Short but sweet one today. =)
I grew up with a perfectionist for a father, so it’s a word I’ve known for, oh, ever. I too can be a perfectionist in a lot of things (housekeeping not among them, ha ha). Never had I thought to look up its etymology, though, until I came across it in a manuscript set in biblical days. I’d already learned that most of those “isms” we know so well came out of the psychological revolution.
Perfectionist has a different but similar story. The original meaning of the word, dating from the 1650s, is actually “one who believes that moral perfection is attainable in this life through faith.” A button topic for millennia, LOL. If you believed that, you were a perfectionist. If you didn’t, then you weren’t.
It wasn’t until 1934 that the modern meaning came around–“one who is satisfied with only the highest standards.” Pretty different! No longer is a word that has to do with theological debates, but now it’s about measurable standards.
Who knew?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
I apparently can't live with some clutter. Or maybe it's my children who can't…no, it begins with me, LOL. And I just saw that your book will be available soon–CONGRATS!!
Oh wow! I never knew that! And I am very much a perfectionist. 😉 Except with housekeeping. I like happy, small amounts of clutter. Except on my desk. Everything has a place & is kept in it there.