Today is day 18 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge began with A on April 1 and continues the alphabet throughout the
month, except on Sundays. My theme for the month will be this blog’s tagline: life, books, and all things bookish, so you can expect a little bit of this ‘n that. I’m still reading, though, and I’ll add reviews whenever possible. Thirty days of blogging is a huge commitment for me, but I’m looking forward to meeting and greeting new blog friends.
Today’s words: Recovery
Sometimes a word b
ecomes so well-used it loses meaning. I think that’s the case with the word recover. People magazine headlines every week give a shout-out to some celebrity or other who is in recovery. People can recover from hoarding or cancer, from PTSD or stroke. One can recover from co-dependency. Or sometimes we say someone recovers a new-found sense of purpose or happiness. But I can also use the word more literally and re-cover the furniture if I have it upholstered in new fabric. I can re-cover the saucepan on the stove. And if little one is sleeping and I tip-toe in and tuck the covers back up over his tummy, I am re-covering him.
According to an online dictionary, recover‘s etymology looks like this:
c.1300, “to regain consciousness,” from Anglo-French rekeverer (13c.),Old French recovrer “come back, return; regain health; procure, get again”(11c.), from Medieval Latin recuperare “to recover” (source of Spanish recobrar, Italian ricoverare). Meaning “to regain health or strength” is from early 14c.; sense of “to get (anything) back” is first attested mid-14c.*
What a fresh look at the word. If someone recovers, they come back, they return, whether it’s a physical or mental illness or addiction. They are aware, once again, and intentional. They have regained their strength.
And what a beautiful image that etymology promises. We should all be in recovery, don’t you think?
*”recover”. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 20 Apr. 2016.
This is my symphony 