Mr. Bear

Imagine the silliness of addressing a bear, the forest's very own resident mayor, as a Mister. Absurd. Hard to fathom.

But did you know that mister is derived from master which used to be the term applied to boys who were not old enough to be considered mister. Imagine what our bear friend would think of this. He would roar and roar with rage until the water left the river and the trees shook themselves to their bones.

The word master comes from the magister which is latin for teacher or master.

Within magister is the root magis which has TWO etymologies. A fine day for the bear indeed. One hive and double the honey.

The Latin meaning of magis means 'more' or 'greater' while the Greek comes from magos which means 'magician' or 'wise man'.

And now we see our Mr. Bear bumbling his way through the woods. Looking for trash cans to overturn and trampolines to ruin. We know that he carries on a rich tradition of words--words that exist entirely outside of his realm of awareness. Godspeed Mr. Bear.