Spelling is a delicate matter. Dozens of rules must be remembered in order to write correctly. And "Word" does not always come to the rescue and emphasize red errors. It is better to memorize many controversial words. This applies, in particular, to the word “profession”. Often even excellent students write it with errors. There are two most common ways of writing this word: "profession" or "profession."
The emergence of the concept of "profession"
Before any word appears, the concept itself must arise, which this word will denote. For example, the word “telephone” at the end of the 19th century was a new invention - a device capable of transmitting sound from a distance. Before the appearance of the apparatus itself, the word was not necessary.
How and when did the concept of "profession" arise? The fact is that in the society of the first people there was always a division of duties, which was determined in part by the skills of the person himself, and partly by customs. Men were engaged in hunting, fishing, and farming, and women in households and children. When the population increased, it became possible to involve individuals to produce certain goods. So began to isolate the profession in the modern sense of the word. Cattle breeders, weavers, potters, and musicians appeared.
One of the first common professions is a blacksmith. He was engaged in everything that was connected with the processing of iron, he made everything: from nails to swords. The carpenter, for example, produced any wooden products, starting from doors and ending with cabinets. At first, the whole family helped the master and was involved in the production of material goods. At the next stage of the division of labor, each master was determined with a specific profile within the framework of one profession. This was due to the fact that there was a greater demand for individual goods. For example, some joiners were engaged exclusively in barrels, others - in wheels, others - in sledges, etc. Thus, the concept of the profession of man appeared.
How did the word "profession"
It comes from the Latin word profiteor, which literally translates as “declare”. It, in turn, is formed from the Latin prefix pro (for, instead of) and the root fater i (recognize). If we get to the Indo-European roots, then we come to the ancient * bha (speak). The meanings of profiteor are as follows:
- announce loudly and publicly, speak openly;
- openly declare, acknowledge oneself;
- declare something the subject of their studies;
- promise;
- judge, show hope for something;
- openly, officially announce, show;
- come to the service, sign up for military service.
Each meaning of the word “profession” has one common attribute: a public statement about something.
The one-root professus (explicit, recognized) gave birth to the Russian word "professor". In ancient Rome, professae were called public women because they openly declared their occupation (second meaning profiteor ) . Another Latin root word is confessia (religion), but in our language “profession” and “confession” are naturally not such.
In Russian, the word under discussion migrated from Latin through French (French. Profession) in the 18th century. But having crossed the linguistic boundary, it acquired a slightly different meaning: "type of activity." In the century before last, derivatives arose. Before the word "profession" appeared, the word "craft" was used to indicate the type of human activity.
Word semantics
A profession is a stable and relatively broad type of labor activity that provides for a certain combination of theoretical knowledge, practical experience, and labor skills and is a source of income. The range of professions is quite wide, they are divided into main categories: economic, technical, creative, pedagogical, etc.
Examples of individual
professions: economist, manager, actor, accountant, builder, installer, teacher, translator. Options for using the word: programmer by profession, choose a profession, change a profession, get a profession, women of the oldest profession. Related tokens in other languages ​​are Czech - profese, Polish - profesja.
Spelling options
Not everyone knows exactly how the word "profession" is spelled. Some write it like this: profession, others - profession, still others - profession, and fourth - profession. The first two options are most often used. Those who have developed spelling intuition understand that the doubling of some consonants should nevertheless take place, but should not be excessive, so the third and fourth options are eliminated. There are, obviously, those who instead of the unstressed "o" write "a": professionalism, but for this case there is a test root word - pro´fi, which brings clarity.
In this case, one question remains open. Profession or profession? And why so, and not otherwise?
How right?
The main dilemma is: profession or profession . We need to figure this out once and for all. So all the same, how is the word profession spelled correctly?
With one "f" and two "s": a profession.
Why do errors occur?
The sound of the word is probably misleading. Someone hears a doubled "f". This sound in this word is soft and deaf, and some tend to pronounce it lingeringly, and therefore it seems that the letter should not be one. This is the reason for doubts about how the word "profession" is written. But you do not always need to focus on your own pronunciation.
As for the double "c" when writing, it is really due to the long pronunciation of this consonant sound. In general, long consonants of an etymone can retain longitude when articulating in the Russian language to varying degrees. It depends on their placement in the word. There are weak and strong positions for double consonants. If the sound is in the intervocal position after the stressed vowel, then this position is considered strong, and the longitude is also saved in the letter.
If you compare the English word profession and Russian "profession", then the consonant with is just in a strong position, and therefore you need to write two letters "c" .
Etymology to help
Since the word is borrowed, it is logical to assume that it should correspond to its etymon. But it's not always the case. Firstly, over time, many words have lost the double letter in Russian. Secondly, the debatable question is which language should be considered the source. Indeed, very often the same word is written differently even in related languages. Here are some examples: the Russian “group” is spelled gruppe in German, groupe in French, and group in English. If you are guided only by this rule, then how do you know which language you need to focus on?
True, with the word "profession" everything is smooth: in all languages ​​it is written with one "f" and doubled "c": profession (English), profession "(French), professio (Latin). In this particular case, you can feel free to take the source languages ​​as a basis Now the question of how to write - a profession or a profession - is finally resolved.
Root of the word
Unlike its Latin counterpart, the word under discussion consists of two morphemes: the root of the "profession" and the end of the "I". The initial "pro" letters are not a prefix. The ending can be determined by changing the word by cases and numbers: profession, profession, profession, professions, professions. The root of the word profession is part of the foundation of several other words: professional, professional, professionalism, professor, pro. The first three are formed by the suffix method, the last by truncation of the base. True, whether the words “professor” and “profession” are cognate is a moot point. Some linguists believe that they have long lost their general meaning.
Similar tokens
A synonym for the word profession is easy to choose. A number of words that are similar in meaning are not poor: specialty, craft, activity, rank, occupation, vocation, work, labor, qualification, business, profile. Not all are absolute synonyms. For example, the word specialty implies a set of skills and knowledge acquired in the learning process and confirmed accordingly. That is, in other words, the specialty must be documented, and the profession can be acquired in practice, without special training. If in a simple way, then the specialty speaks about whom the person studied, and the profession - by whom he works at a given time, and these can be different areas of activity. But basically, each of the above tokens can be used as a synonym for the word profession .
So, after reading this article, you can once and for all remember the spelling of the word "profession": it is written with one "f" and two "s" .