Progeny and Other Offspring

Progeny and Other Offspring Progeny and Other Offspring Progeny and Other Offspring By Maeve Maddox A reader asks for clarification: Please tell me under which situation I use the word progeny and where to use  offspring, with examples. English is blessed with numerous words to refer to the product of sexual union; progeny and offspring are only two of them. The gen in progeny, like the gen in genital, goes back to a Latin word for beget. Progeny, therefore, is a good all-purpose word to describe people, plants, and animals that are the product of sexual reproduction. Offspring is not so literal a word as progeny; it combines the verb spring with the adverb off. Offspring are what â€Å"jump off† from the parent. It has a friendlier, less formal connotation than progeny. Compare, for example, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbreth brought up their progeny according to strict ideas of efficiency. Mr. and Mrs. Gilbreth treated their offspring to a day at the beach. Here’s a list of synonyms that are or have been used with the meaning of progeny: babies brood children descendants family fruit of one’s loins fruit of one’s womb heirs issue offspring posterity progeny scions seed sons and daughters successors spawn young Like all synonyms, these words have different connotations. We speak of babies, children, family, and sons and daughters when we are talking about people in general. In matters of law, the words heirs and issue are used with specific legal meaning. A man’s children are called issue, usually in the sense of children who have a legal right to inherit. An heir is the person entitled by law to succeed another â€Å"in the enjoyment of property or rank.† Prince Charles is referred to as â€Å"heir to the British throne,† but according to the OED, legally speaking, he won’t be the heir until his mother dies: nemo est heres viventis, â€Å"nobody is a living heir.† Genealogists talk in terms of descendants. Historians speak of posterity, the people who come after those living in the present: For it has been wisely said that if the judgment of the time must be corrected by that of posterity, it is no less true that the judgment of posterity must be corrected by that of the time.† Felix Frankfurter The horticultural term scion is often used in speaking of the descendants of noble or wealthy families: Originally built by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, a scion of the wealthy Vanderbilt family, the 1909 property [the Vanderbilt Grace hotel] is a vintage Newport mansion that has been restored to its former glory In gardening terms, a scion is a slip taken from a tree or other plant and used for grafting. Another gardening word, seed, is also used to mean progeny: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. –Galatians 3:16. The expression â€Å"fruit of loins/womb† is familiar from the KJ translation of the Bible, as in the greeting of Mary’s cousin Elisabeth: And she [Elisabeth] spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Luke 1:42. The word brood for children has a warm, motherly connotation. Its figurative use derives from the way a hen sits on her eggs to keep them warm. Indeed, brood is cognate with Middle High German bruot, ‘heat, warmth, hatching, that which is hatched.† The only word in the list that has an out-and-out negative connotation is spawn. Literally the eggs of aquatic creatures, spawn is used figuratively as both noun and verb to suggest that the progeny spoken of is undesirable. Because spawn is frequently used to refer to demons, as in â€Å"hell-spawn† and â€Å"spawn of the devil,† the word has become popular in the world of comics and novels about the forces of good and evil. As a noun, spawn can refer to any type of progeny that may be seen as potentially as bad as the parent. As a verb, spawn is often used to mean â€Å"to create something bad†: Joblessness, poverty, crime spawn violence Delinquent Parents Spawn Teenage Criminals Suburban hazing scandals spawn new criminal offense Computers Spawn A New Criminal Breed Some journalists use negative spawn where a word like initiate or even beget would be more appropriate: Dedicated Leaders Spawn Island Cooperative Scholar’s research spawns international remembrance effort The surest way to develop an ear for connotation is to read widely from the English literary canon, a practice that is becoming less frequent among the nominally educated. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Beautiful and Ugly Words5 Brainstorming Strategies for WritersThe Difference Between "Un-" and "Dis-"