Stemming the flow

Question

Is anyone able to provide an account of how the word "stem" came to be used in the way it is above?
Just off the top of my head, I can't think of any other usage of stem as a verb whre it's not part of this phrase or the alternative "stemming the tide". Is it used elsewhere with the meaning of "inhibiting".
It does seem an odd word to reach for, on the face of it.

cheers
Chrissy

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Is anyone able to provide an account of how the word "stem" came to be used in the way it ... elsewhere with the meaning of "inhibiting". It does seem an odd word to reach for, on the face of it.[/nq]
MWCD10:
Etymology: Middle English stemmen to dam up, from Old Norse stemma; akin to Middle High German stemmen to dam up and probably to Lithuanian stumti to shove
Looking at the the latter, I could mention Latvian "stumt" = to push or shove.

Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Is anyone able to provide an account of how the ... odd word to reach for, on the face of it.[/nq]
[nq:1]MWCD10: Etymology: Middle English stemmen to dam up, from Old Norse stemma;akin to Middle High German stemmen to dam up ... Looking at the the latter, I could mention Latvian "stumt" = to pushor shove. Skitt (in Hayward, California) www.geocities.com/opus731/[/nq]
Thanks Skitt ... so quick!
cheers
Chrissy

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Is anyone able to provide an account of how the ... odd word to reach for, on the face of it.[/nq]
[nq:1]MWCD10: Etymology: Middle English stemmen to dam up, from Old Norse stemma; akin to Middle High German stemmen to dam up and probably to Lithuanian stumti to shove Looking at the the latter, I could mention Latvian "stumt" = to push or shove.[/nq]
Estuarians can't say that. OK with stunting though.

Usenet · Answer

chrissy filted:
[nq:1]Is anyone able to provide an account of how the word "stem" came to be used in the way it ... not part of this phrase or the alternative "stemming the tide". Is it used elsewhere with the meaning of "inhibiting".[/nq]
You stem a tide...you staunch a flow..r

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]chrissy filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]Is anyone able to provide an account of how the ... tide". Is it used elsewhere with the meaning of "inhibiting".[/nq]
[nq:1]You stem a tide...you staunch a flow..r[/nq]
Do not tell Tampax.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Is anyone able to provide an account of how the word "stem" came to be used in the way it is above? . . . It does seem an odd word to reach for, on the face of it.[/nq]
No one ever told you to keep stumm ?

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Is anyone able to provide an account of how the ... odd word to reach for, on the face of it.[/nq]
[nq:1]No one ever told you to keep stumm ?[/nq]
But I am intrigued by Chrissy's feeling that it's an odd word to use. How do you find it odd, Chrissy?

Mike.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]chrissy filted:[/nq]
[nq:2]Is anyone able to provide an account of how the ... tide". Is it used elsewhere with the meaning of "inhibiting".[/nq]
[nq:1]You stem a tide...you staunch a flow..r[/nq]
"Stanch", usually, but not invariably.

Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/

Usenet · Answer

Skitt filted:
[nq:2]You stem a tide...you staunch a flow..r[/nq]
[nq:1]"Stanch", usually, but not invariably.[/nq]
Google counts disagree..r

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]to[/nq]
[nq:2]No one ever told you to keep stumm ?[/nq]
[nq:1]But I am intrigued by Chrissy's feeling that it's an odd word to use. How do you find it odd, Chrissy? Mike.[/nq]
Skitt's answer made a great deal of sense, and made the watery metaphor seem reasonable. Typically, words such as this have a metaphor of some kind attached and I was wondering why this one seemed to be focused on water. I had been thinking of plant stems, and the xylem, which constrain water to narrow tubes flowing up the length of the plant stem. I'd also considered "sterben" (the German word for "to die") and which in Chaucer's English (sterven/styrven?) meant the same. (Interesting that a word which in contemporary English refers to death by denial of nutrient was the general word for death in Chauucer's time). Either way, these seemed quite a leap and unconnected with water.
There has been a fair bit of talk in Australia in recent years about what is politely called "border security" but is mostly about "stemming the tide" of boat people seeking asylum and residence in Australia.

Years ago, the word "hordes" was used in this context, effectively likening the arrivals to some kind of hostile and destructive wave of insects. No doubt, the contemporary metaphor of flowing water is less derogatory, as water is not necessarily always destructive.

Now "stemming the tide of boat people" seems linguistically quite interesting when we consider the principal functions of dams. Dams are about controlling and securing a viatl resource, or perhaps preventing it's uncontrolled distributioin from damaging the settings into which it flows. It's surely this latter function that one refers to when using the word "stem". That people seeking residence in Australia by unorthodox means come mainly by boat lends this phrase extra metaphoric strength, but it also takes on board something else that's at issue in this debate in that it dehumanises the arrivals and turns them into a threatening homogenous mass, rather than an aggregation of large numbers of individuals seeking to live in dignity.

This use of water metaphors is common in this setting. We hear talk of a "flood" or "torrent" or "wave" of refugees, which of course prefigures stemming the tide or flow, lest there be an "outpouring" of community resentment.
As a humanist, I try hard to let the whole thing just wash over me, clear my eyes and see the humans bobbing around in the sea seeking assistance.
cheers
Chrissy

Stemming the flow

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