Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origin 60. The origin today is sinister.
in English. All right. Let's take a look at the note. If someone says that another
person is sinister, he or she means that this person is threatening and may do
harm or evil, something like that. Any time we say that something is sinister, bad or
evil is connected to that idea. Okay. Let's continue. The origin goes back to
Latin. Even though when reading on us, the idea may even go back further to
like I think the Greek Empire. But if you want a direct connection to the word
sinister Latin is is better. In Latin sinestra meant left. So at first it just
meant literally left. But then it started to develop. So historically, the left side
were people who were left handed we're thought to be unlucky and then
eventually they kind of connected the ideas of evil or threatening with them
too. In many European languages you can find vocabulary that reflects this. This
is true with both French and Italian. Yes. I do remember I had studied Italian, you
know, Sinestra I remember it meant on the left and immediately made the
connection. Oh sinister, you know right is good. That's left
and I think sinistra I think in French. And there's a lot of other European
languages that have some sort of variation of this. This connection to
right and left where right is good left is bad. Let's continue. The right side
also took on the meanings of correct or proper. Okay. You could see this in such
English words as' righteous' meaning morally good or correct or 'rightful'
meaning officially or legally you know, accepted. Okay. Let's continue. In many
cultures parents would often try to change children that were
naturally left-handed to write with their right hand. You don't see it as
much anymore. Growing up in the US. I didn't really see it in my generation.
But I do remember that my father was originally left-handed and his parents
tried to force him to be right-handed. So they did force him to write with his
right hand. But of course, he still naturally did a lot of other things with
his left hand. And you know, even when I came to ... when I first came to Asia I
also found this in in Asia too. That many people believe this in in Asia as well. I
remember, probably more than 20 years ago I knew , I knew a girl English teacher
who worked at a school for , for kids. So it was really basic English that she was
teaching. But when the owner of that school realized that she was left-handed
he actually fired her just for being left-handed. Now I don't think the same
thing would happen today. But at that time even just 20 years ago that did
happen. So it was kind of a left handed prejudice. I don't know something like
that, but anyway you never know. I don't think left-handers have too much
to fear today. I don't I think that any sort of a bias against them has kind of
dwindled over time. So most cultures don't think this way, but you don't have
to go that far back just just really a couple of generations. One generation or
two generations and you will find this in a lot of cultures. Anyway, I hope it
was informative that you know, you realize but the sinestra left was
always bad. Right was always good. I hope it was food for thought and I hope you
enjoyed it. Thank you for your time. Bye- bye.