In 2005, when Harvard University President Larry Summers was embroiled in controversy, a newspaper story reported that he faced "hundreds of restive professors" in a faculty meeting.

When I happened across that sentence recently, I started to wonder ...

No. 1: Why did Harvard professors back then enjoy June, July and August? No. 2: What perennial dilemma faced Puritan ministers who taught at Harvard during the 1600s? And No. 3: What's the difference between "restive" and "restless"?

Answers:

No. 1: Because they didn't have to spend time working over Summers.

No. 2: Publish or parish.

No. 3: As the newspaper sentence demonstrates, "restive" means "uneasily impatient or resistant under restriction, opposition, or criticism." Thus, the professors were balky and stubborn under Summers' authority.

As grammarian H. W. Fowler observed, "'Restive' most often suggests that potentially hostile or disruptive action seems likely to occur."

By contrast, the milder word "restless" means "uneasy or unable to rest, relax or be still." True, restlessness may be induced by outside forces, but there's no implication of resisting authority.

The different etymologies of "restive" and "restless" provide clues to their distinctions in meaning.

"Restive" derives from the Anglo-French "rester," meaning "to stop, resist, remain." In fact, until the 1800s, "restive" bore primarily the physical meaning of "standing stubbornly," as in a "restive horse."

"Restless," on the other hand, derives from the Old High German "rasta," meaning "calm, rest." So a "restless" person is someone who lacks calm or rest.

Thus, audience members waiting for a concert to begin grow restless. But when told that, for unexplained reasons, they have to wait another hour, they grow restive.

Usage experts have tried to maintain a similar distinction between two other words — the verb "discomfit" and the noun "discomfort."

Traditionally, "discomfit" meant "to thwart, defeat," e.g., "We discomfited the enemy forces." But in recent decades, "discomfit" has been captured by the gravitational pull of "discomfort" and lapsed into its orbit.

So now "discomfit" has come to mean "to disconcert, make uncomfortable," as in "The prosecutor tried to discomfit the defendant with his questions."

The noun form of "discomfit" is "discomfiture," not "discomfit." And "discomforting" should not be used in place of "discomfiting," e.g., "Summers found the professors' questions discomfiting" (not "discomforting").

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

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