2960: Meager and Macro Jan 28, 2025

The words ‘meager’ and ‘emaciated’ are etymologically related, which might not be too surprising given their meaning of ‘thin’ or even ‘deprived’. The former is a native Germanic word while ‘emaciated’ comes from French, from the Latin ‘macer’ meaning ‘thin’. Less obviously, these are more distantly related to ‘macro-’ and other big-words, like ‘major’ (and likewise ‘mayor’) and ‘macron’, which refers to long vowels. The fact that the Latin and Germanic words each separately made the transition from (in essence):

big→long→slender→thin→deprived

is remarkable, but as seen in the other cognates, the original sense is clearer, and these are just two instances of deviation.