessment, and in turn now to be able to speak effectively to my audience, understanding and appreciating how my words may impact or entertain each one of you, and how to craft meaningful experiences for many more people in the days ahead, so that you will buy my books, join my memberships, or support me. (Sorry, not sorry!), but jokes aside, choices are political and they are not neutral.

So as it is a choice to master English so you can do well in your EFL exam, so it is another type of choice to develop that mastery so you can appreciate everything else that this language and the world that it makes legible for you. 

Of the different worlds that a person can immerse themselves in linguistically, I think the English language offers one of the greatest and broadest spans of possible experiences and opportunities. It may seem trite, and people might object, but this is true and a reflection of my own personal experiences.

This is not to say that English cannot sustain an identity or that it would not be meaningful to do so, but identity alone cannot sustain a language – and we are not even going into the question of what it means for a person to have an identity! 

Each person has their choice of what to speak, read, listen, and learn in, though.

What is your master language, and why? What are you using it for, and do you use it by choice, habit, or by compulsion? That’s some fun food for thought for you as you start out the day and continue it into the rest of your life. Thank you for reading.

One of my favorite pieces in the world is George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.”

You can find it here.

It reveals something very interesting that I’ve often thought about: the language we use reveals the clarity of our thought.

In other words, the less clear your writing is, the more it appears that your thinking is not clear. The clearer your writing is, the more it suggests that you are effectively articulating and expressing your thoughts.

In the book, George Orwell talks about how language is often used to conceal meanings and hide them.

Unfortunately, that’s the kind of thing that often happens when people just think of writing as a tool to create polished things.

Perhaps websites like these are part of the problem.

Am I not, after all, teaching you techniques to write effectively, with the subtext that if you do what I say, you will get the grade that you want, the exam result that you wish, the scholarship or university admission that you so deeply desire to the point that you would end up reading a website like this?

Well, extrinsic motivation is a powerful thing, and it is real, just like the way language is a thing of the real world that lies beyond just exam scripts, metaphors, and any number of literary devices that you might craft or create.

It is nice to think that many people who read these words or use these techniques sign up for memberships or purchase books here will eventually go beyond just the intrinsic things that make up the constellation of ways to do better in an exam, though. It would be very nice to me if people would actually end up thinking clearly, bringing out the genuine thoughts that are within them with clarity, shaping them to create the very best uses that further their goals, hopes, and dreams.

There is so much more that the English language can be used for beyond just exams, which are kind of like miniature trials set within the bigger context of life, which itself is a trial.