The Dowry in “ENDOW”

This recession if not anything else, has been a learning experience for all of us. We have learnt to focus on the regular NEWS items in more detail. We have started to appreciate that the bigger things in the economy and world does affect us – “the common man”. Call us “Joe the plumber” or “joe the six pack” or any other common noun you might get a hold of. But, the bottom line is that we are the drivers of the economy and we have to be more knowledgeable that we are today.

I also have been reading papers and following news items on TV, radio and internet more closely. Recently, I was reading an article on “Harvard Endowment Regroups”. (I am not going into the details of the article. For the article please visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125106917476952351.html). While reading the article, I pondered on the word “Endowment” and its meaning.

Being a finance professional, I know “Financial Endowment” is a transfer of money or property which is invested keeping the principal intact and extracting a perpetuity out of it for a defined period.

Let us understand this with a simple example. A university has agreed to conduct a project for me. The project span is 5 years. The university calculates that it needs $50 at the end of every month and at the end of the 59th month it needs $12,050 to complete the project. But, university instead of asking me for a total project cost of $15,000 asks me to make a payment of $12,000. After I make the payment the university puts this amount in its endowment, which is a fixed income financial tool (like debts, bonds, T Bills, T notes etc) which gives a 5% coupon payment on a monthly basis. (equals to $50 per month). So, this instrument pays $50 at the end of every month for the project and on the 59th month makes a payment of $12,050 to complete the project. Hence, this project has an endowment of $12,000.

Having understood “Financial Endowment”, lets look up in the dictionary meaning of the word – “Endowment”:

1. (n.) The act of bestowing a dower, fund, or permanent provision for support.
2. (n.) That which is bestowed or settled on a person or an institution; property, fund, or revenue permanently appropriated to any object; as, the endowment of a church, a hospital, or a college.
3. (n.) That which is given or bestowed upon the person or mind; gift of nature; accomplishment; natural capacity; talents; -- usually in the plural.

Wow it is indeed overwhelming definition. In a nutshell “Endowment” is something that is given or bestowed upon.

But, why the word “Endowment”? Endowment comes from a word “Endue” which means the same. Endue comes from the words:

“duek” which means “to lead” in Latin and Old French and
“indue” which means “to put on (like a piece of clothing)” in modern english

So, when you combine these, endowment means to put on something on someone and lead the way. Again, in simple language it means – something that is given or bestowed upon for future benefit based on past achievement.

But, What caught my eye was the “bible”. The King James version of Bible, in “Old Testament”, Genesis, Chapter 30, verse 20 quotes:

“And Leah said, God hath endued me [with] a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun”

Leah is the first of the four concurrent wives of the Hebrew Partiarch Jacob and mother of six sons and a daughter. She is the daughter of Laban and older sister of Rachel. Leah and Rachel wanted to bear as many sons as possible with “Jacob” (God’s personal emissary). These sons would continue Jacob’s mission to the next generation. So, these two in addition to their own sons, offered Jacob their Handmaids as wives so they could share in the upbringing of their handmaid’s sons too.

The words above are Leah’s words after she conceived her sixth son. Here she is implying that after offering her Handmaids and giving her sons her husband (Jacob) should now dwell with her.

In these lines above “endue” is translated from a “Hebrew” word meaning “to bestow upon or endow with”, while at the same time referring explicitly to a dowry.

So, logically we can see that “Endow” is a combination of two words – “Endue” and “Dowry”.

Now, isn’t that something to ponder on and food for further thought?

References:
Genesis Chapter 30 - http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-Chapter-30/
Bible - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible
Leah - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah
An LDS Lexicon: endue, endow, endowment - www.sixteensmallstones.org