825: operate, opera, and opus Mar 12, 2017

Most English speakers probably know the verb, 'operate', the synonym of 'to work'. This comes from a Latin word, 'operat-' unsurprisingly meaning ‘done by labor’. Perhaps more surprisingly, the word, 'opera' became an English word in the mid 17th century via Italian from Latin for, you guessed it, ‘work’. A little less than a century later, the word 'opus', referring to one work in a larger collection by that composer, came about from the same Latin origin. The counterpart of sorts to 'opus', 'oeuvre' referring to a complete collection of artistic pieces (from a single artist) comes from the French for, ‘work’ as well. Indeed, while the word 'work' is not etymologically related to the rest of these, it is the idea of the work of an artist of any sort, not just musical, that led to, among these and other phrases, 'work of art' which could simultaneously be a 'work of genius'.

If you are now curious about the origins of 'soap-opera', click here.