Coming up on Word Matters, it's audience participation with your questions.
I'm Emily Brewster,
and Word Matters is produced by Merriam-Webster in collaboration with New England Public Media.
On each episode, Merriam-Webster editors Neil Servin, Amin Shea, Peter Sokolowski,
and I explore some aspect of the English language from the dictionary's vantage point.
Each week we put out a call to our listeners, and thanks to you, our inbox fills accordingly.
Let's get to some of your letters.
Another question from our mailbag.
Adrian writes,
I have always wondered about Jane Austen's use of the word condescension in her novel Pride and Prejudice.
The character Mr. Collins uses the word frequently when speaking of his beloved patroness,
the eminent Lady Catherine de Bourg.
He holds her in such exaggeratedly high regard that he speaks of her condescension with reverence,
as in she is all affability and condescension.
And Adrian goes on to question this use of condescension.
It is a use that is very different from our familiar use,
but the word condescension first meant exactly what it means in this use in Pride and Prejudice.
It goes back to about the middle of the 17th century, apparently.
voluntary dissent from one's rank or dignity in relations with an inferior.
So this is the willing and generous stooping of some eminent person to interact with an inferior.