foment

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 16, 2011 is: foment • \FOH-ment\  • verb : to promote the growth or development of : rouse, incite Examples: He has been accused of fomenting violence, but he denies the claim and insists that he and his followers will only engage in peaceful means of protest. "As it has in past years, PJFF31 will also feature a New Filmmakers Weekend (March 17-19) and offer a Documentaries & Dialogue slate (Jan. 9-Feb. 6) designed to foment debate, discussion, and discourse." -- From an article by Steven Rea in The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 4, 2011 Did you know? If you had sore muscles in the 1600s, your doctor might have advised you to foment the injury, perhaps with heated lotions or warm wax. Does this sound like an odd prescription? Not if you know that "foment" traces to the Latin verb "fovēre," which means "to heat." The earliest documented English uses of "foment" appear in medical texts offering advice on how to soothe various aches and pains by the application of moist heat. But the idea of applying heat can also be a metaphor for stimulating or rousing to action. Within 50 years of its English debut, "foment" was also being used in political contexts to mean "to stir up," "to call to action," or, in a sense at least figuratively opposite to its original one, "to irritate." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.