D. Murali

EVEN as the US mourns its `deadliest day' in the land that Saddam bequeathed to Bush, the world watches if Uncle Sam's election gamble in Iraq will pay off. But that may matter little to our netas who are busy preparing for hustings ahead in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana.

To a population that has come to terms with elections as being no different from a dismal harvest that yields more chaff than grain, the recent debate on `negative vote' at the Supreme Court comes as a breath of fresh air. If that becomes a reality, political leaders may have to come to terms with top votes going to `none of the above' option that the Election Commission may only be too ready to provide on the electronic voting machines.

Elect means "choose someone to hold a position especially public office, by voting," according to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Thus, Marcus announces in Titus Andronicus, a Shakespearean tragedy, how the people of Rome have chosen `by common voice' Andronicus, `in election for the Roman empery', for "a nobler man, a braver warrior, lives not this day within the city walls." That is a far cry from our candidates, so most voters search in the list for the best of the bad lot.

Selection among alternatives, such as electing to bat, is another meaning of the word. "The election of a sir so rare," is a line from Cymbeline about choosing a man. In school, our choice of subject was called elective (first recorded use 1847). As adjective, elect means "chosen for office or position but not yet installed," explains Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, giving examples such as president-elect.

For the religious, however, one who is `elect' is somebody specially chosen by god. But the New Testament cautions: "There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

In the lingo of markets, `elect' is "the conversion of a conditional order into a market order," as www.bloomberg.com defines. As an acronym, ELECT means election, electrical, electronic, electrolyte, and also, Education Leading To Employment And Career Training and Eli Lilly Event Classification Terms. "In today's increasingly global business marketplace, localisation, internationalisation and globalisation are becoming a necessity for companies and products to be successful," states www.electonline.org, describing the ELECT (European Localisation Exchange CenTre) project "founded with the intention of becoming the focus point for multilingual and multicultural digital content development and publishing." The site www.elect.mnscu.edu is different. It provides "e-learning for early childhood teachers", through a consortium of thirteen community and technical colleges.

The Elect (www.the-elect.com) is a six-piece jam/rock band in the US that "melds the story telling of folk, heart of blues, and the energy of rock and then combines them into a feel good and moving jam". While on the subject of election, don't miss www.everyonecounts.com a.k.a. E1C, which talks about e-democracy, using `eLect' — a "specialised, purpose written web service which forms the basis of E1C's Electoral Returning Officer bureau".

No word is completely known until we look into its origins. Election's origin dates back to 13th century, "from Anglo-French eleccioun, from Latin electionem, from stem of eligere `pick out, select,' from ex- `out' + -ligere, combined form of legere `to choose, read'," informs www.etymonline.com. A word with many cousins through the legere link, you'd know from the Online Etymology Dictionary.

`Legible' is from legibilis meaning what can be read, from Latin legere `to read' or `pick out words'. If you remember, the Bush-Gore tangle was about votes that could not be read because the punch card machine didn't work properly.

`Lecture' is also from legere; Greek legein means `to say, tell, speak, declare.' Choose and put together, and what you have is `legion'. Often, the elected take law in their hands, perhaps because law is "possibly related to legere" as `a collection of rules', going by www.etymonline.com.

Delectable seems so delectably close to elect, but no, it is from delectare `to allure' and forms the base for `delicious' and `delight' too. Like it or not religion enters politics, and caste casts its shadow in campaigns, but it may shock you that the word religion also is related to elect, through this: re + legere, according to Cicero, because you `go through again, read again.'

Similarly, nec (`not') + legere is neclegere that forms `neglect'; dis (`apart') at the beginning gives you diligere leading to `diligence'; com (`together') is part of colligere that lies at the root of `collect'; and `sacrilege' or `crime of stealing what is consecrated to god' is from sacrum legere, where sacrum means `sacred object'. It may not be sacrilegious to state that our elected representatives neglect the electorate even as they are extremely diligent in making collections as if it were their religion.

Election and intelligence are strange bedfellows, but the latter word (meaning `faculty of understanding') is from Latin intelligentia `understanding', I understand, from intelligere (that is inter or `between' + legere). You may recollect that during college union polls, posters scream `Select and Elect so-and-so', though these are usually mutually exclusive processes.

In selection, you carefully choose, as the BCCI selectors do; but in election, there can be surprises when a dark horse emerges victorious, owing to the law of large numbers. Yet, select is from legere, with a se to prefix for `apart'.

Hamlet is unlike most of us who just don't pin high hopes on elections: "He that hath kill'd my king and whored my mother, popp'd in between the election and my hopes." Among his last words would be these: "O, I die, Horatio... But I do prophesy the election lights."

If that sounds horrific, George Bernard Shaw too considered election to be a `moral horror' — "as bad as a battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it." To him democracy is a form of government that substitutes "election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few". Those few may include many criminals, and they'd be electing to go `shopping' after the election, `win or lose', as Imelda Marcos wished to.

"An election is coming," wrote T.S. Eliot. "Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry." Till the election, that is.

ComingToTerms@TheHindu.co.in

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