away, completely: denigrate

14 Nov 2019-1 Feb 2020

Overview

Check the gallery website for public programme events in Jan 2020. In popular lexicon, the English word to denigrate is used to describe the act of defaming, belittling, maligning, disparaging or slandering someone or something; specifically affecting the reputation or social standing of it. However, the etymological root of the word illuminates the anti-blackness that is inherent in the English language and it is as follows. -Niger- is Latin for ''black''; denigrationem is Late Latin for ''a blackening.'' The Late Latin de- does not mean ''the opposite or reverse of,'' as de- so often does; in this case, as in denude and declaim, it means ''away, completely''; and so, the etymological root of the word denigrate is ''to blacken completely.''