When Trivial No Inconsequential Was

Trivia scarce all its life trivial was, It meant ‘three paths’ and looked learned, And was no stuff derived of trifling cause, A combo word of ‘tri’ and ‘via’ made. What shame! A word of scholarly image, Connoting to the liberal arts three And leading to a bachelor’s degree; But age’s known to malign sharpest of edge. When people ere at crossroads met, Gossipy titbits oft did exchange, that Wielded the word its meaning new, And trivia took a trivial hue! Ah from trifling to marginal, To small and inconsequential, To things nigh insignificant, To petty and unimportant! A word, good manure for human brain is, As teasers help brain cells to irrigate, Delay Alzheimer or put it to ease, Oft stretching man’s best-before date! So, words too come mortal as do men, Like men they age, seldom be as began, What crucial ere is turns to trivial, And trivial turns consequential. _______________________________________________ The word ‘trivia’ has acquired today a meaning quite different from what it meant to begin with. This little ditty tells how it all went. Scholars in the Middle Age were called trivialists. They studied what was known as trivium, the lower division of a university course comprising Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic— three basics of the seven liberal arts. The higher division had the remaining four arts: Mathematics, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. The word trivium from Latin meant a cross section of three roads. The former three subjects were considered popular arts, and the later, science. From this, trivial began to acquire a new shade of meaning: unscientific, to popular, to commonplace, to even humdrum! Today it means: of little value or importance, trifling, marginal, even petty, and frivolous. ________________________________________________ -The ways of words | 01.11.09 |