Fun #language deep dive.

[zersiax@cupoftea.social]

Fun #language deep dive.

The Dutch word "aardig" conventionally means "friendly" or "kind". However, if we look at this through cognates, it could be translated as "earthy".
Aard-, that first syllable, can mean earth, but also one's nature, and in some words, one's orientation, which synonymizes with being grounded, as in an electrical system.
Aard can also mean "descent", which is where we get even deeper into the weeds. For one, this is likely where our friend "aardig" came from; aardig = of high/noble descent became friendly/kind.
In the word "eigenaardig", which now means "odd" or "strange", we see influences of this meaning as well, meaning as much as "having a character of one's own", which is amusing if we compare it to similar words in other languages, most notably "idiot" which comes from ancient Greek "idiotes", which means "private person".

Moral of the story: Being your own person and going against what is expected of you has been made to feel bad. Do it anyway!