As a veteran English teacher, I was
recently embarrassed to realize that I had misspelled the word “burglar” in an
e-mail to a friend who also teaches English.
While I realized that my friend would be forgiving, I decided to have a
little linguistic fun with my goof.
In an
effort to justify my misstep, I looked to the etymology of “burglar,” which I
had spelled b-u-r-g-l-e-r, hoping that an earlier incarnation of the word was
spelled similarly to my misspelling. Regarding
the etymology of “burglar,” much to my delight, I found that in its
Anglo-Norman incarnation, the word was spelled as I had misspelled it, “burgler.” In sending this etymological justification to
my friend, I noted that if one changes the “r” to “n” in “burglar” spelled
correctly, one gets “bunglar” spelled incorrectly, of course!
Additionally, I found that the word
is related to “burg,” which in medieval times was a fortified town, so it makes
sense that a burglar burgles burgs. The
“-lar” probably came from a Latin form of the word, but I decided to see if the
suffix “-lar” has an independent meaning.
While I did not find “‑lar” as a
suffix, I did find a Latin word, “Lar,” which is “a tutelary deity or spirit of
an ancient Roman household”—in effect, a teacher. It occurred to me that if one puts “burg,”
meaning town, and “Lar,” meaning teacher, together, one can redefine a burglar
as someone who teaches in towns.
However, my fun did not stop at
that point. I also found out that the
Indo-European root of “burglar” means "high," evidently referring to
the fortified part of burg. Of the many
derivatives, including “iceberg,” from the Middle Dutch bergh or hill, and “barrow”
from the Old English beorg or hill, my favorite is “belfry,” from Old French
berfroi meaning “tower,” and from the German berg‑frij,
meaning high place of safety.
By analogy, if teachers can be
considered burglars, that is people who teach in towns, can our classrooms be
considered belfries of learning? Could
we then consider our students as bats in our belfries? And does academia as the “Ivory Tower” become
the "Ivory Belfry"?
My spelling error proved
informative and fun. Next time I am
asked my occupation, I will reply proudly that I am a burglar!
Note: I originally wrote this piece around 2005.
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