364: dismember versus remember Dec 7, 2015

To dismember something is to break it apart, either in the sense of dissolving a political state, or the tearing apart of a body (usually removing limbs). To remember something, on the other hand, deals with mental awareness. Even though remembering something is the idea of putting separated pieces (of thought) together, the two words are unrelated etymologically. 'Dismember' comes from the Latin 'dis-' meaning ‘apart’ and 'membrum' meaning ‘limb', while 'remember' ultimately derives from late Latin 'rememorari' meaning ‘call to mind’, which in turn comes from 're-' which expresses intensive force and 'memor' meaning ‘mindful’.