704: arbitrary, arbitrate, and arbiter Nov 11, 2016

There few things as integral to culture as language, and as such, it has the ability to offer great insights into the mindset of a people. An 'arbiter' is someone who settles arguments, or you may go as far as to say, 'arbitrates' fights, and ought to therefore have very good judgement. It may be expected, then that those words come from another meaning ‘judge, supreme ruler’, in Latin. Even in newer words like business jargon which contains the word, 'arbitrage', something that involves a great understanding of different markets in which to sell the same products, comes from this Latin, 'arbitrer'. Consider then that 'arbitrary', also comes from the same Latin word which once had the same connotations as the other, but in late Middle English, the sense changes from its original, 'judgement' to 'dependent on one's will or pleasure' to its modern day meaning of 'random, without reason'. A lack of trusting in the decisions of the governing authority is nothing new.