The Word Roots of Radical

Hello,

It’s raining too much today to potter in my garden so I thought I’d explore the word roots of radical, which surprisingly has a connection to garden roots.

gnarled tree roots

The adjective radical has been with us in English since the late 1300 and back then its only definitions related to plant roots. Its meaning was “originating in the root or ground” and “vital to life”. It joined English thanks to the Latin word radicalis (of or having roots). This source also gives us the word radish for that particular root vegetable. The Latin word came from a Proto Indo European root word (pardon the pun) wrād (branch, root). If you described something as being radical then everybody knew you were referring to roots.

Radical gained a figurative meaning from the 1600s onwards when it was defined as something essential and getting to the origin of things. It’s easy enough to see why. A plant’s roots are vital and getting to the root of something does mean digging down to the origin or core of it.

By 1817 radical had acquired a new meaning – a political reformer. It was used to describe members of the more extreme wing of the British Liberal party who had been calling for radical reform for decades by then. They were seeking change “from the roots”. If you look around today you’ll probably still find somebody somewhere calling for radical reform.

By the 1920s in North America if you called somebody radical you meant they were unconventional. The 1970s boom in surfer slang added that something radical was at the very limits of control – an on the edge surfing move, presumably.

Radical also found use in mathematics (since the 1680s). Radical chic was popularised by novelist Tom Wolfe’s use of the term in the 1970s. It implied that people were merely dabbling in radical ideas because it was seen as cool. You’ll find more on that term here.

William James coined the phrase radical empiricism in 1897. I did read up on it when writing this piece but honestly the theory was somewhat beyond me. However empiricism itself is the idea that one should rely on direct experience and observation rather than on theories.

Until next time, happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)