Wow, it's really been a month since I started this. Cool.

Well, this week's "Word" isn't so much a "word" as it is a pair of words. I'm sure some of my peers will already be familiar with it, but for those who aren't, this week's "Word of the Week" is:

Sub rosa; Noun and/or adverb

Confidentially; secretly; privately.

Sub rosa is borrowed into the English language from Latin. Literally, it means under the rose. Tradition is that during private events, like dinner and a party, the host/hostess would hang a rose over the rooms in which these events take place. That is to signify a promise between every person under the rose keeps anything and everything that happens there a secret, or confidential.

Most especially, a rose is hung over a dinner table. That is to signify that anything someone might say sub vino (under wine; under the influence of wine/alcohol) is sub rosa (confidential; no one outside those group of people may know about it). It has been carried on through centuries even today, and it still, generally, means the same thing.

Confessionals will often have carvings of a rose (or roses) to signify that what is said is only between the confessor, the priest and God. Supposedly, in recent times sub rosa has even been used synonymously with covert operations--like spying, for example--and it makes sense. The latter usage of sub rosa is said to have come initially from the United States, and is gaining usage in other countries also.

But how did the rose become synonymous with secrecy? Well, funny enough, it's the Greeks' and Romans' fault. In Ancient Egyptian times Horus' emblem was a rose.  Then came the Greeks and Romans. They regarded Horus as the god of silence, owing to some misinterpretation of the hieroglyphs including Isis and Osiris... his name then became Har-pa-khered, which was then made Harpocrates, the Greek/Roman God of Silence. He carried over the rose emblem, but the story goes deeper.

In short, as the story goes. Venus gave a rose to Cupid. Cupid then bribed Harpocrates with the rose, to keep Venus' (and, indeed the rest of the Gods') exploits a secret. Thus, statements and actions under the rose.

Sub rosa is very similar to the Italian Omerta. But where the Italian meaning is a code of silence,owing to an oath made to preserve secrecy, sub rosa is more, shall we say, unspoken. No one has to swear to secrecy, but it is understood by everyone that by being under the rose, no one can break confidentiality.

Proper usage:

Anytime secretly, covertly, privately, confidentially, et al. can be used, sub rosa may be used more attractively. Don't be shy with using sub rosa, and my suggestion, in fact, is to use it every time you need a word of its meaning. It's not often you come across a conversation in which you have to state something is a secret. How much better are:

"Keep it sub rosa."

and

"He walked into the house, sub rosa."

As often as you come by the necessity (and it's not very often), use sub rosa.