Genetic Fallacy and Etymology

Thursday brings to mind "Thor's-Day," the genesis of our 5th weekday's name and cause of infinite genetic fallacies.

 
You've heard the charge, something like, "Well if this is a Christian calendar established by Christian monks you'd think they would avoid paying homage to pagan gods." Same could be said for Sunday (Ode to sun-worshippers), Saturday (worship of Saturn), and probably others I'll not bother to look up. 

The genetic fallacy is the trap of basing the meaning of a thing on its genesis -- it's beginning.

This happens all the time with word meaning and etymology. Take the word "woke." It applies to all kinds of hard-left ideological positions today but its genesis was the idea of being aware, cognizant, tuned-in-to injustices of culture. To insist on that meaning today is not only to commit the genetic fallacy, but to equivocate: insisting a word have the same meaning in different contexts, or, perhaps more common, using the same word with different meanings in the same context.

One of my favorite examples of this error happens with the discussion at Christmas time and the word Xmas. Most folk who scrawl this word on a sign or a note are doing so for ease -- X writes easier and more quickly than Christ-. Unbeknownst to most who use that abbreviation, X is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ, and in some contexts X is used to refer to Christ. The error comes when we imagine all who write Xmas are doing so as an abbreviation of the Greek word for Christ. That's simply not the case.

Same with holiday. Holiday was originally holy day, but that hardly means the greeting "Happy Holidays" means "Happy Holy Day" as it was originally used, though it is true that since "holy day" simply means a day set apart, the common usage is still very near. But the point is that etymology does not determine meaning. Usage determines meaning.

Dictionary editors examine usage and so, for instance, study the way "Happy Holidays" is used and come up with the following: "The phrase happy holidays is a festive, secular greeting used most often during the winter holiday season." Etymology, on the other hand, tells us what it meant in its genesis. It does not tell us what it means now.

So when I use the word Thursday am I paying homage to Thor? Hardly. No more than when I write "Xmas trees for sale" do I mean Xristos trees for sale or when most use the expression "Happy Holidays" do they invoke Christmas as a Holy Day in the sacred sense. It's possible a person is doing that in each instance, but the use of a word with that genetics (genesis/etymology) does not require it.

There, aren't you blessed to know that?!

:)