Sunday, March 22, 2026

Matter/Pattern

Sometimes the origin of words yields a surprisingly fresh insight into the nature of things. I was curious about the origin of the word "matter" as in "I matter", meaning, "I am important". The more common meaning of "matter", and maybe the "original" meaning is: undifferentiated stuff. Eventually, I guess that concept morphed into various versions of "stuff", for example "the matter at hand", which is maybe how it turned into the concept of "mattering", as in "I matter" as in "I am stuff as well".

The origin of matter is the Latin word mater, which is mother, as in mother earth. I think "mater" and various version of that word go waaaay back into the mysts of time and the theoretical "proto indoeuropean language". 

The origin of "matter" being "mother" leads to the obvious question what's the "pater" derived word that takes on the same role, and that's "pattern".

The concept that the undifferentiated material world is "feminine" and the plan is "masculine" is an old one apparently. One of the symbols of that is the obelisk, like the Washington monument, which is, of course, a dick. One of the associated ancient concepts in agriculture is "the sun" goes into "the earth" and produces the plants in a crop.

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