I seem to have developed some issues with my right hip muscles. It is painful to put any weight on my right leg at times, especially when I want to get out of bed first thing in the morning. To extricate myself from this predicament, I have a page of hip muscle stretches to accomplish before I can consider starting the day.
Extricate means to free or remove from an entanglement or difficulty. I have a hard time just walking at times, so I have a few pages of hip muscle exercises to perform with the hope to extricate myself from this affliction.
Extricate comes from the Latin extricatus, the past participle of extricare, meaning to disentangle, untangle, or set free. Extricare is formed from ex (out of or from) plus tricae (perplexities, hindrances, or tangled knots). Essentially, extricatus means release from traps or hindrances.
In 1601 the English language first used extricate to mean to unravel. Our granddaughters in Canada all have beautiful curly hair. However, when their hair becomes tangled it is a very delicate operation to brush their hair without any screams or cries of pain. Attempting to extricate the knots that have developed is something I am not very good at doing, as all three of them can attest.
Eventually, extricate morphed to releasing, or escaping from a complex or restrictive problem or situation. The firefighters were able to extricate the victim from the burning building after evaluating the situation and developing a rescue plan.
Extricate might bring to mind extract, which was mentioned last week in the article about the word exact (see Word Wisdom August 10 online on MooseJawToday.com or the August 12 issue of the Moose Jaw Express). Extract is to remove something out of a source. Machines are used to extract oil from canola seeds by cleaning, heating, and flaking the seeds, then passing them through mechanical screws to squeeze out the oil. Extricate is the act of freeing someone or something from a tangled situation by careful maneuvering or skill. He extricated himself from the awkward conversation by announcing that he needed to make a quick call, and moved away with his phone in hand.
Disentangle, disencumber, disembarrass, and extricate mean to free from what binds or holds back.
Disentangle implies painstaking separation of a thing from other things. When I moved the desktop computer on my desk it took 30 minutes to disentangle the various cords.
Disencumber suggests a release from something that clogs or weighs down. To help get a good night's sleep you need to disencumber your mind from all the stresses you have faced during the day.
Disembarrass indicates a release from something that impedes or hinders. I usually disembarrass Patti from taking her overpacked, heavy suitcase down the stairs.
Extricate implies the use of care or ingenuity in freeing from a difficult position or situation. It took a long time to concoct a plan to extricate himself from his financial difficulties.
In 2016 the Hunter Brothers produced a comedy parody of Corb Lund’s famous track "The Truck Got Stuck" (2005) that recounted the story of the need to extricate a combine from being stuck.
“The combine’s stuck, and the grain cart’s stuck, and it’s all because of the sprayer rut, but the truck got stuck in the auger rut, so how can we fill up the bin? “
The other day my leg was in such pain as I sat in a cushioned chair that I had to call Patti to come and extricate me from the seated position. Oh, the golden years!
Columnist John Kreutzwieser loves to research words and has an interest in the usage, origin, and relevance of words for society today. Greek and Latin form the basis of many words, with ancient Hebrew shedding light on word usage.
John would like to know if anyone has a sincere interest in a relevant word that he could possibly research for an upcoming column. If so, please send your requests to wordwisdom2021@gmail.com. Words will be selected according to relevance and research criteria. We cannot confirm that all words will be used.
