TRAVAIL
- PostEagle
- June 10, 2013
- Word Etymology
- 0 Comments
Many Christians, Jews, slaves and prisoners were tortured and put to death by the Roman emperors. Not only were some pan fried by being placed on a large metal disc over a fire while others were torn to pieces by dogs or lions but some unlucky captives were torn apart limb by limb.
The word TRAVAIL means GREAT PAIN, IMMENSE SUFFERING. The word is often heard in expressing some kind of maximum pain, as when a mother is about to deliver a child, it is said that she is in great travail.
TRAVAIL comes from two Latin words – TRES – THREE and PALIUM – STAKES. The letter P in the word PALIUM changes to the letter V because of the French.
The Romans would tie their victim to three stakes and let the sun and insects destroy the body. At other times they would tie each arm to a horse or elephant and the legs together to a third horse or elephant and have the animals pluck the limbs right out of the socket. Sometimes they had to cut the ligature in the armpit to make it easier for the horse to pull the arms out. This, of course, was great pain and hence we now define – THREE STAKES as TRAVAIL.