segregate (2009-11-05)

Part of Speech: verb

Pronunciation: ['seg-rê-geyt]

Definition: To separate and set apart from the main body; to separate a portion so that it cannot rejoin the main body.

Usage: Segregation by sex was also a characteristic of our society. Segregating the boys from the girls in school was long thought to promote better study habits among both. Now it is time to return this word to the general lexical population where it can play as well as work: "At her buffets, Hyacinth always segregated the desserts from the main courses by placing them in a cabinet that she kept locked until her guests finished her squash and okra casserole."

Suggested Usage: Today's word is the base of the noun, "segregation," which has long been an ominous term of social mistreatment in a class with "ghetto" and "pale." Yesterday, May 17, was the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision that struck down the "equal but separate" legal concept that had sustained racial segregation in the US. That decision allowed us to put today's word to a more noble use.

Etymology: Today's word comes from the Roman notion of "separating from the flock." It was borrowed from Latin "segregare" from se(d)- "apart" + grex (greks), greg- "flock." So, "congregation" originates in a Latin form meaning "flock together" and "gregarious" derives from an adjective meaning "belonging to a flock." The Latin stem greg- comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *(a)ger- "gather" with a suffix and metathesis ([e] and [r] switched places). Ancient Greek used the variant with the initial vowel for its noun, agora "market place," the original mall where people flocked together to buy whatever they needed and to socialize. In English? "Cram."