Left versus right – what are the differences?

By Baldmichael Theresoluteprotector’sson

Most people are aware of the political differences; left wing is considered progressive and radical and right wing is considered conservative and reactionary. The two sides are invariably at loggerheads, fighting each other.

Yet we need the words left and right to identify things and for directions. If we keep saying left, left, or right, right, we might end up back where we started!

Mind you that sounds like going round in a circle or as they say, reinventing the wheel. This seems very appropriate as invariably politics comes full circle having messed things up in so doing.

But what of the words themselves? I like to look at the anagrams for a start.

Left

The one word anagram is ‘felt’. This is interesting as the left wing is much about feelings, ‘this feels good’, so we will do it.

Felt is also something soft so can be equated to the feminine side. Many on the political left are females, and indeed this seems to be the dominant trend.

Others observe further that they are frequently single females.

As to other part anagrams there are these:

– Elf       1: a small often mischievous fairy

2: a small lively creature

also : a usually lively mischievous or malicious person

from

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elf

Fairies tend to be considered as female.

– Let      As in ‘allow’,            to give opportunity to or fail to prevent.

– Tel       As in tel-ephone, to tell i.e. communication. The left loves to talk. The female tends to want to discuss everything which the male does not necessarily.

– Et        As in ‘and’ from French and Latin, and the root of the word ‘Etymology’, meaning ‘to study the true sense of words or language’.

– El         Primarily the representation in sound of the letter ‘L’. There is also a link to the Lammed of Hebrew, the ‘el’ and a representation of Lucifer, now the fallen angel.           

– Fe        The root of fe-male, also signifying the chemical element iron. This represents the iron resolve of the female and perhaps why the female of the species is more deadly that the male!

Right

The one word anagram is ‘girth’. This is interesting as the right wing is much about securing things which is the purpose of a leather girth on a horse’s saddle, for example.

It also has to do with measurement, in this case the circumference of an object.

The right tends to be more masculine.

As to other part anagrams there are these:

– Grit     Typically sharp sand or firmness of purpose as in true grit.

– Trig     Trim, precise or vigourous – see

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trig

– git       a foolish or worthless person, typically male, as in ‘old git’. However to ‘git’ is to go as in ‘git going’.

– Hgt     As in height, another form of measurement.

– Hit       To strike.

– Rig      Typically to clothe or construct, a piece of machinery or to manipulate.

The saddle

Using the horse image a saddle requires a girth to secure it but also a felt under blanket to reduce rubbing on the horse.

So we can say that we need both felt and girth, left and right if you will, for riding.

In Latin

In Latin left is ‘sinister’, right is ‘dexter’.

Sinister

This has come to suggest that the left handed have some evil motive and people in the past have been made to write with their right hand.

There is logic in hand writing to use one’s right hand as this avoids the risk of smudging ink on paper, although we no longer write nearly so much in that way.

However this assumes text written and read from left to right. In Hebrew for example it is the other way round.

Technically it would be better then to be left handed to write Hebrew. However, if one is carefully copying text with pen and ink then waiting for each letter to dry before proceeding to the next means the copyist is not rushing the work. This gives better accuracy in copying.

Sinister can be ‘I sin ster’ with ‘ster’ meaning ‘star’ like aster, the flower like a star.

Anagrams of sinister include:

– Sir Stein – there are notable people in the USA with this as part of their name

– In sister – perhaps this explains the female side

– Siren sit – a siren is a warning and sirens were mythical creatures who lured sailors to their deaths

– Tries sin

– I rest sin

Dexter

This has come to suggest agility with the hands as in dextrous. Of course right sounds like ‘write’ so the link to writing from left to right.

Dex means in essence 10, and we have ten digits on our hands. It is also the number for God the Father which requires another post.

Anagrams of dexter are limited but include these single words:

– Deter – suggesting reactionary or prevention

– Exert – indicating effort

– Treed – trees support life

In French

In French left is ‘gauche’, right is ‘droit’ masculine or ‘droite’ feminine.

Gauche

Gauche is taken to mean awkward or clumsy but also can mean offensive.

Anagrams of gauche include:

– Uh cage

– Ache gu

– AC huge

– Ace hug

There is also the single word ague as in disease like plague. I think it fair to say those on the political left have been much more afraid of COVID 19 than those on the political right.

Droit

In English there is no word droit on its own but adroit means very skillful and quick in the way you think or move.

– dt rio – rio as in river (Spanish)

– dt roi – roi as in king

– I trod

– It rod – the rod of authority

– To rid

There is also the single word riot which typically is a violent protest. However as ‘Y’ and ‘I’ are linked in usage, with riot spelled ‘ryot’ we can have Tory as in Tory party, on the political right.

Port and starboard

At sea port (meaning left) has a red light and (meaning right) has a green light as one faces the front or prow of the ship.

By Trex2001 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14786174

As regards seafaring, the steering oar was on the right side of the boat, it would tie up at the wharf on the other side. Hence the left side was called port.

From

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_and_starboard

Otherwise in other usage typically red indicates danger and green indicates safety. There are red and green traffic lights and the red dragon of Revelation for example.

However a port is a place of safety from the storms of the sea which is consistent with comfort and feeling safe in port.

And green is the colour you might go on a stormy sea!

Port is also port wine after Porto or Oporto in Portugal. Port wine is red, a fortified wine. It might be a comfort to drink some but can also be dangerous as it were if you drink too much!

Summary and final thoughts

So we do need both left and right so that we can make journeys together, the left (typically female and feelings based), the right (typically male and secure based).

A horse for a journey needs both a felt blanket and a girth to support it.

On a ship traditionally the starboard on the ship had the rudder, the steering oar.

The right is good for steering the ship, which in nautical terms is typically female and referred to as ‘she’.

Yet the ship is that which carries the crew a provides safety at sea and must be looked after accordingly by the crew.

But it not insignificant that left can be as in left behind which has been very sadly the lot of many women, particularly in time of war.

And right is used to mean correct, the right thing, however hard that may be.

Nevertheless as regards the words, the only shared letter in left and right is the ‘T’. This reminds me of two things:

1. Tea as in cup of tea or the meal in which we can share. Left and right can sit down together and share a cup of tea and to use a phrase, break bread together.

2. The ‘T’ of Jesus Christ, the Tree on which He hung and was cursed for our sins.

There is unity in Christ when symbolically we ‘crucify’ ourselves and consider others interests not just our own. As Philippians 2 v.3-4 says:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Look out for the sign of Baldmichael, he will be back!

P.S. Here are a couple of websites which may be of interest.

If you haven’t seen this, I make reference to the fact that Jesus is recorded as speaking about the goats and the sheep. The sheep are on the right and the goats are on the left!

The goats are those who eat anything and everything, rubbish or not. They are destined for eternal punishment.

Sheep and goats – Matthew 25:31-46 updated for the new millennium

This summarises the differences perceived by the author regarding the political left and right. I have not analysed in detail but at first glance it seems realistic.

This seems to provide a useful reasonably balance perspective regarding the political aspects.

Understanding “the Right” and “the Left” from a Biblical Perspective

http://fountainoflifetm.com/2020/08/24/understanding-the-right-and-the-left-from-a-biblical-perspective/