Political Politeness

If you've ever spent any time watching proceedings at Parliament you might, like me, wonder if there could possibly be any connection between the words polite and politics.

Well, you won't be surprised to learn that there isn't, although they both have their roots in the ancient world. Polite comes from the Latin politus, meaning 'refined, elegant'. That, in turn, came from polire, meaning 'to polish, make smooth'. Politics, on the other hand, comes from the Greek. It derives from the title of Aristotle's Ta Politika, his book on governing and governments.

Incidentally govern comes from the Greek kybernan, meaning 'to steer (a ship)'. And parliament comes from an Old French word meaning 'to speak' – now that makes sense!

While I was on the subject of manners (or absence thereof) I looked into courtesy. This derives from curteis, an Old French word meaning 'having courtly bearing or manners'. I was interested to learn that it was originally used to describe a man of good education. In other words, rudeness was a sign of ignorance.

Wouldn't it be lovely if our politicians were more polite or courteous?