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Ostracize means to exclude someone from society or from any group of people. It comes from the Greek ostrakízein, which was the practice of banishing citizens by popular vote.
Yet there is still a woeful reluctance in Africa to chastise, ostracise or help to oust villainous leaders, such as Mr Mugabe or Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted as a war criminal at The Hague; indeed, too many African leaders have rejected that court altogether. (The Economist)
Nicholas D. Kristof reports on rape survivors in eastern Congo struggling to recover from violence and trauma in the face of customs that blame and ostracize the victims. (NY Times)
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Interesting word—”Ostracize”. Although not mentioned in today’s Writing Tip—I remember that the word “Ostrov” in Russian means “Island.”
So to ostrasize someone— a Russian, at least— is to be insular towards him—to put him on an island. And of course, the word “insular” also means ‘island”.
Language is interesting—No?
Phil
I am greatly thank you for sending me Daily writing tips , it is very useful and it improve my writing style
Ostracize comes from an ancient Athenian practice of banishment. Citizens who thought someone should be banished wrote the name of the undesirable on a potsherd or broken piece of tile. If enough bits accumulated, the targeted person was banished for a period of ten years.
Greek ostrakon, “tile, potsherd.”
There’s even an interesting anecdote on ostracism. They say that Aristeides, an Athenian strategos, also known as “The Just”, was ostracized in 482. He was approached by an illiterate citizen and asked to write the name Aristeides on an ostrakon, his own name and not somebody elses mind you! In return, he inquired as to why the man wanted Aristeides banished and the man repplied starkly “I’m sick of hearing everyone calling him the Just”.
Dont know how this illustrates the meaning of the word better than the previous explanation, but it’s rather funny and I wanted to share it.