From Violence to Symbiocene

Giraffe Language 〰 Jackal Language

Giraffe photo: Simon Hurry, Black Jackal photo: Geranimo, both on unsplash

A man who lives, not by what he loves but what he hates, is a sick man.
〰 Archibald MacLeish 〰

An A–Z in the Zeitgeist of Violence

The word violence appeared in the English vocabulary in the late 13 hundreds, along with many others. To get an idea of the context and zeitgeist in which violence was adopted ~ here is a small selection of fellow verbionts from the 14th century:

A — ally = join in marriage; form an alliance

archer = one who shoots arrows from a (long) bow; bow-maker

B — blazon, n = armorial bearings, coat of arms; collar bone

bowman = fighting man armed with a bow

burial = tomb; act of burying

C — challenge, v = falsely accuse

comfort, v = to console in grief or trouble

commandment = order from an authority

conjure, n = command on oath

corpse = dead body; band of knights

D — demand, n = a question

distress, n = circumstance that causes anxiety or hardship

doleful = grieving, pained with emotions of grieving or mourning

dromedary = thoroughbred Arabian camel, racing camel

E — eager = strenuous, ardent, fierce, angry

English = pertaining to the Angles

F — fell, adj = cruel, fierce, vicious, (still used in the phrase ‘one fell swoop’ — from Macbeth)

front,  n= forehead

G —garden = [from Latin hortus gardinus] literally a guarded space for plants

gardener (old English wyrtweard = warden of wyrts and worts = plants and roots) = plant-guard

govern = rule with authority

grandsire = grandfather

H — herald, n = messenger, envoy, commander of an army; also chief officer of a tournament, who introduced knights and made decisions on rules

Holy Land = western Palestine, Judaea

hostage = kindness, hospitality; tribute; compensation; guarantee, pledge, bail; person given as security or hostage (related to ‘host’)

L — language = speech, spoken words, conversation, talk; manner of expression (from Latin lingua = tongue)

lunatic = affected with periodic insanity related to the moon cycle, literally ‘moonsick’

M — Middle Earth = the earth regarded as placed midway between heaven and hell or the abode of the gods and the underworld

N — nice = foolish, ignorant, frivolous, senseless, stupid

P — pain = punishment, agony

perish = to die, be killed

pursue = follow with hostile intent

R — rude = coarse, rough

S — sacrifice, n = the offering of something ~ especially a life ~ to a deity

salary = salt-money, soldier's allowance for the purchase of salt

sovereign = superior, ruler, master, one who is superior to or has power over another,

succor, v = to help or relieve in difficulty

T — tempest = violent storm, battle, epidemic, plague

Templar = medieval military order of Knights Templar

testament = last will disposing of property

threaten = attempt to influence by menacing

U — usurer = one who lends money at interest

uxorial, adj = of or pertaining to a wife (from Latin uxoris = wife, hence the saying ‘hanging out the broom’ as a signal that the house was freed from uxorial restraint, and where the master might be considered as a temporary bachelor.)

V — vile = morally repugnant; morally flawed, corrupt, wicked; of no value; of inferior quality

violence = physical force used to inflict injury or damage, vehemence, impetuosity

W — wench, n = weak person, girl, young woman

Z — the letter Z

Some of these words have transitioned to a new identity over the past seven centuries or so. Some have fallen out of use. Many are still going strong, carrying the original meaning. Violence belongs to the third group.

photo credit: vitaliy shvchenko on unsplash

Virility, Virtue, and Violence against Virago

According to our etymological dictionaries, violence, violent, violate etc. are all derived from the Latin word vis = strength.
Other close cousins are vir ~ the Latin word for a male human ~ virility (= manhood, masculinity), virtuoso (= a person with great skill) and virtue (= a particular moral excellence; manly strength or courage; chastity especially in a woman).

Further relatives of the same family are virus, viral, and virgin, but also viridity (= greenness), and verdant (= the green in growing plants)

The relationship between these words is easily explained through the Latin ancestral verb virere, which has three meanings:

1 – to be young / full of youthful vigour
2 – to be green, like grass or the verdant parts of any living plant
3 – to be lively or vigorous

In the 14th century, the English language had a female equivalent to the ‘virile virtuous man’. Her name was virago = a heroic woman of extraordinary stature, strength and courage.

In the patriarchial structures of the Anthropocene, this female warrior/heroine has long since been forgotten, neglected, distorted. Despite all claims of gender equality, the recognition of women as humans who enjoy the same rights, opportunities, respect and status etc as their heroic male counterpart remains largely a pipe dream.

