Concept in Definition ABC

As on so many occasions in our language, the word expletive comes from Latin. From the verb improperare, which means to reproach or insult, the noun improperium is formed, which means affront, insult, reproach or vituperation.

A deprecated word

The term we are analyzing is not part of the vocabulary that is used daily, as there are other synonymous words that are used more frequently. An expletive is used to indicate that the injury or insult directed at another person is of a certain severity. It is equivalent to blaming someone for something. In this sense, it is a cultured and disused way to discredit a person through the word.

Sometimes this noun is used in the plural, since the action of insulting normally implies a series of disqualifications. In this framework, there are certain expressions that contain this word, such as "cover with expletives" or "string of expletives".

Insults that were often used in other times

In our language the different ways of insulting have also evolved. Thus, some personal disqualifications become fashionable and others are no longer used.

- Traditionally the word coarse or coarse was used to refer to the frivolous person who led a crazy life.

-A man was described as a scoundrel when he had a lifestyle contrary to the moral and to the good traditions.

- The individual who acted with evil and in a base way he was a scoundrel.

-If someone was considered a fool he could be insulted with the word Mamluk.

-When someone did not have enough mental agility he was called alelado.

- A gaznapiro was a clumsy and intellectually simple individual.

- Who led an unproductive life and did nothing of profit became a zascandil.

- The fop was the young man who only cared about his appearancephysical. If someone dressed in a ridiculous way, you could say that he was a puppet.

- A hake was just a fool.

All these forms of disqualification are collected in dictionaries but they are part of other times and it is very strange that they are used today.

In the Passion of Christ

From the moment that Christ was imprisoned in the Garden of Gethsemane until his death on the cross He went through a series of episodes of suffering, such as the crowning with thorns or the climb to Mount Calvary. Is stage it is known as the Passion of Christ.

In the Catholic liturgy that refers to the Passion, it is recalled that Christ made a series of reproaches or insults to the Jewish people for having rejected him.

For some researchers, the expletives of Christ when feeling humiliated by his people constitute one of the essential elements of the antisemitism. According to interpretation Catholic, the expletives were not directed exclusively at Jews but at the whole of humanity.

Photos: Fotolia - christophe / popaukropa

Themes in Expletive