{"id":787,"date":"2021-11-14T10:58:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T19:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/?p=787"},"modified":"2021-11-14T18:18:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T03:18:07","slug":"a-good-steward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/?p=787","title":{"rendered":"A good steward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some years ago, the term \u201cjanitor\u201d was quietly upgraded to \u201ccustodian.\u201d Being the type who gets a huge kick out of words-and-where-they-come-from, I looked first at the word \u201cjanitor.\u201d Fascinating! The first definition uses \u201ccustodian\u201d as a synonym, while the second digs a bit deeper into the etymology. Apparently, this word first came to us through Greek mythology: the god Janus had many duties, one of which was to watch over doorways and gates. This in turn led to the Latin term for \u201cgatekeeper,\u201d (ianitor) <\/em>and thus St. Peter was at one time known, delightfully enough, as the \u201cjanitor of Heaven.\u201d Who knew that the word would have classical roots and would be (approximately) a second cousin of \u201cJanuary\u201d? Of course, the meaning has drifted, as meanings do, and the mental image that pops up now is one of dear old St. Pete running around behind the Pearly Gates with a broom and dustpan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, \u201cJanitor\u201d is a noble word and a noble calling, so why the need for the change? I know that many words start out descriptive and end up being used pejoratively, and while there are many, many words that are much worse offenders than this one, I can still see how it might have drifted slowly towards the realm of insult. High school students may or may not have helped with this process. Anyway, let\u2019s take a gander at \u201ccustodian.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first search of the word \u201ccustodian\u201d brought me to a Spanish-English translation. The Spanish word \u201ccustodian\u201d translates to \u201cguard,\u201d and since Spanish is one of the less-onerous descendants of Latin, that means that a janitor and a custodian are one and the same\u2014those who protect and guard. The Cambridge dictionary focuses on the idea that a custodian is a person who is charged with caring for someone or something. Thus, whatever you want to call this person, he\/she guards, protects, cares for, and keeps things safe. Not something to be sneezed at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This little dance through the history of some common-place words has led me (finally) to my point: I should feel good about cleaning my house! Lately I\u2019ve decided to become a little more systematic about cleaning, and even though the paint on the steps is chipped and stained (and I can\u2019t think how to repaint with this durn kitten running around), the sweeping and the mopping still manage to produce a pleasing effect. I can see it plain as daybreak: I am standing shoulder to shoulder with Janus the Gatekeeper, with all the Pantheon of Olympus behind me; I am armed with a mop, and I am firmly intent on keeping things nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

****************************************************************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For your further edification:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

janitor meaning – Bing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janitor – definition of janitor by The Free Dictionary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

custodian meaning – Bing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CUSTODIAN | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janus (greekmythology.com)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some years ago, the term \u201cjanitor\u201d was quietly upgraded to \u201ccustodian.\u201d Being the type who gets a huge kick out of words-and-where-they-come-from, I looked first at the word \u201cjanitor.\u201d Fascinating! The first definition uses \u201ccustodian\u201d as a synonym, while the second digs a bit deeper into the etymology. Apparently, this word first came to us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[321,322,323,320,319],"class_list":["post-787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings-about-language-and-life","tag-custodian","tag-etymology","tag-housework","tag-janitor","tag-janus"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=787"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":790,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787\/revisions\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightasrainonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}