clement — an adjective meaning merciful or mild
clemente — the Spanish cognate of the same meanings.
“Clement” goes back to Latin’s clemens which also meant “mild.” If you happen to be a literary fan, you might recognize that as the real last name of a famous American writer. He was best known as Mark Twain, but his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
Our cognate duo is the perfect word to describe the weather we’ve been having this winter here in Nebraska. Normally, we battle subzero temperatures for months along with blizzards, ice, and relentless wind. We’ve had incredibly “clement” weather because it’s been unseasonably warm all winter.
Typically, we tend to use the antonym of “inclement” more often to describe the crappy weather, and people don’t usually say that the weather is being “clement,” but that’s exactly what it’s doing. “Inclement” simply means that something is not being mild or not showing mercy.
The noun of “clemency” also has an easy cognate in Spanish — “clemencia.” This is an act of mercy. Usually, we use this word to describe a judge who shows “clemency” in passing a lenient sentence.
Both “clement” and “clemency” can be used to discuss a judge or the weather, as long as those two things are being lenient on us.
Not only did one of our most treasured American writers have the last name of Clemens, but fourteen popes used the name Clement, and the first of them became a saint! Were they all known for their clemency? I’m not Catholic, nor do I know much about papal history, but it would be interesting to find out.
If you are a baseball fan, you might have thought of Roberto Clemente when you first saw the Spanish cognate above. When studying Spanish in a high school, it’s common for textbooks to have small write-ups about famous Hispanic people, so Roberto Clemente comes up. He was from Puerto Rico, but he played professional baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he was very philanthropic. Sadly, he died at the age of 38 in a plane crash while trying to deliver aid supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. I do believe his last name suited him.
I’m going to stop here and go outside to enjoy this clement weather. In Spanish that would be “tiempo clemente.”
Until next time.
Tammy Marshall
Clement