海角大神

A聽sharp-eyed reader spotted a typo in the Monitor鈥檚 May 31 issue. In a review of a book about Napoleon鈥檚 plunder of major artworks across Europe, the French general demanded 鈥渙ne hundred paintings, busts, vases or statutes鈥� from the pope. The reader noticed that this list of objects should conclude with statues, not statutes. Why, he wondered, are these words so similar?聽

These words are indeed similar 鈥� the word statute would not have been an error in the Middle Ages. Manuscripts of Chaucer鈥檚 鈥淐anterbury Tales鈥� (circa 1387), for example, mention a 鈥渟tatute of gold鈥� constructed for a king, and the 鈥渟tatues鈥� of marriage law that bind husbands and wives. The words were distinct semantically 鈥� a statue was a 3D object and a statute was a law 鈥� and context made it easy to tell which was intended, but scribal idiosyncrasies and widely differing English dialects meant that they could be pronounced and spelled the same way.聽

The Oxford English Dictionary theorizes that this interchangeability stemmed from too much, rather than too little, knowledge on the part of authors and scribes. Both words had arrived in English with the conquering Normans, and trilingual (French, English, and Latin speaking) writers were aware that statue and statute were related to each other and to the Latin statutum, 鈥渟omething set up,鈥� a form of statuere, 鈥渢o set up, decree.鈥�

The ancestor of statuere is status, past participle of stare, 鈥渢o stand.鈥� And once we get to stare, we can see that statue and statute are part of a constellation of English words that might no longer appear related, but that all originally had something to do with standing around.

Status (first used in English in 1577) is one鈥檚 鈥渟tanding鈥� in relation to others. If one 鈥渟tands鈥� in a temporary condition, it is a state (1225) 鈥� a state of relaxation, the three states of water. You 鈥渟tand still鈥� at a station (1325), making you stationary (1398). Animals stand in a stable (1250). An actor can recite the stanzas (1596) of a poem while taking a stable (1340) stance (1532) on a stage (circa 1400). 聽

Stationery 鈥� 鈥渕aterials for writing鈥� 鈥� also once involved 鈥渟tanding.鈥� In the Middle Ages, most goods were sold at fairs, like giant flea markets, or by traveling peddlers. Brick-and-mortar shops were unusual, and known as 鈥渟tationary booths.鈥� Many were operated by book and paper sellers, because their wares were heavy, expensive, and easily damaged. In the 15th century, the Stationers鈥� Company was a guild that included booksellers, illustrators, bookbinders, and those who sold paper and writing supplies. Eventually, however, the immobile professions split, and a stationer became someone who sells stationery (1727).