SUO: Re: Determination
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| Determine.
|
| The 'termination' is an ending, and a 'term' is
| a period (that comes to an end). 'Terminal' was
| first (and still may be) an adjective; The Latin
| noun 'terminus' has come directly into English:
| Latin 'terminare, terminat-', to end; 'terminus',
| boundary. From the limit itself, as in 'term' of
| office or imprisonment, 'term' grew to mean the
| limiting conditions (the 'terms' of an agreement);
| hence, the 'defining' (Latin 'finis', end; compare
| 'finance') of the idea, as in a 'term' of reproach;
| 'terminology'. To 'determine' is to set down limits
| or bounds to something, as when you 'determine' to
| perform a task, or as 'determinism' pictures limits
| set to man's freedom. 'Predetermined' follows this
| sense; but 'extermination' comes later. Otherwise,
| existence would be 'interminable'.
|
| Joseph T. Shipley, 'Dictionary of Word Origins',
| Rowman & Allanheld, Totowa, NJ, 1967, 1985.
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