Reifier

Reifier, a palindrome that is symbolic for the struggles of humanity. It encompasses our talent, our purpose, and our burden. Reifier means one who makes the abstract real. Its root word is reify, which, according to the dictionaries of today, means "To consider or represent (something abstract) as a material or concrete thing: to give definite content and form to (a concept or idea)," or "To consider or make (an abstract idea or concept) real or concrete." Broken up further is the etymology of its prefixes, res and re, as well as its suffixes, fy and er.

Res- stemming from Latin, means matter or thing. (An example is the word Resident where the suffix -ident means to recognize so the whole word means thing that is categorized)

re- also from Latin, means again or back, and has connotations of either repetition or withdrawal, for instance in the word research, which means to do a search again.

Now onto the suffixes. Fy stems from fier in French, which itself stems from facere in Latin. It means making, producing, transforming, or causing something. Instances of this being used in other words are amplify, making something louder, Shopify, a business focused on producing businesses, sanctify, the act of transforming something ordinary into something holy, and terrify, causing an entity to feel fear. Lastly is -er from Middle English, the suffix added onto words to make them mean “one who does it.”

In other words, we, who manifest our ethereal thoughts, inventions, and hopes into reality, we who weave words in rays of light, who transcend time through simulacrum of our former selves, who make the science fiction of yesterday the reality of tomorrow encapsulate the definition of reifier.

And yet, in the Oxford English dictionary the root of reifier, reify, and itself are only cited twice each. Reify’s first mention is Fraser’s Magazine in 1854 while reifier’s first is Freeman’s Conquering Man in Street in 1940.

Not only that but if one were to ask others what reifier means, they would likely be unable to answer. So why has this word been lost in the addles of academia, instead of proliferating throughout society?

While I do not know the answer to this question, I intend to make this abstract word more concrete in the future. Hopefully you will join me in this endeavor.

Information in this audiocast was gathered from Marriam-Webster dictionary, the free dictionary, etymonline, Oxford English Dictionary, and Oxford Languages,

The background audio was 12 Tone Mystery by The Lovely Moon and this outro music is: Could be Worse by Setuniman, I appreciate you listening to this audiocast, farewell.