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The ancestry of ideas in words has roots in remote times, in a manner similar to the ancestry of genes. Like genes, words have a family history or pedigree that can be traced. Notably, biologic and linguistic evolution are intertwined. Ancestral archives of genes and words contain "archetypes" of ideas that may serve as bridges with the past and may explain modern realities. The survival of archetypes against oblivion reflects qualities of utility, fitness, beauty or at least elegance. The charm of many "word ideas" had a grip on the imagination of many saints, poets, and politicians who used them to inflame the imagination of followers. Liberty, Justice, Happiness, Oblivion, Mother, Nation are "word ideas" that have fostered dreams and engendered nightmares. Inevitably, as human leaders and dictators exploit "word ideas" to frame new odysseys, meanings may evolve, become deformed, be replaced or die.

Many compilations explore the significance of words but none quite like the approach used in Pandora's Word Box. Whereas other works were created as hard print publications, this compilation was designed for PC computer use. Extensive cross-referencing designed to be enhanced by computer searches were planned from the outset.

Each entry seeks to underscore the ideas and pedigree that influence the sense in words. An emphatic effort was made to expand the search beyond the views present in English to include elements from other languages, existing and extinct. Also, the vagaries of spelling and other constraints of interest to linguists were discounted to enhance the sharpness of "word idea" images. To further configure "word ideas", roots from Mythology, Literature, Poetry, History, Politics, Biology, Genetics, Medicine and other sources were scrutinized. Expressed in formal terms, this compilation seeks to emphasize the lemma of our lexicon drawn from beyond the limits of English. The alphabetic arrangement of Pandora's Word Box implies it is a dictionary; a reliance on mythology, poetry and other sources of beauty bespeaks of an anthology; the extent of many entries and allusions to personalities suggests a cyclopedia and encyclopedia; the exploration for common roots in various languages suggests a polyglot approach, examination of phonetic similarities implies an emphasis on etymology and the analysis of similarities of ideas found in words lacking phonetic similarities suggests an emphasis on semiotics. For such reasons, Pandora's Word Box could be called a Polyglot Glossary or Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Anthology, Etymology and Semiotics. Instead, we favor the less formal sub title:
********Nature and Sense in Words - Notes Comments and Reflections

NOTE: some entries are in a rough draft stage.
******Refinements and additions to Pandora's Word Box are made continuously, a process that complicates proofing. Readers and users are warmly invited, even urged, to point our errors and to contribute views and suggestions. Please join the WordWatchers Forum or E-mail messages to:

" The multiplicity of human languages,
their wonderful variety ...
in instructing me
it also again and again
disquieted me.
I followed time after time
an individual word or even structure of words
from one language to another,
found it there again and yet
had time after time to give up something there as lost
that apparently only existed
in a single one of all the languages ..." from
"Meetings" by Martin Buber.

While immersed in this project I discovered others like Buber,who found in words hidden or lost meanings. Notably, Patrick Gunkel and his concept of " ideonomy ", to denote the laws governing ideas and knowledge was illuminating. Another notable is Mortimer Adler, who studied word ideas which embody Western culture in concepts underpinning our civilization. Patrick Gunkel points out that words may evolve in meaning while retaining clues to primeval meanings. Furthermore, as new words are added, they modify the meanings of old words. Languages like species, evolve differently and at different rates. Under the pressure of differing environments, some ideas in words like some genes in species may mutate and become more or less evident.

I claim no formal expertise in linguistics but my fate and interest in my multi-lingual environment have given me the intuitive linguistic roots that only " native feelings " can underscore. Also, as a clinician trained in Pediatrics and Medical Genetics, my fate imposed the need to understand the human reproductive imperative and its paradoxical dreams. Another motivation was my need to be able to express scientific facts with precision as well as to gain a window to the human soul to grasp its struggles with dilemmas and uncertainties.

This work aspires to show my serious interest and deep fondness for the subject. As an amateur, I can claim freedom from a need for professional or material gains and hope to have conveyed this liberty by lending the subject a lightness that readers may enjoy.

PC WordServers are used as a scholastic tool to build a vocabulary to impact verbal scores as measured by a number of standardized tests; SAT ACT GED GMAT GRE MBA MCAT MSAT LSAT GMAT FE EIT LPC CAT CELT CPA CPT DAT PAA PCAT PSAT SCAT SRA TASP TOEFL TOFEL USMLE CGFNS WPCT CBEST. The display of clusters of related words, automatically and as many times as wished, provides a steady stream of cognitive elements we call " word ideas ". The aim is to replace memorization with understanding.

The Comprehensive WordServer draws at random words of general interest. Other WordSevers also draw words at random, but stress special topics. Another notable asset of WordServers is the ability to elucidate linkages between " word ideas " through the use of a computer search engine. Computer exploration of the contents of the Pandora's Word Box is useful to expand the grasp of the inherent significance of words. Finally, the search engine opens the access to companion citations and biographic listing.

Jump To:
Pandora's Word Box
******Text Format / Search Engine etc
******Biographic notes and Citations
WordWatchers Forum / Comments / Email
Facts / Order
Examples of Word Ideas suggested by Pandora
****Note linkages of Pandora with Hope, Matter, Mattress,
****Matrix, Mother, and Birth Defects (click below).

Pandora in classic terms represents an enigma.
Pandora's Box in modern terms may be the womb.
Zeus was unhappy that mortals were given the sacred fire stolen by Prometheus.
Vulcan was commanded to forge Pandora, so named for her divine charms.
Mortal and irresistible, Pandora delivered to mankind a box
containing spirits with a stern warning not to release them.
Yet, the divine command was violated, perhaps because human curiosity is irresistible.
Once opened, the best of the liberated spirits returned to Olympus whereas others
remained to pester the earth. Only hope remained with Pandora.

Perhaps, the lethal radioactive energy oozing from Chernobyl, malforming and deforming Europe is the Sacred Fire stolen by Prometheus.

Perhaps, each mortal uterus, like Pandora's Box, is a maternal matter where all human hope rests.

Perhaps, the eternal parental paragon is the faith that the unborn will be free and spared from birth defects.

A Medical View of Birth Defects.
To view links between Matter, Mattress, Matrix, Mother
To Synopsis
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29/Nov/1997

February 12, 2001