Recently, I resorted to sorting—actually re-sorting—memorabilia,
an activity which caused me to reflect upon prefixes and suffixes, a topic
which I mention upon occasion in this blog. As I remused, regarding how affixes can alter
meaning, I wondered if “flect” had ever been a viable root word. My trusty Oxford
English Dictionary tells me “yes.”
“Flect,” now obsolete, began word life as a verb of Latin
origin meaning “to bend, turn” in both literal and figurative terms. “Flect” lived a short life before becoming obsolete
as a stand-alone word, but it lives on by combining its lexicographical DNA with
certain prefixes. The words which popped
into my mind using “flect” as a root, in addition to “reflect,” include “deflect,”
“genuflect,” and “inflect.”
A cousin of “flect,” “flex,” with both words descending from
the same Latin word, lives on in modern usage, chiefly in scientific usage.
Regarding the word “reflect,” according to the OED the prefix “re-“ comes from the
Latin, “with the general sense of ‘back’ or ‘again.’” However, originally, “back” was its primary
meaning. The OED includes more information on the prefix “re-“ than you probably
thought existed. Next time you have a
few minutes on your hands, check out the “histo-re-.”
Combining “re-“ with “flect,” the OED first lists a number of meanings, from “to turn or direct in a
certain course, to divert; to turn away or aside, to deflect,” to the idea of
throwing beams off of polished surfaces to “to return, turn back, after
striking or falling on a surface.” Because
the idea for this blog began with the meaning of “to turn one’s thoughts (back)
on, to fix the mind or attention on or upon a subject; to ponder, meditate on,”
I am going have some fun with that usage here, first asking some Philosophical
Word Questions (PWQ), and then reflecting upon the other words I identified
which use “flect” as a root.
PWQs for “reflect”: since “reflect” for our purposes here means
to think back upon, could “foreflect” or “preflect” mean to think about ahead
of time? If someone simply does not
think, are they “nonflective”? Parents,
imagine asking your children after they do something thoughtless, “Are you
nonflective?” If someone thinks wrongly
or wrongly understands, would they “misflect.”
(Honey, you misflect me!) If
someone thinks about something too much, do they “overflect”? On the other hand, if someone does not think
enough about something, do they “semiflect” or “subflect”? Looking at a noun usage, if someone refuses
to think, are they an “antiflect” or “antiflective”?
“Deflect,” the first additional word I cited using “flect”
as a root, means “to turn aside; bend or deviate. The prefix “de-“ means “do or make the
opposite of; reverse; remove; out of (deplane); reduce.” We can deflect anything from criticism to a
foul ball at a baseball game hit into the stands. PWQ for “deflect”: can it also mean to straighten out if we are
doing the opposite of bending or turning, as in “Let me deflect that unclear
question” or “Let me deflect that pile of shoestrings.”
“Genuflect” means “to bend at the knees, sometimes as an
indication of worship or respect but sometimes to grovel.” “Genu-“ here is not a commonly used prefix,
but comes from a Latin word referring to the knees. PWQ for “genuflect”: if to genuflect is an indication of genuine
worship or respect, would “pseudoflect” better reflect the second part of the
meaning, to grovel, with its implication of insincerity?
“Inflect” means “to alter (the voice) in tone or pitch;
modulate,” with the prefix “in-“ meaning “in, into, within.” We can inflect our voices to indicate many
things from emphasis to innuendo. As a
teacher, it was informative to take a sentence and inflect each word
separately. For example, “There are
chickens in the trees” can have all kinds of meanings, depending on which word
you emphasize. PWQ for “inflect”: could “outflect”
refer to people who talk too loudly?
On a serious note, the idea of reflection is particularly
relevant now at Yom Kippur, reflecting on the year past and thinking ahead to
the upcoming year.
NOTE: In researching
this blog, I learned that the lexicon contains skillions of affixes, with
gadskillions of information about the history of these affixes.
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