Mama Says Om - Treat

This week, the theme at Mama Says Om is: treat.

Treat is one of those small words which is used frequently in everyday speech, but which leaves one scratching her head when she learns exactly what it means and whence it originates. The word originates in the Middle English tretien, and that comes from the Old French, traitier, which in turn springs from the Latin word tractare or trahere, to draw. Interesting stuff this, and how, pray tell, does one get from drawing to candy, ice cream, chocolate eclairs and a multitude of other small indulgences which we think of as being treats (not to mention larger indulgences such as digital SLR cameras, home entertainment centres and cruises among the Greek islands)? Roget's thesaurus gives us the following:

Noun: amusement, banquet, celebration, dainty, delicacy, delight, delight, enjoyment, entertainment, feast, feast, festivity, fete, fun, gift, goody, gratification, indulgence, joy, meal, party, pleasure, reception, refreshment, regale, repast, satisfaction, spread, surprise, sweet; Verb: account, act, administer, amuse, apply treatment, appraise, attend, dine, feast, fete, regale, spread, dress, entertain, give, heal, indulge, play, regale, satisfy, serve

In our own language, treat generally means to indulge someone else or one's own self, and treating family and friends in small thoughtful ways is an ongoing activity, but I was surprised to realize that for my clan, the word treat seldom has to do with chocolate, doughnuts, ice cream or large appliances. When we think of treats and indulgences here, we usually think of other things, of cups of tea and books, books, books, of fountain pens and peacock blue ink, blank journals and velvety stationery. We think of art and everything to do with art: canvas, paints and bamboo brushes, potter's clay, gently rustling tissue paper in Oriental patterns wispy as silk, bits of old satin ribbon and scraps of fabric with which we can assemble collages. We think of long walks in the wild with Cassie and the garden, of the multitude of glorious colours, patterns and textures on display in the natural world, the colours of the summer moon and the sky at sunrise. My grandchildren think of leaves and butterflies, of construction paper, glue sticks and scissors.

All our treats are appropriate methinks, given the origin of the word treat, and most of our treats to each other and ourselves are small but thoughtful - many are absolutely free. The best treat of all is time together.