I love finding out about the etymology of words – not for the purpose of deciding the ‘correct’ meanings, but for what it tells us about our history. The only value of ‘correct’ usage, in meaning, spelling or grammar, is that it makes it much easier to read & understand.
In fact my definition of good writing is that you forget you are actually reading , which you cannot do if you are constantly having to cope with the unconventional or unfamiliar
There is one exception to this generally relaxed view of either proscription or prescription: the word doctor
Especially as in: He is not a proper doctor, he has a PhD
Doctor comes from the Latin word meaning to teach. Dum docent discunt
A doctorate was the highest degree which could be awarded by a university & demonstrated that truly you had something to teach others
Then, somehow, as Mrs Gaskell acidly remarked, along come these whippersnappers with a mere two bachelor degrees, daring to call themselves doctor
Who have always to be dragged, arms twisted, to teach us anything (except that it is all our own fault because we are sinners). It seems incredible now, but I am old enough to remember the fight there was to give patients the right to know which drugs they were taking. As a child we got bottles or boxes labelled The Mixture or The Tablets
Funnily enough the word I can be relied upon to spell wrongly, & to miss in proof reading, is medecine. But that’s just the French for you
