ever wondered what your face looked like before your parents were born? (sorry, zen reference) ... no, ever wondered what "parent" means? or rather, where the word "parent" comes from? read below. note the root as being "pare", meaning "to bring forth," and also "parer", meaning "to make ready." extending from "pare," we get all kinds of interesting associations, first of all, to "paring" (trimming by cutting close) which, i often think, is part of parenting, as well as "sparring" or "parrying."
parent
1185, from O.Fr. parent (11c.), from L. parentem (nom. parens) "father or mother, ancestor," noun use of prp. of parere "bring forth, give birth to, produce," from PIE base *per- "to bring forth" (see pare). Began to replace native elder after c.1500. The verb is attested from 1663. The verbal noun parenting is first recorded 1959 (earlier term had been parentcraft, 1930).
pare
"to trim by cutting close," c.1320, from O.Fr. parer "arrange, prepare, trim," from L. parare "make ready," related to parere "produce, bring forth, give birth to," from PIE base *per- "to bring forward, bring forth" (cf. Lith. pariu "to brood," Gk. poris "calf, bull," O.H.G. farro, Ger. Farre "bullock," O.E. fearr "bull," Skt. prthukah "child, calf, young of an animal," Czech spratek "brat, urchin, premature calf"). Generalized meaning "to reduce something little by little" is from 1530.
parry (v.)
1634, from Fr. parez! (which commonly would have been heard in fencing lessons), imper. of parer "ward off," from It. parare "to ward or defend a blow," from L. parare "make ready, prepare" (see pare). Non-fencing use is from 1718.
spar (v)
"to box," c.1400, "to strike or thrust," perhaps from M.Fr. esparer "to kick," from It. sparare "to fling," from L. ex- + parare "to ward off, parry" (see pare). Used in 17c. in ref. to preliminary actions in a cock fight; fig. sense of "to dispute, bandy with words" is from 1698. Extension to humans, with meaning "to engage in or practice boxing" is attested from 1755.
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