I like to use the word “missive” to refer to a handwritten letter. I suspect that many people don’t know that word or think I’m silly for using it, but I like the sound of it. It comes from the same Latin root as our cognate duo for today does.

emissary — an agent sent somewhere to represent someone or something on their behalf; a representative

emisario — the Spanish masculine cognate of the same meaning

emisaria — the Spanish feminine cognate

These words come from Latin’s emittere which means “to send out.” I’m sure you noticed that that verb looks a lot like our verb “emit,” which comes directly from that Latin verb. If you “emit” a sound, you are “sending it forth” from you. In Spanish, that verb is “emitir.”

A “missive” is a letter that is “sent” to someone. In Spanish, it is “misiva,” but like us, they tend to use “carta” to refer to a letter just as we tend to use the word “letter.” I still like the word “missive,” though.

When you have a “mission,” you are often sent somewhere to accomplish it. An “emissary” might have a specific “mission” to fulfill, and some “emissaries” are also secret agents like Ethan Hunt in “Mission: Impossible” — “Misiόn: Imposible” in Spanish.

“Missionaries” are sent far and wide with specific objectives or “missions” to accomplish. They are usually religious “missions,” and we tend to think nowadays of “missionaries” working in other countries, but there are 21 Catholic Missions one can visit in California that were established to convert indigenous people. Here is a link to one website about them: California missions

A male “missionary” in Spanish is a “misionero” and a female one is a “misionera.”

Back to “emissary.” I was pleasantly surprised that King Charles did not send one on his behalf but rather came himself, with Queen Camilla, recently to the United States on a visit in recognition of our country’s 250th anniversary. He’s quite a funny fellow, too. If you didn’t get a chance to see some of his humorous comments, here’s a video: King Charles is actually funny!

Just as I like the sound of the word “missive” more than the more commonly used “letter,” I also really like the sound of the word “emissary” much more than the word “representative.” Perhaps that’s because I too often shout that word into my cell phone nowadays, demanding to speak to an actual human being! Maybe I should try yelling “EMISSARY” the next time I’m stuck in automated response limbo and see if that word works better for me.

Until next time. This is May’s free post (or missive). Please upgrade to paid status to receive these on a weekly basis. Once you become a paid subscriber, you also receive the recordings as well as access to the full archive of posts — there are more than 200 of them, so your subscription buys you a lot, and it doesn’t cost much at all to try it for a month. Thank you.

Tammy Marshall

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