A LEXICON DRAWN FROM THE NATURAL WORLD

The Reason Behind the Lexicon

Our language reveals who we are…and who we think we are.

         Harvesting, sifting, and winnowing faunamorphs and floramorphs can be an immensely enjoyable endeavor for a wordshark; searching woods and field for them is a treasure hunt. And they can teach us a lot about human nature and how we naked apes (faunamorph) view and misconstrue the animal kingdom and the plant world (not fauna- or floramorphs), from which we stem and in which we are deeply rooted (two floramorphs).    

In addition to having fun with words, there is a valid and significant point to be made in examining faunamorphs and floramorphs. Scientists and Indigenous leaders tell us that all living things on our endangered planet are interconnected, and that therefore we humans do not exist separated from the environment. In particular, we do not exist apart from the world of animals and plants but are profoundly and inextricably imbedded in the natural world. Not just in biological terms, but also in terms of our myriad languages and cultures. Taking the English language as a primary example, a lexicological list such as the present one powerfully demonstrates the vast extent to which we use animal characteristics and behavior to describe our human ones. In doing so, we sometimes honor each side – “lion-hearted” and “happy as a lark.” More often we disparage them both – “chicken-livered,” “dumb as a dodo,” and “monkey around.” 

In a word, not only are we environment, as Amazonian indigenous leader Evaristo Nukuag asserts, but in spite of our propensity to deny it, the truth is that we are also animals. We are fauna. We must learn, and re-learn, to accept that fact. Then come to embrace it and love it!

Once we come to terms, on the deepest level, with the fact that we are animals, we can then slow down, perhaps reverse, our penchant for denying our true nature, and we can further broaden our empathy and our level of peaceful coexistence with the rest of the natural world. Doing so will enable us to walk away from the deadly worldview that drives a potent divide between the so-called “human world” and its supposed counterpart, the “animal world.” This bifurcated view of life on our planet is one of the factors that has most contributed, over millennia, to the wanton human plundering and destruction of our natural resources and our natural wonders.

Most of us have no concept of how inextricably we are woven into the web of life. A prerequisite then, for reversing eco-degradation would be to transform our current perspective, by first of all accepting that indeed we are fauna. This could in turn open up possibilities for the vitally necessary spiritual sea change in the ways in which we perceive and relate to the Earth. Without this broad and profound spiritual shift, it is unlikely that we will resolve our grave, existential environmental dilemma.

Commencing with this premise that we humans are fauna, that we are an integral part of the animal world, I will argue here that our language reveals that on a deeper level, we already know this. No matter how hard we try to hide from and openly deny that knowledge, we are indeed animals. And this humble word-harvesting project is but one piece of the corroborating evidence. May it not be merely wool gathering by a dogged old silverback!