A WORD A DAY.

Southland Times, Issue 21100, 4 June 1930, Page 6

A WORD A DAY.

CATECHIZE. When we catechize a person, we not only question him, but try by so doing to instruct him. Another significance is also current, that of asking questions, such as would entangle the answerer in his own statements, but there is nothing in the origin to denote it. The Greek words kata, down, and echein, to sound, combining to mean to “sound down,,” form this one. Since the easiest method of giving instructions was to sound a thing in one’s ears repeatedly, this word was coined for that process. Elementary Biblical? truths were taught in this systematic Way, questions asked and answered over and over until the pupils had thoroughly assimilated them. The outline of the fundamental tenets rof a religious creed was consequently called a catechism. < To catechize denotes a serious questioning, a searching after truth for the good of many or for the confusion of a few. Thq first syllable is accented, cat-e-chize. Both the c and the ch . are pronounced as ,k. Sound the a as in am, e as in event, i as in ice. • “Take this man, .catechize him well and ■prove if he be-worthj,”