weal

****************************************************************
You may swim this summer, but is the past tense "swum" or 
"swam?" Check out our Concise Dictionary of English Usage.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?conusg.htm&6
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for July 22 is:

weal   \WEEL\   noun 
     : a sound, healthy, or prosperous state : well-being

Example sentence:
     "During his two years as county judge, other qualities ... became 
apparent. One was an unusual ability to persuade men to sacrifice for a common 
weal." (Robert Caro, _The New Yorker_, January 15, 1990)

Did you know?
     "Weal" is most often used in contexts referring to the general good. One 
reads, for example, of the "public weal" or the "common weal." The latter of 
these led to the formation of the noun "commonweal," a word that once referred 
to an organized political entity, such as a nation or state, but today usually 
means "the general welfare." The word "commonwealth" shares these meanings, but 
its situation is reversed; the "political entity" sense of "commonwealth" is 
still current, whereas the "general welfare" sense has become archaic. At one 
time, "weal" and "wealth" were also synonyms; both meant "riches" ("all his 
worldy weal") and "well-being." Both stem from "wela," the Old English word for 
"well-being," and are closely related to the Old English word for "well."




You Are Subscribed As: GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 072206 GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx mf*

---
You are currently subscribed to mw-text as: GCLW-MW-WOD7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
leave-mw-text-979910Y@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx