2742: Wish on a Star Jun 23, 2024

People may wish on stars or have high hopes now, but this sort of thing was certainly more pronounced in the past. The word ‘desire’ for instance comes from the Latin phrase ‘de- + sidus’ (from the star), and while it certainly had an astrological connotation, the meaning was slightly different than in English; the verb dēsīderō could mean ‘I desire’ but also ‘I miss/regret’. Indeed, this meaning is carried over into the word ‘desiderate’ that unsurprisingly comes from this root, also leading to ‘consider’ though it is less clear how this relates to stars. It could be that cōnsīderō, meaning ‘I examine’ related to observing constellations, but does not carry the same emotional significance as ‘desire’.