Starling Hunter © 2011 1 Scorpio 11: A drowning man rescued The word drowning descends from the Indo-European (IE) root dhreg which means “to draw, glide.” 1 Its paronyms include drench a n d drink. The word rescued descends from the IE root kwet- which means “to shake.” 2 Paronyms include cascara ( a buckthorn native to northwest North America), cask , scutch (the woody fiber of flax), squash (to beat, squeeze, or press into a pulp), concuss, discuss, percuss, soukous (a rumbalike West African dance music), pasta , paste (a soft, smooth, thick mixture), pastel , pastiche (a dramatic, literary, or musical piece openly imitating the previous works of other artists), pastis (a French licorice-flavored liqueur), pastry , patisserie ( a bakery specializing in French pastry), and patty (a small rounded, flattened cake of food). THEMES: The common theme here is immediately evident — FOOD a n d DRINK . Concerning the latter, recall that one of the paronyms of drowning is the word drink a word which refers to both alcoholic beverages and their consumption. Among the paronyms of rescued , are several that emphasize both themes — pastis, pastry, patisserie, patty, pasta, a n d cask . There is even the word squash which means to beat or squeeze but whose homonym is a vegetable. 3 There are also music ( pastiche ) and dancing ( soukous ) here. Taken together a clear portrait emerges of the man that requires rescuing . It’s not one drowning in the 1 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 20 2 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 45 3 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/squash