Greetings, Gruesome Gents and Ghoulish Girlies. It’s that time of week again where we take a thorough analysis of a single word until we’re certain that’s not really the way it’s spelled.
The Word Geek word of the week this week is ‘possessed.’
Since I’m trying to foster a bit of a spooky audience. The idea of being possessed for most of you is probably something like this:
That isn’t always what it meant, though.
Modern Meaning
possessed: adjective
pos·sessed pə-ˈzest also -ˈsest
1a(1): influenced or controlled by something (such as an evil spirit, a passion, or an idea)
(2): mad, crazed
b: urgently desirous to do or have something
2 obsolete : held as a possession
3: self-possessed, calm
Original Meaning
The word possessed comes to us, once again, from the Old French word possesser “to have and hold, take, be in possession of” and the Latin word possessus and possidere which is likely a compound of potis “having power, powerful, able” and sedere “to sit.”
The word ‘possessed’ first came into English in the early 1500s, where it meant “to hold as property.” By the 1520s it had shifted to meaning, “to seize or take possession of.” Now, these were pretty much only meant in a sense of owning or seizing property and had no supernatural connotation. In fact, the people thought of this as such a good and commonplace thing that it wouldn’t be associated with anything evil for a whole… *checks notes*… 10 years. In the 1530s the verb to possess and the adjective possessed came to mean “to have or to be under the complete power, mastery, or control of an indwelling demon or evil spirit.” That’s right, it took less than a generation to equate landlords to devils.
Possession
Although ‘possess’ and ‘possessed’ took on a supernatural meaning in the 1530s, the noun possession remained meaning “a physical thing you own” until the 1580s before it also transformed into “state of being under the control of evil spirits or of madness.” This coincided with the creation of the term repossession, meaning, “renewed possession, act or state of possessing again.”
Obligatory tie-in to my book
Possession is one of the many abilities that the spirits in the Spirit Saga have at their disposal. It’s very energy intensive though, so they don’t use it as much as some of the simpler ways of influencing the living. When it is called for, it is a very effective method for ensuring someone does exactly what you want them to because you can control their actions for a limited time. That is until the person’s spirit expels you.
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See you next week for another Word Geek Wednesday. We’ll be exploring the word ‘demon.’
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