Taurus 21: A finger pointing in an open book

The word finger is a derivative of the Indo-European (IE) root penkwe-, which means five. Paronyms include fi f t h , f i f t y , f i n , f i st , f o i st , p e n t a go n , p u n ch ( a b e v e r a g e o f f r u i t j u i c e s ) , qu in t e t , a n d quintuple.1 The word pointing descends from the I E r o o t p eu k - , t o p r i c k . 2 I t s p a r o n y m s i n c l u d e e x p u n g e , i m p u gn , p i n k (t o s t a b l i g h t l y w i t h a p oi n t e d w e a p o n ), p o u n ce , p u g i l i st , p u n c h ( t o h i t w i t h a s h a r p b l o w o f t he f i s t ), p u n c he o n , p u n c t u a l , p u n c t u r e , p u n g e n t , a n d pungent. T h e w o r d o p e n d e s c e n d s f r o m t h e IE r o o t u p o - w h i c h m e a n s u n de r , u p f r o m u n d e r, o ve r . I t s p a r on y m s i n c l u d e a b o ve , s u p in e , o f t e n , u p , a n d t h e p re f i x h yp o - . 3 F i n a l l y , t h e w o r d b o o k d e s ce n d s f r o m t h e I E r o ot bh a go - w h i c h m e a n s b e e c h t r e e a n d f r o m w h i c h a l s o de s c e n d s t h e w o r d s b u ck w he a t a n d beech.4 T H E M E S : T h e m os t o b v i o u s re l a t i on s h i p a m o n g k e yw o r d s o f t h i s s y m b o l c o n ce r n s t h e H U M A N H AN D . T h e s y m b o l d e s c r i b e s a f i n g e r t h a t i s p o i n t i n g , m o s t li k e l y t h e i n d e x f i n ge r . A f i n g e r , o f c o ur s e , b e l o n g s t o a hand. Not surprisingly, th e word fist (the hand closed tightly with the f i n g e r b e n t a g a i n s t t h e p a l m ) d e s ce n ds f r o m t h e sa m e r oo t a s f in g e r . 5 S e c o n d, t he r e a re t w o s e n se o f t he w o r d p u n c h p r e se n t . One of the p a r o n y m s o f f i n g er i s t h e w o r d p u n c h w h i c h h e r e m e a n s a b e v e r a g e o f m i x e d f r u i t j u i c e s . A n o t h e r s e n s e o f p u n c h i s a p a r o n ym o f p o i n t a n d i t
1 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo 2 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo 3 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo 4 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo 5 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/fist Starling Hunter 2011 European European European European Roots, Roots, Roots, Roots, pp. 64-5 p. 67 p. 94 p. 7

means to hit with a sharp blow of the fist. In the United States, a d v e r t i s e me n t s f or a j u i c e b e v e r a g e c a l l e d H a w a i ia n P u n c h u s e d t h e d o u b l e m e a n i n g o f p u n c h c o n s i de r a b l e e f f e ct , a s t h e i m a g e b e l o w suggests. F i n a l l y , r e c a l l t ha t t h e s m a l le st finger on the hand is informally referred to as the pinkie. That word comes most immediately from t h e D u t c h p in k j e , a d i m i n u t i ve o f pink meaning little f i n g e r. 6 As s h o w n a b o v e , a n ot h e r d e f i n i t i o n of t h e w o r d p in k i s t o s t a b l i g h t l y w i t h a pointed weapon and that d e f i n i t i o n i s a p a r on y m o f p o i n t i n g .

6 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pinkie Starling Hunter 2011 2