8/3/2019 Opposition 12: Aries 12 (A flock of wild geese) and Libra 12 (Miners emerging from a mine)

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Aries 12: A flock of wild geese 

Libra 12: Miners emerging from a mine  

The f irst theme concerns GROUPS . The col lect ive noun f lock d e s c e nd s

from the Old Engl ish f locc ( a g r o u p o f p e r s o ns , c o m p a ny , a nd t r o o p ) a nd

is related to the Old Norse f lokkr ( c r o w d , t r o o p , a nd ba nd ) a nd t h e

Middle Low German vlocke (crowd, f lock, sheep) . 1 The word i tsel f means

“ a g r o u p o f a n imals that l ive , travel , or feed together” , “a g r o u p o f p e o p l e

u nd e r t h e l e a d e r s h i p o f o ne p e r s o n ” , and “a large crowd or number .” 2 A

m i n er   i s “one whose work or business i t i s to extract ore or minerals

f r o m t h e e a r t h . ” 3 The keyword here is miners , the plural of   m i n er  , a nd

t h u s s o m e qu a nt i t y i s i nd i c a t e d , a g r o u p o f i nd e t e r m i na t e nu m be r .

A s e c o nd t h e m e c o nc e r ns t h e EARTH o r t h e ENVIRONMENT . R e c a l l t h a t  a m i n er   i s one who extracts minerals from the earth . A mine i s “a n

e x c a v a t i o n i n t h e e a r t h f r o m w h i c h o r e o r m i ne r a l s c a n be e x t r a c t e d . ”  

Th e w o r d   wild descends from the Indo-European (IE) root   welt- which

m eans “w o o d s , w i l d . ” Paronyms include w eal d   ( a n a r e a o f o p e n o r

f o r e s t e d c o u nt r y ) , wold  ( a n u nf o r e s t e d r o l l i ng p l a i n) , a nd wilderness  (an

u ns e t t l e d , u nc u l t i v a t e d r e g i on l e f t i n i t s na t u r a l c o nd i t io n ) .

A t h i r d t h e m e c o nc e r ns WILDLIFE . F i r s t , t h e r e ’s the keyword geese ,

t h e p l u r a l o f   goose , which refers to “any of var ious wi ld or domesticated

w a t e r b i r d s o f t h e f a m i l y A na t i d a e . ” 4 S e c o nd , a s s h o w n a bo v e , s h e e p a r e

implied in the etymology of   f lock . Third, among the paronyms of the

keyword wild   are the words vole  ( a ny o f v a r i o u s r o d e nt s o f t h e

g e nu s Microtus ) a nd wildebeest   ( A f r i c a n a nt e l o p e ) . F i na l l y , o ne o f t h e

p a r o ny m s o f   emerging i s the word merganser   which refers to “a ny o f  

var ious f ish-eat ing diving ducks of the genus Mergus. ” 5 

V i e w t h e r e s t o f t h e s e r i e s a t    h t t p : / / s c r . b i / x z y U A A  

1 h t t p : / / w w w . e t y m o n l i n e . c o m / i n d e x . p h p ? t e r m = f l o c k

2 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / f l o c k  3 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / m i n e r

4 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / g o o s e

5 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / m e r g a n s e r