While watching the news about the recent negotiations happening in DC, I thought about negotiation and the word’s etymology. One might think that it has something to do with discussion or business, but the root is much funnier, in my opinion. Negotiation is actually a negative of a Latin word, otium. Though the positive has been lost to time, the negative has survived. 

Otium can loosely be defined as leisure, so negotium would be the opposite of that, business. What I find particularly interesting is the difference between modern views and ancient views on the principles of leisure and business. Firstly, modern views, though shifting, revolve a lot around keeping busy and maintaining efficiency, especially in the United States. We pride ourselves on working a job and working many hours a day and many days a week. In a way, the one who works more hours and more days is viewed as more virtuous or cooler. Our views are shifting though, over the last few years self care and focus on health has moved into the spotlight, but the culture still largely leans towards keeping busy and working many hours as optimal. 

However, ancients took a 180-degree reverse on work. Elite ancient Romans did not work and thought that partaking in leisure and leisure activities was instead the optimal way of life. Don’t get me wrong, these people all had successful businesses or patrons, but they didn’t have to show up at offices or spend long hours each day at a desk poring over accounts. Instead, wealthy Romans partook in otium. A central theme in poetry, otium is not just laziness and lounging, it’s culture. Otium is closer to our modern view of meditation or a retreat or mindfulness. Poetry could only be created with an excess amount of time, otium. Poetry was viewed highly, as more or less it was poetry, plays, and games that dominated the entertainment scene. Poetry in particular had a very dominant role in the cultural scene of high society in particular.