Express

Yesterday I was thinking about the word "express." Though I generally don't like Latin-based words, I find the imagery inherent in the word very vivid.

We use the word most commonly to mean a sort of communication. Express your feelings. Express your thoughts. Just: express yourself.

But then it also means fast or single-purposed: Expressway. Express train. I'll send that out express. I came expressly to see you.

So what does the word mean? It means to press out. Almost like exhaling (which is to breathe out), you are pushing words into the open. You push a train along, in a single line. It is from the Latin, as I said: ex - "out" and pressare - "to press, push"

The word is found rather early, in Middle Latin as "expressare."

To God be all glory.