"Exist," "Ecstasy"

       Words that begin with "sta" (basic derivational meaning "stand," as noted yesterday) are not the only words that employ that root.

       "Exist" and "ecstasy" are two that fascinate me.  The first syllable in both words means "out." The "st" part of both words is the "stand."  To "exist" is to "stand out" by derivation.  And to be "ecstatic" is to "stand outside" or be "beside" oneself, the state of ecstasy.

       Just playing with the concrete images embedded in even the most potentially philosophical and spiritual of words, is the great joy and practicality of tracing words to their tangible, touchable, palpable, sensory, bodily beginnings.