Rights Ethics - Etymology

Etymology

The Modern English word right derives from Old English riht or reht, in turn from Proto-Germanic *riĻ‡taz meaning "right" or "direct", and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reg-to- meaning "having moved in a straight line", in turn from *(o)reg'(a)- meaning "to straighten or direct". In several different Indo-European languages, a single word derived from the same root means both "right" and "law", such as French droit, Spanish derecho, and German Recht.

Many other words related to normative or regulatory concepts derive from this same root, including correct, regulate, and rex (meaning "king"), whence regal and thence royal. Likewise many more geometric terms derive from this same root, such as erect (as in "upright"), rectangle (literally "right angle"), straight and stretch. Like right, the English words rule and ruler, deriving still from the same root, have both normative or regulatory and geometric meanings (e.g. a ruler as in a king, or a ruler as in a straightedge).

Several other roots have similar normative and geometric descendants, such as Latin norma, whence norm, normal, and normative itself, and also geometric concepts such as normal vectors; and likewise Greek ortho and Latin ordo, meaning either "right" or "correct" (as in orthodox, meaning "correct opinion") or "straight" or "perpendicular" (as in orthogonal, meaning "perpendicular angle"), and thence order, ordinary, etc.

Read more about this topic:  Rights Ethics

Famous quotes containing the word etymology:

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