Fun fact about the word “govern”: To “govern” was first to steer. English took “govern” through French and Latin from Greek kybernan, to pilot a ship and then to guide. The same Greek family later supplied cybernetics. A governor and a cybernetic system are linguistic cousins: both keep something on course. What does governing a country have to do with steering a ship? #words #vocabulary
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KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS WORD: govern. Say it: /ˈɡʌvən/ Meaning: require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood
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THE STORY: Where it started. Govern came through French governer and Latin gubernare from Greek kybernan, to steer or pilot a ship and, figuratively, to guide. The same Greek family included kybernetes, a steersman.
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NEXT: What changed. Guiding a state became a metaphorical version of keeping a vessel on course. Centuries later, Norbert Wiener drew on the same Greek family when he named cybernetics, the study of control and communication, so governor and cybernetics are distant linguistic relatives.
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NOW: Where it ended up. To govern was first to steer. English took govern through French and Latin from Greek kybernan, to pilot a ship and then to guide. The same Greek family later supplied cybernetics. A governor and a cybernetic system are linguistic cousins: both keep something on course.
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YOUR TURN: What about you?. What does governing a country have to do with steering a ship?