Genius

Genius Genius Genius By Maeve Maddox A reader has asked for a post on the word genius, commenting, Its part of the word engineering but, in French, engineering is genie, which I associate with Aladdins lamp. Then, there is the genius spirit that ancient Romans associated with places. This comment offers much to address. I’ll begin with the Latin origin of the word. In classical religious belief, every human being was allotted a personal spirit at birth. This guiding spirit was called a genius, plural, genii. The role of the genius was to govern a person’s fortunes, determine his character, and to conduct him out of the world at death. The Latin word comes from a Greek verb meaning â€Å"to be born, to come into being.† This quotation from the OED show the word used in the sense of â€Å"guardian spirit†: Let their Guardian Genii still be watchful. N. Rowe Ambitious Step-mother. In addition to the kind of genii assigned to individual human beings, there was the genius loci, â€Å"genius of the place.† This spirit presided over a particular place: Watchd by the Genius of this Royal place. Dryden To Dr. Charleton in W. Charleton Chorea Gigantum. The â€Å"emperor worship† that the early Christians objected to involved burning a bit of incense not to the emperor, but to the emperor’s genius: Christianswho would die rather than fling into the altar-flame a pinch of incense to the Genius of the Emperors. F. W. Farrar Witness of Hist.   Ã‚   Genius in the sense of a guiding spirit is applied to abstract nouns and to periods of history. One may speak of â€Å"the genius of Democracy† and â€Å"the Genius of the Age.† Nowadays the word genius is often replaced by the word spirit. We’ve all seen cartoons showing a character being tempted: on one shoulder sits a little angel trying to restrain him, while on the other, a little red devil eggs him on. This depiction reflects the idea that people have not one, but two guiding genii: (a persons) good, evil genius: the two mutually opposed spirits (in Christian language angels) by whom every person was supposed to be attended throughout his life. Hence applied to a person who powerfully influences for good or evil the character, conduct, or fortunes of another. Genie and genii came to be used for demons or spiritual beings in general. Arabic jinn, the word for a class of spirits that may be good or evil, came to be spelled genii in English; singular genie became the word for one of these spirits, for example, one that might be imprisoned in a bottle. The use of genius as adjective meaning â€Å"intellectually superior† and a noun meaning â€Å"an intellectually superior person† developed in the 18th century as art critics began using genius to describe â€Å"native endowment† contrasted with â€Å"aptitudes that can be acquired by study.† This question on a homework site illustrates how this use of genius has obscured the word’s earlier meanings: If Hitler killed so many people, why is he called a genius? The youngster asking this question has no doubt seen Hitler referred to as â€Å"an evil genius† by someone who did not understand the meaning of the term. The answer given to the student’s question reflects the same confusion: You can say Hitler was a genius because he was so good at manipulating people.   He was able to get people to go along with his ideas even when they seemed to be completely crazy.  Because he was able to do this, you would have to say he was a genius.   Sadly, he used his great talents for one of the most evil goals ever. Hitler might be seen as the evil genius who influenced German doctors and prison camp directors to do abominable things, but labeling him â€Å"an evil genius† without reference to another person or persons is meaningless. The term â€Å"evil genius† refers to any personof whatever degree of intellectwho influences another person to do evil: The evil genius of the second half of Hitlers career was Goebbels. Ernst Hanfstaengel, Hitler: The Missing Years (1957). Finally, gà ©nie is the French word for engineering, but not because it has anything to do with the word genius. French gà ©nie means the same things that English genius does. The fact that the French word for engineering is also spelled gà ©nie is a coincidence: it’s a homonym derived from Middle French engigneour, â€Å"person who designs and constructs military works for attack and defense.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Words with More Than One Spelling50 Idioms About Fruits and VegetablesUlterior and Alterior

Learn How to Conjugate Oublier (to Forget) in French

Learn How to Conjugate Oublier (to Forget) in French The French verb  oublier  means to forget. When you want to say I forgot in the past tense or he is forgetting in the present tense, youll need to know the verbs conjugations. This lesson is a perfect introduction to those because well show you how to create the most basic and commonly used forms of  oublier. The Basic Conjugations of  Oublier French verb conjugations can be a bit of a challenge because there are more words to memorize than we have in English. Where English has the -ing and -ed endings, French has a new ending for every tense as well as every subject pronoun. That means you have five extra words to learn for each tense. The good news, however, is that  oublier  is a  regular -er verb, meaning it follows the most common rules for French conjugations. Once you learn the endings for this verb, you can apply those to almost every other verb that ends in -er. This makes studying each new verb just a little easier. You can use this chart to find the proper ending to attach to the verb stem of oubli-. Simply match the subject pronoun with the appropriate tense for the sentence youre using it in. For example, I forget is  joublie  and we will forget is  nous oublierons. Present Future Imperfect j oublie oublierai oubliais tu oublies oublieras oubliais il oublie oubliera oubliait nous oublions oublierons oubliions vous oubliez oublierez oubliiez ils oublient oublieront oubliaient The Present Participle of  Oublier The  present participle  of  oublier  is  oubliant. This was formed by simply adding -ant  to the verb stem. Its a rule that is applied to most other -er  verbs. Oublier  in the Compound Past Tense For the past tense, you can use either the imperfect or the compound known as the passà © composà ©. For the latter, youll need to know the conjugates of the auxiliary verb avoir as well as the past participle oublià ©. It comes together quickly: conjugate  avoir  into the present tense for the subject, then attach the past participle. For example, I forgot is  jai oublià ©Ã‚  and we forgot is  nous avons oublià ©. More Simple Conjugations of  Oublier When you dont know whether you forgot or not, you can use the subjunctive verb mood. In a similar fashion, if youll forget about something if something else happens, the conditional verb mood  is useful. Though they dont need to be a priority, there may also be times when youll need to use either  the passà © simple  or  imperfect subjunctive. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive j oublie oublierais oubliai oubliasse tu oublies oublierais oublias oubliasses il oublie oublierait oublia oublit nous oubliions oublierions oublimes oubliassions vous oubliiez oublieriez oublites oubliassiez ils oublient oublieraient oublirent oubliassent Brief and very direct sentences in French can be used in the imperative form. For these, skip the subject pronoun entirely and simplify it to oublie rather than tu oublie. Imperative (tu) oublie (nous) oublions (vous) oubliez