Best Friends Read the Same Books
The True Meaning of "Colleague"
As I have often discovered, and often say, we could recover great education simply by studying educational vocabulary. Hidden in the very words we use are clues to what education used to be and could be again.
To those of you new to my writing, I will cite just two examples before considering the marvelous word “colleague.” 1
Liberal Arts: We use this phrase often but very few can name the liberal arts. Can you? At first you think you can because, after all, you went to a liberal arts college, or were enrolled in a liberal arts program. So you reasonably surmise (or guess?) that literature, history, and philosophy are three of the liberal arts. But what if you were told that traditionally there were seven—could you come up with the other four?
Or what if you were told that neither literature, philosophy, nor history were listed in the traditional seven arts? They are very close to the liberal arts, because the liberal arts very much want to prepare you to play in these disciplines and grow wise in them. But, no, they were not listed in the original seven which were: grammar, logic, rhetoric (the arts of word), arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music (the arts of number). You might feel some relief—for you have no doubt studied arithmetic and geometry, possibly music. Less likely have you studied grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
But two questions remain about the liberal arts: Why are they called liberal? Why are they called arts? These two lead naturally to other questions: What is the difference between an art and a science? What makes a science a science? What exactly is grammar, logic, or rhetoric? How is it that music can be regarded as an art of number or a mathematical art?
The history of the words “liberal” and “arts” help address these questions. They were called liberal because they liberate or set us free to understand the reality of the cosmos by means of words.2 Words arranged to make meaning make up grammar, words arranged to discern and display truth make up logic, words arranged to delight, instruct, and persuade make up rhetoric. They were called arts because the make us into makers who can make meaning, arguments, compelling speeches and essays. Liber in Latin means “free,” and ars means “something made.”3
Assessment: We know we need to assess our students, and we talk of various kinds such as qualitative, quantitative, formative, evaluative, summative, and “high stakes” assessments. At the root of this word is the Latin adsedere, which most literally means to “sit beside.” What if we regarded assessment as something very much akin to coming alongside a student, a pupil, a disciple, to help him do the next best thing, even when that means correcting him or directing him back on the right path? Rectus means straight, and correction, direction, rectangle, rectitude, and resurrection all are versions of things made good, made straight.
Colleague: If we work with others, we have co-workers. With a co-worker, we might share the same office building but possibly nothing else. A colleague, however, is more than a co-worker. Beyond possibly sharing a building, a colleague likely shares common interests, ideas, and goals. The best colleagues even share the same books.
This is retained in the old idea of a college, which is derived collegere, (and the noun collegium) which means to read together. One ideal of a college is that it would be a gathering of like-minded learners (teachers and students) who are reading the same books and for the same ends—for inquiry, study, conversation, wisdom. Our word “collection” retains the same old root meaning. Legere in Latin means to read. If we add cum (“with” in Latin) to legere, we get collegere. The nominal form in Latin is collectio—not just a gathered arrangement, but arrangement of readers or readings. Think of our English words, “lecture,” “lecturn,” and “lectionary” and you will see the connection to reading and speaking.
A colleague, therefore, is a fellow reader, and likely a reader of the same books, and for the same ends. This is the old ideal of a college, and a good lecture would be derived from good reading. To this day at Oxford, students does not say “I am majoring in philosophy” but rather “I am reading philosophy.” The equivalent of asking one’s major it to ask “What are you reading?”
For those still curious about etymology, it is worth noting that even legere had a meaning that precedes reading: “to choose.” This is because to read Latin meant that one had to choose or select the letters that were properly grouped together to form words—and this because Latin letters were often not separated by spaces or punctuation. Our words “select” (to choose, set apart) and “elect” (to choose out from) are forms of legere. In fact our work “intelligence” is derived from intellegere which means “to choose from among or between.” It takes some understanding or intelligence to choose and arrange Latin letters together to form words that lead to meaning and then to understanding. We might say that a person of intellect knows how to make wise choices.
Some of the most important choices we make on our intellectual journeys are our choices of colleagues. With whom you study, with whom you read, with whom you discuss and argue—what is more important? Yes, we should carefully choose our books, but with whom will we choose to read those books? If you have found a good friend, who reads well, who reads you and reads with you—then such a friend is collegial and is continuing your college education. If you are intelligent, you will work to find and keep such friends.
To read an earlier article on educational etymology, see here: 20 Words You Must Know to Understand Education
And yes, the were intended for a free people that they might remain free. And yes, they were free from any direct focus on job training, for they were regarded as the necessary, preliminary training that equipped humans for any job or profession.
The arts of word were called collectively the “trivium” or the threefold path to wisdom via the mastery of words. The arts of number were called the “quadrivium” or the fourfold path of to wisdom via the mastery of number. Humans know reality and acquire knowledge and wisdom by means of word and number—unlike any other creature.