There was something about the word condottiere. It didn't conjure up a romantic image exactly - I do understand that the condottieri were not, by and large, nice people - but it seemed, oh, exotic? Dashing? Like this statue of Bartolmmeo Colleoni in Venice?
So, the first book I picked up on the subject pointed out that etymologically, condottiere derives from condotta, which means "contract." Yeah. A condottiere was somebody who had a condotta. In short - a contractor.
It just doesn't have the same exotic aura, does it?
I suppose that good writers understand the sort of baggage their readers might carry with respect to the words they choose. That is probably true of everybody who uses words in the public space. Sometimes, I ponder why somebody says something the way they do, given how it makes assumptions about the listeners that may well be unflattering. Were they just ignorant about the audience, or were they deliberate in their word choice? I've come to conclude that their potential ignorance is the lesser concern since their deliberate usage implies a hidden agenda. And those rarely have my well being at their core.
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I find your point about word origins pretty interesting. When you learn where a term came from, it can feel less strange. Still, I like having a bit of mystery around words. It keeps language fun. Also, the line pay someone to take my LSAT test is a good example. The wording hints at more than just the surface meaning.
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