Yes, just one more post about voting and then odds are great that you will never have to hear about it from me for four more years, which in blog years means, "never again."
But as you're considering your ballots and figuring out how you're going to get to the voting booth on Tuesday--the New York Times has it that "some New Jersey voters may find their hurricane-damaged polling sites replaced by military trucks, with — in the words of the state’s lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno — “a well-situated national guardsman and a big sign saying, ‘Vote Here.’ ”--you might want to spend a moment thinking about what "suffrage" is. Or maybe not. But as I've already cast my ballot, I have little left to do in life but contemplate such stuff.
When I was a kid and heard about the suffragettes, and learned that they were working to get women the vote, I'm sure I thought that suffrage had something to do with suffering. As I mentioned a couple of posts back, the British suffragettes went through some hardships for the cause, so this wasn't the wildest guess I've ever made.
But suffrage actually has different origins. "Suffer" has roots in the Latin sufferre, to bear or undergo--it's really sub- plus ferre, to carry, and is thus more related to ferrying people than it is to universal voting rights.
Suffrage, on the other hand, comes from suffragari, which was Latin for "lend support, vote for someone". It breaks down sub- plus fragor--"crash, din, shouts". (The Online Etymology Dictionary steers us a bit by adding "(of approval). But fragor comes from frangare--to break. So suffrage is actually related to the word "fraction", rather than to the vehicle that will carry people across.
Interestingly, and I did not know this, it's first usage meaning the right to vote comes in a very American document--the U.S. Constitution of 1787.
Crash, din, shouts. Huzzah!
When I was a kid and heard about the suffragettes, and learned that they were working to get women the vote, I'm sure I thought that suffrage had something to do with suffering. As I mentioned a couple of posts back, the British suffragettes went through some hardships for the cause, so this wasn't the wildest guess I've ever made.
But suffrage actually has different origins. "Suffer" has roots in the Latin sufferre, to bear or undergo--it's really sub- plus ferre, to carry, and is thus more related to ferrying people than it is to universal voting rights.
Suffrage, on the other hand, comes from suffragari, which was Latin for "lend support, vote for someone". It breaks down sub- plus fragor--"crash, din, shouts". (The Online Etymology Dictionary steers us a bit by adding "(of approval). But fragor comes from frangare--to break. So suffrage is actually related to the word "fraction", rather than to the vehicle that will carry people across.
Interestingly, and I did not know this, it's first usage meaning the right to vote comes in a very American document--the U.S. Constitution of 1787.
Crash, din, shouts. Huzzah!
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Hmm, so how did it come to mean the right to vote? What associations were conjured in the minds of the first people to use the word that way?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Without being able to find a definitive answer, I think I'll just put it down to drift for the time being.
ReplyDeleteIn hunting for this info, though, I did come across a surprising thing, at least to me. The Constitution as written in 1787 does not have a gender bias and refers to persons, rather than male persons throughout. The word male doesn't appear in the document until the fourteenth amendment was ratified in 1868. The Framers preferred to leave that decision to the states, and though most states opted for the male only position, New Jersey did not. So for a brief period between the late 1780s and 1807, when New Jersey too succumbed to the men only position, many women voted in federal elections.
New Jersey is indeed a state of many surprising contradictions.
I put up a post some time ago about Thomas Jefferson's thoughts on freedom of religion. Those Fathers have some good things to say when we don't bury them under the obfuscation of pretending to want to adhere to their original intentions.
ReplyDeleteMy professor and friend, the American historian Page Smith used to spend a lot of time trying to impress this very thing upon us. Much more interesting individuals than we learned in all our civics lessons.
ReplyDeleteI also thought, on first hearing, that suffrage was connected to suffering, particularly women's suffering at not having the vote! And I learned more about it from Mary Poppins, so yay!! And now you, so double yay!
ReplyDeleteKathleen, I have two sisters and I had a lot of friends who were girls when the movie was out. We had the old LP and did quite a lot of marching around the living room and off the furniture as we sang that song. Something must have stuck.
ReplyDeleteWe, the People were out in force downtown today. I was meeting friends in an outdoor cafe, and an election parade complete with puppets suddenly appeared. I think the guy leading them may have had a conch shell. Santa Cruz is very het up about genetically modified fool labeling, so this was not a presidential parade. I think that that race has already been decided as far as this community goes.
Good detective work Seana! So interesting. Now that Liam and Olivia are both studying Latin, I hear about these etymological puzzles all the time. Olivia is especially into it. Apparently JK Rowling uses a lot of Latin in her books (not her new one, however).
ReplyDeleteI always thought that suffrage had to do with suffering, and I believe that it came mostly from Mary Poppins. I mean now I know that Mrs. Banks was marching for Women's right to vote (which I really didn't understand as a child, but managed to piece together when I saw the film as a teenager later in my life). However, somehow as a child, I thought that the suffragettes were marching because they had to put up with miserable husbands. Mrs. Banks had to suffer living with Mr. Banks, that stuffy old conservative.
So even now that I know all about suffrage (and even more as of tonight!) I associate that word with women who have had enough of men!
Good detective work Seana! So interesting. Now that Liam and Olivia are both studying Latin, I hear about these etymological puzzles all the time. Olivia is especially into it. Apparently JK Rowling uses a lot of Latin in her books (not her new one, however).
ReplyDeleteI always thought that suffrage had to do with suffering, and I believe that it came mostly from Mary Poppins. I mean now I know that Mrs. Banks was marching for Women's right to vote (which I really didn't understand as a child, but managed to piece together when I saw the film as a teenager later in my life). However, somehow as a child, I thought that the suffragettes were marching because they had to put up with miserable husbands. Mrs. Banks had to suffer living with Mr. Banks, that stuffy old conservative.
So even now that I know all about suffrage (and even more as of tonight!) I associate that word with women who have had enough of men!
I haven't watched the movie in a while now, but I believe that Mr. Banks didn't turn out to be so bad in the end...
ReplyDeleteYeah, how did it happen that my nephews and niece know more Latin than I do? I think of myself as part of a lost generation. I blame Harry Potter and online gaming for giving these kids the edge on me.
Yes, Liam's new game "Assassin's Creed 3" takes him through the American Revolution. Apparently they hired 12 historians to help write the story. As far as I can tell, it's a damn good one. But Liam already knows way more about the American Revolution than I ever did. He should, he becomes one of the soldiers, one of the spys, one of the messengers, etc. in this very intricate game. Convinced me that not all three hour gaming sessions are bad for the brain...
ReplyDeleteEven the ads look good on this one.
ReplyDeleteHmm. This should give me a few birthday ideas...