maintenance
c.1369, "bearing,
deportment," from O.Fr. maintenance, from maintenir (see maintain). Meaning "action
of upholding or keeping in being" is from 1413. "Action of providing
a person with the necessities of life" is from 1389.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
maintain
mid-13c., "to practice
habitually," from Anglo-Fr. meintenir (O.Fr. maintenir), from L. manu
tenere "hold in the hand," from manu, abl. of manus "hand"
(see manual)
+ tenere "to hold" (see tenet). Meaning "to carry on, keep
up" is from mid-14c.;
EXPAND
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Sometimes I prefer using an etymology dictionary to see if the meaning of the word has varied over time and of course for us maintenance and maintain(ing) has not really. My favorite part is the "action of upholding." I think about how I used to get to a certain point and going back, get to a certain point and go back, and on and on and on. Now I see it all as one gigantic ongoing action. Yes, I have lost weight; yes, my weight will fluctuate and yes, I am continuing to lose. It has taken me such a long time to get to this point and I am grateful I am here. From time to time I will write about my journey, things that would set me off, things I thought I needed from other people and just plain ole low self esteem. My opening post dealt with my epiphany about my sister. She was a beautiful tall big woman and after two children her weight had ballooned to over 300 lbs. She wanted to do something about her weight but did not really know exactly what to do (stomach stapling had come up but my mother talked her out of it--this was after all, the early 80s.) After the fact, I wished my sister had had more education and information, but I am not sure if this would have helped. It seems as though we are in information overload and the obesity rate continues to climb. I would love to hear how others define what they are doing right now as far as keeping the weight down and off.
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