best_enemies | Words, Words -- and they make all the difference!

~~IT'S PEANUT BUTTER META TIME! PEANUT BUTTER META TIME!~~ *ahem* Okay, I'm sorry. I'll be relevant now.

Anyhow, in my never-ending quest to discover ways in which the Doctor and the Master are ~~accidentally~~ secretly expressing their undying love for each other through canon interactions, I have stumbled upon something quite Relevant to Our Interests. Namely, the joys of etymology, and how it applies to how the Doctor and the Master refer to each other/define each other, etc.

Today, I'm looking at Three and Delgado!Master in particular, although I think it could apply across the Doctor/Master spectrum as well.

Let's start with the Master, and what he calls the Doctor:

"He's an interesting adversary; I admire him in many ways." --the Master, in Terror of the Autons

Delgado!Master tends to use terms like "adversary" and "opponent" when describing Three, which have a more neutral connotation or tone associated with them compared to harsher terms like "nemesis" or "enemy." "Adversary" and "opponent" provoke ideas of a player in a game and imply a certain level of respect, courtesy, or admiration. "Opponent" on its own doesn't have much of an interesting etymology; however, the etymology of "adversary" has a bit of a deeper root to it that could give it some hidden meaning.

Adversary < French adversaire < Latin adversārius ("antagonist") < from Latin adversus, which is the perfect passive participle of a verb that means "turn to or towards" or "give or draw attention to."

I find the genitive root of the word the most interesting part here: it seems rather applicable, considering that the Master so obviously "gives attention to" or "turns to" the Doctor. And it ultimately makes the word "adversary" seem like something that is desirable--or at the least, eye-catching--rather than something negative or unwanted.

Now let's switch fields and see how the other side defines things:

"That's my best enemy. He likes to be known as the Master, don't you?" --the Doctor, in The Five Doctors

Three, on the other hand, is a bit more sparse in how he terms the Master. At the moment, all I can remember is him calling the Master his "enemy" at times, which does imply a more hostile outlook. However, after yet another quick etymology search, "enemy" comes from the Latin inimicus, from in- (“not”) + amīcus (“friend”); HOWEVER, after breaking down amīcus further, it derives from amō (“I love”) +‎ -icus ("belonging to; derived from; of or pertaining to; connected with"). Thus, the whole thing ends up sounding like one giant struggle of denial and sort of their entire backstory in just one word, etymology-wise, cause then it ends up looking sort of like this:

"Not my friend whom I love and belong to (at the core of my meaning)."

I find it especially intriguing that it's the further back you go in the word's genitive root that you get ALL OF THE FLUFFY LOVE, and then it sort of gets buried under developing history and more recent meanings that derive from it. And then, just that casual "not" in front of ALL THAT BAGGAGE. If that's not Doctor/Master all over, I don't know what is.

Who would've thought that calling someone "enemy" would be the most backhanded way of telling them you love them? Aw man, I love manipulating words. >:D

THE MORE YOU KNOW!

~~Watch me get attacked by Latin scholars.~~

P.S. For more of my adventures in discovering secret meanings behind casual, overlookable things in Doctor/Master interactions, I'd also recommend a glance at my "The Language of Flowers" which delves down into the multiple meanings (both widely known and obscure) behind those daffodils in Terror of the Autons. /end self-promotion