Predation/Depredation

Filed Under January 2008, columns | Leave a Comment

Dear Word Detective: My love of words and their history has made me a sort of nerdy celebrity among my friends (we are grad students in Environmental Education, so we’re mostly science nerds). Usually when my pals come to me with word queries, I’m able to use a little investigative work (a dictionary and your column, basically) and then stun them with my etymological prowess. Alas, I have been stumped. If “predation” and “depredation” mean the same thing, why do we have the two different words? Why does one have that confusing “de-” prefix? Did they always mean the same thing, or did they diverge at one point? Is “depredation” in any way related to “deprive” instead of “prey”? — Crysta.

Well, lookie there. Signs of intelligent life on Earth. Good to see, because lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Sparta, inspired (if that’s the right word) by some silly movie made from a comic book. (Excuse me, “graphic novel.”) Curious, I actually looked up the movie on Wikipedia, and they had posted a big “spoiler warning” before the plot summary because it apparently reveals the super-secret ending of the Battle of Thermopylae. I guess if that’s the sort of thing you like, that’s the sort of thing you wouldn’t know.

“Predation” and “depredation” do mean essentially the same thing in standard usage, “plundering, pillaging, ravaging, exploitation, destruction or ruthless consumption.” Since you and your friends are students in Environmental Education, you are no doubt aware that “predation” is also used in scientific contexts to mean “the preying by one animal upon another; the behavior of a predator,” a usage which lacks the moral judgment implicit in the more general use of the word.

The root of both words, the Latin “praeda,” meaning “booty or prey,” is indeed shared with our English “prey.” This “praeda” begat the Latin verb “praedari,” meaning “to plunder, to rob, to make prey of,” which eventually produced our English “predation” (appearing around 1500) and “depredation” (1626). Neither of these words is related to “deprive,” which harks back to the Latin “privare,” meaning “to isolate or deprive” (also the source of “private,” from the sense of “a single person”).

As to how “predation” and “depredation” can mean the same thing when the prefix “de” usually plays the same negative role as “un” (as in “depopulate”), it’s time to blame those tricky Latin prefixes again. In “depredation,” the prefix “de” means not “un” but “thoroughly, completely,” a role it also plays in words such as “denude” (make completely naked), “declare” (make completely clear), and “despoil” (thoroughly ruin). So “depredation” means “utter, total predation,” damaging or destroying something severely.

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Fiddler’s bidding

Filed Under January 2008, columns | Leave a Comment

Dear Word Detective: Does anyone know the origin of the phrase “to do something at a fiddler’s bidding,” meaning that you have been invited to participate in some activity as an afterthought and you refuse because you won’t do something “at a fiddler’s bidding”? — Lesley Shave.

Anyone? It’s just me and the chickens here, and the chickens have gone shopping. But thanks for a darn good question. You can have it back now, and I don’t ever want to see it again.

Just kidding. “Fiddler’s bidding” is a new one on me, which made it fun to research, and I’m sure the results will be fun to read, provided that your definition of “fun” in this case doesn’t include the words “definite answer.”

Since your email address indicates that you are in the UK, you’ve probably run into “fiddler’s bidding” more often than we do in the US, as it seems to be British (some sources say Scottish) in origin. Your definition of the phrase agrees with what I’ve found, except that refusal to accept the last-minute invitation isn’t necessary. One can show up for the party and still be miffed.

Even in the UK, however, the phrase must be fairly rare, because a Google search for “fiddler’s bidding” turns up a mere 26 hits, making for meager pickings. In her novel “Penny Plain,” Anna Buchan (1877-1948) describes a dinner party where few of the intended guests were able to come, and the substitutes, once they realized the reason for their presence, were not thrilled: “It was trying for everyone: for Mr. Elliot, who was left with the impression that people were apt to be engaged when asked to meet him; for the Jowetts, who now knew that they had received a “fiddler’s bidding,” and for Mr. Jackson, who felt that he was only there because nobody else could be got.” Elsewhere, a musical group called Wild Asparagus has recorded a song titled “Fiddler’s Bidding.” And just last year the question-and-answer feature of the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald (called “Column 8″) went looking for the story of the term with several suggestions from readers but no definitive results.

Still, based on these and other sources, I think we can piece together the logic of “fiddler’s bidding.” The phrase probably dates back to the 17th or 18th centuries in England and Scotland, when wandering minstrels (often bearing fiddles) were apt to appear unannounced at one’s door offering a performance in return for coins or food. If the fiddler appeared at mealtime, and there happened to be a vacant seat at the table and enough food, he might be invited (”bid”) to join the party. Thus “fiddler’s bidding” came to mean a last-minute invitation to someone not on the original roster of guests.

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