I heard on tv that the word sincere is derived fron the Latin phrase “without wax”. He said it came from the olden days when the marble tradesmen would sell marble blocks, the crooked dealers would hollow out the marble and fill it with wax. So the true marble blocks were known as sincere. Sin meaning without and cere meaning wax. Is there any truth to that?
From the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary:
sin•cere \sin-"sir, sen-\ sin•cer•er sin•cer•est adjective [MF, fr. L sincerus whole, pure, genuine, prob. fr. sem- one + -cerus (akin to L crescere to grow) — more at same, crescent] (1533)
Alternatively, from http://www.dictionary.com (hint, hint):
sincere \Sin*cere", a. [L. sincerus, of uncertain origin; the first part perhaps akin to sin- in singuli (see Single), and the second to cernere to separate (cf. Discern): cf. F. sinc[`e]re.]
The OED discounts the “without wax” explaination:
[ad. L. sincer-us clean, pure, sound, etc. Cf. F. sincère (1549), Sp., Pg., and It. sincero.
The first syllable may be the same as sim-, in simplex: see SIMPLE a. There is no probability in the old explanation from sine cera ‘without wax’.]
I have heard the “without wax” origin a bit differently, not hollowed out, since the labor of hollowing a marble block would far out value the small stone recovered. Rather that carved stone goods were displayed with wax covering veins of inclusions which would make the stone weaker. The practice supposedly left the word sincere as an echo of the description of honestly displayed goods.
I heard this from a High School Principle. (long ago, of course) I was quite disappointed to be unable to get any confirmation of the derivation from other sources. This is only the second time I have encountered it in public. (My sisters went to the same school, so I discount them.)
Tris
The bottom of this site also considers the “without wax” explanation hogwash.
It’s a fascinating explanation…to bad it seems to be completely based in somebody’s linguistic imagination.
cough ahem, this web site.
cough cough
Don’t mean to be “one of those people”, but one of the few things I remember from school is that the prinicPAL is your pal.
Wow…thank you. (I’ll have you know that the person I heard that from was Mr. Bentley from The Jeffersons. I guess he is as smart as he sounds.)