Jealous

With no real idea as to what word I wanted to post tonight, I sat down and let my dictionary fall open to any page it wanted to. I randomly pointed down, and my finger was pointing at a list of synonyms for "jealous".
Jealous is actually an interesting word once you know a slight background. It is originally from the Latin word "zelus", the same word we get our "zealous" from. We generally associate zealousness with something good (an enthusiastic devotion to something), where as jealousness is usually tied with something not so good (resentful or bitter in rivalry; envious). I find it interesting that two words, that mean completely different things, can come from the same parent word. Of course, I suppose they can go hand in hand at times. For example, if you get too zealous about something and then someone else decides to be zealous about the same thing, you might get jealous about any attention they get towards their devotion. (Geez, between zealous and jealous, there ought to be a poem...:D...)


-American Heritage College Dictionary