impeccable — an adjective used to describe something that is flawless or without sin
impecable — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning
I recently read “The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom” by Don Miguel Ruiz.
The first agreement says this: “Be impeccable with your word.”
Ruiz goes on to explain the root of the word “impeccable,” which is Latin’s peccare and which means “to sin.” If you are “impeccable” then you are without sin, and if you are “impeccable with your word,” then you don’t sin against yourself through your words.
I appreciated that Ruiz included an etymological lesson in his book and that he focused on the importance of words and their impact. Words do, in fact, carry much more import in our lives than most people give them credit, and Ruiz makes that very clear.
We tend to use the word “impeccable” more often in the “flawless” sense as in someone has “impeccable taste” or someone’s house is “impeccably clean,” etc. Yet, what is “flawless” but the absence of a “flaw” or of a “fault” which could also be expressed as a “sin.”
We use the word “sin,” which comes down to modern English from Old English, but in Spanish, they use the word “pecado” for “sin.” “To sin” is “pecar,” and you can see that “pecar” came directly from Latin’s peccare.
If you commit only a “little sin” in Spanish, though, it’s called a “pecadillo.” Does that word look familiar? It should because English borrowed that word, changed its pronunciation, and added a second “C” to it to form “peccadillo” for any “slight offense” or little sin.
We have other words in English that have that root “pecca-” from Latin’s peccare and that are used to refer to “sinning.”
“Impeccable” may be better known, but if you’re “peccable” then you are “liable or likely to sin.”
A “confession of sin” is called a “peccavi,” and someone who is “peccant” is “guilty of sinning.” (If somehow you are “impeccant,” then congratulations because you’re probably the only “sinless” person on the planet.”
“Peccavi” is simply “pecavi” in Spanish. They tend to call a “peccant” person a “sinner” which is “pecador” in Spanish for a male sinner and “pecadora” for a female one.
That word is not to be confused with the Spanish word for “fisherman” which is “pescador,” unless of course the fisherman is a sinner. Then he’d be a “pescador pecador.” Ha ha. Now, I’m just being silly.
Perhaps I’m no longer being “impeccable” with my word. Ruiz may not approve.
Until next time. Don’t be a pecador or a pecadora.
Tammy Marshall
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