Virago, in contemporary English, has morphed into a ‘loud overbearing woman’.

To challenge the virago-identity further, the gender label |woman| is now shared with humans who are born male and identify as female.

'Native female women' who experience and express unease about this appropriation of ‘their word’ ~ the verbiont |woman| has lived in a symbiotic relationship with  humans who identify with #she/her/hers throughout most of the past millennium ~ are subject to vicious attacks.

To top it all off, here is an ironic cherry on the whole female-gender-identity verbal crumble:::

The label |woman| is a much better fit for a transgender human who has transitioned from male to female identity.

〰 Here's why 〰

The older versions of this word ~ wiman or wifman ~ literally carried the meaning »woman-man«.

〰 In other words, in Old English, female humans didn't have an identity in their own right; they could only identify in relation to a male specimen.

〰 In other words, the English language has ~ to this day ~no word for female humans who identify as |native female|.

Perhaps native female humans, who are in the process of losing their/our/my verbiont in the gender wars, should reclaim the word |virago| ~ in her original heroic meaning.

How about leaving |woman| to those who proactively choose to identify with this shady label? 

But that’s another wordstory which deserves to be explored in a wordcast of its/their/our/her own.

photo credit: Ryan Stefan on unsplash

Nonviolence and Communicating as Jackals or Giraffes

Nonviolence first appeared in the English language in 1831 in the sense of “using peaceful means, to bring about change in a society.”

¿peaceful means?

The definition throws down a gauntlet question ::: what are 'peaceful means'?

How can peaceful humans remain peaceful in the face of violence?

These are vital questions too for our transition from the Anthropocene into the Symbiocene.

In the 1960s, American psychologist Marshall Rosenberg coined the term Nonviolent Communication (NVC). He developed a theory and practice which has proven to be effective for the development of empathy and understanding between fellow humans in conflict situations.

Communication [from Latin com = together + munere = to strengthen, fortify, protect, serve] is of course an essential aspect of using language. Words can either communicate aggression ~ thereby strengthening a (perception of) conflict ~ or they can be chosen carefully to communicate empathy and plant seeds of understanding.

Marshall Rosenberg identified two communication styles which help to distinguish between aggressive and empathetic language. He introduced a kind of ’spirit animal’ for each of the two styles ~ the jackal for the communicator in attack mode, and the giraffe for communication striving to develop empathy.

Jackal has a long history as a spirit guide and protector. In ancient Egypt the god Anubis had a jackal as a companion and is sometimes depicted with a jackal’s head. The dog-like wild animal is associated with guiding human souls to the afterlife.

Giraffe is known for her long neck, which enables her to view everyday life from a ‘higher perspective’. Rosenberg chose the giraffe as the spirit animal for conflict resolution because this mammal has the biggest heart. The long neck enables her to see the whole forest, which allows her to speak from a more inclusive vantage point, rather than barking at an individual tree.

In ‘jackal language’, communication with fellow humans is infused with the intention to get the upper hand. Our choice of words is judgemental, critical, and accusatory. We analyse, moralise, try to catch each other out, impose our wishes, all driven by the intention to prove ourselves right, and the other person wrong.

In ‘giraffe language’, we can see the woods, don't get distracted by the trees, and rise above mundane verbal conflicts.

We know that whole rivers, streams, and floods of emotions, often blocked by invisible scars, run beneath the words spoken in the heat of stressful moments.

We know that our emotional reactions are caused by our own thoughts, beliefs and fears, embedded in ancient inter-generational trauma.

We know that another person’s behaviour and words serve as a trigger, which can only release the effects they do because of our own sensitivities and predispositions.

In ‘giraffe mode’ we listen and try to understand the needs of another person while giving expression to our own feelings and desires.

Giraffe-communication strengthens both sides, helps to find common ground, and protects the symbiosphere.

While jackal language uses words as ammunition, giraffe language generates immunity and builds community.

Both types of language are munificent (= generous in giving), but each strengthens and protects a different cause.

Jackal feeds the Anthropocene. 〰 Giraffe nurtures the Symbiocene.

In the Symbiocene, attacks of a jackal may have to be met with the extraordinary stature, strength and courage of virago in symbiosis with the vigour of virtuous virility. Meeting violence with violence, however, is a vicious virus, which must be held in check and transformed to build up our symbiocentric repertory.

Jackal feeds on instinctive Anthropocentric impulses all the way to its own self-destruction 〰 true to his principle of guiding human souls to the afterlife.

Giraffe nurtures new life and new stories 〰 about the heroic search for true identity 〰 in the Symbiocene.