Let’s Sit with the History of Insidious

Hello,

There is a small black and white cat who poses an insidious threat to my garden’s wild birds. She likes to sit underneath the spreading, and concealing, branches of the low-growing Japanese maple tree and wait for an unsuspecting bird to visit the birdbath.

What’s lurking beside the bird bath?

Despite liking cats this seems unfair on the unsuspecting birds and I chase her away whenever I spot this behaviour. In the long run I’m pruning the maple’s drooping branches to provide less of a lurking location for the feline, but I’m hoping the birds are quick and wily or they won’t make it through the year.

I thought of her when I read the definition and history of the word insidious. Something insidious is unpleasant (I’m sure the birds would agree), dangerous (ditto), and develops gradually without being noticed. It’s a creeping threat, one which perhaps seems safe at first glance but is a danger all the same.

Insidious arrived in English in the mid 1500s as a borrowing from either French insidieux or Latin insidiosus. The Latin word, which meant plot or ambush came from the verb insidere (to sit on or occupy), sedere was the verb to sit. But what exactly does sitting have to do with plotting? Can conspirators not scheme while standing up?

The link is figurative. Think of a hunter, cat, or army lying (or sitting) in wait. Their patience allows them to entrap their prey. So it is with an insidious threat – be that from my local cat hunting the song birds or from an opponent in war, trade, work, or politics. If they’re waiting for you in the proverbial long grass, beware, or perhaps buy a lawnmower.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

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