On Trivial and Trite; Among Other Words

Many common words in English are indebted to Latin roots that give colorful and illuminating information about the words. Let's begin with the word trite. Our normal definition of trite is "commonplace; worn out; hackneyed; stale." One might have a "trite expression," which points to a phrase that might once have had a signficance but which has lost its edge through overuse. You learn something "the hard way" or one is "sadder but wiser" after an experience, for example. But when we probe deeper into the meaning of "trite," we are rewarded. It is derived from the Latin verb tero, terere, trivi with the fourth principal part (past participle) being tritus. Tero means "to rub" or "wear out" or "use up." The thought is that as you "rub" something more and more, it loses its distinctive shape or sharpness. It thus becomes "used up" or "worn out." The OED picks up on this Latinate usage in its first definition of trite: "worn out by constant use or repetition; devoid of freshness or novelty; commonplace, stale." The "worn out" meaning is expressed in Ben Johnson: "My accent or phrase vulgar; my garments trite." But now that we have the notion in our mind of something rubbed or worn down, we have the word in its essence, and we never need let it go.

By the way, the word trivial, a word that seems to be of great utility in our day, is a fascinating one to pause on. The OED and Century may not necessarily agree on the root for the word. The Century talks about the Latin word trivialis, which means "of the cross-roads, hence common, commonplace" (tri-via; where three roads meet), standing behind trivial, while the OED seems to root trivial both in tri-via as well as the third principal part of tero (trivi). Let's walk through a few of the definitions of trivial in the OED. The first one, and the one most significant historically, is "belonging to the trivium of medieval university studies." The trivium consisted of grammar, rhetoric and logic. Thus, one has from a few hundred years ago: "The Protestants may likewise retain their trivial and grammar schools." But the definition of trivial which seems more in line with trivi (tero) is no. 5: "such as may be met with anywhere, common, commonplace, ordinary, everyday, familiar, trite, etc." One might make a trivial observation or have a trivial definition of something. This meaning of trivial shades into the common one today--"of small account, little esteemed, paltry, poor; trifling, inconsiderable, unimportant, slight."

The only problem with studying words with their deep, historical meaning is that you might find yourself unable to be understood in a conversation if you use the words in that sense. For example, if I go to a party this Saturday evening and begin to quiz someone about his/her trivial education, s/he might take offense, while I was really referring to his/her education in grammar, rhetoric and logic. Another example of this phenomenon is the word solicit. I came across the word sollicitus sum in reading Cicero the other day, and I was interested to learn that it meant "I was anxious, disturbed, vexed, disquieted." Had the word sollicito come into English, I wondered to myself? Then, in looking up the word solicit, I discovered the following: In the Century, which has six definitions of the verb solicit, ranging from the meaning in criminal law (entice another to commit a crime) to a popular meaning (to ask a thing with some degree of earnestness or persistency), def. 3 means "to disturb; disquiet; make anxious," which is a direct translation of the Latin sollicito. From Paradise Lost: "Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid." or, from Dryden, "But anxious fears solicit my weak breast." I daresay that I ought to do no such soliciting at my next party...

Let's conclude with some information about subtle and subtlety. In fact, in Shakespeare's day the word was equally used (by him) as subtle and subtile. It derives from the Latin sub (under) and tela, a web, fabric or spider's web. Thus, something subtile or subtle is "tenuous; thin; extremely fine; rare; rarefied." One not only has a subtle sense of humor, or a subtle distinction, which are normally about the only ways the word is used today, but one could have subtle odors, or a subtle powder or a subtle medium. But the OED etymology also takes us in a different direction. It connects subtilem, the Latin, with subtelis/subtexlis, the latter of which means "finely woven." Once you get into a "tex"-type word you are in the realm of weavings. But this may be related to the word tela, the spider's web, which is among the most carefully and daintily woven things in creation. Something subtle is "of thin consistency, tenuous; not dense, rarefied; hence, penetrating, pervasive or elusive by reason of tenuity [don't you just love the sound of that word?].

Well, the word subtle, if it indeed is related to subtext and the "text" root takes us in loads of interesting directions. I think we need another essay to track these wanderings down...

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