Home...what? Is it Eco or Echo?
About six years ago, we suddenly started seeing the prefix Eco applied to everything---from headlines to, well, store names. Technically, it comes from the Greek word for House...which makes our store a House Home or a Homey House or something like that...
The following essay does a good job of capturing the thought processes behind the word’s new popularity:
“The [word] “eco“ seems to telescope the awkwardness of "relatively less environmentally damaging" into three letters. What's not to like about that if you're a headline writer squeezed for space?
The "eco" prefix reminds me of the connection between economics and ecology - and I hope between sound management in the largest sense and environmentalism in the spirit Suzuki preaches.
"Eco" comes from "oikos," the Greek word for "house." "Logy" is a combining form from the Greek word for "word," and refers to the science or theory of something. Thus ecology," that '60s throwback, "the study of systems," is more concretely "the study of the house" – of Mother Earth.
Economy is assembled from "eco" plus another combining form, "nomy," rooted in a Greek word for law and referring to arranging or ordering things – as in taxonomy, for instance. "Economy" originally meant household management, and later the management and finances of the state.
Concern for the protection of the natural world is often seen as at odds with the desire for economic growth – and not without good reason. [Author David] Suzuki had very strong things to say about conventional economics: "It's not a science; it's a set of values posing as a science."
It is encouraging to note that a number of economists – though not necessarily conventional ones – are seeing environmental protection and cleanup as opportunity, not burden. They're seeing sound economic analysis as supporting environmental protection. They're seeing "economy" and "ecology" as close cousins, if not quite twins.”
From “Words on the Move”, by Ruth Walker.
Christian Science Monitor March 23, 2006
