[pp.int.general] Origin of the term "piracy"

[Ignacio Torres Masdeu]

On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 6:22 PM, Heesob Nam <hurips at gmail.com> wrote:
> Adrian Johns, in his book "Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from
> Gutenberg to Gates (2010)" argues that "[T]he word piracy  derives
> from a distant Indo-European root meaning a trial or attempt, or
> (presumably by extension) an experience or experiment. It is an irony
> of history that in the distant past it meant something so close to the
> creativity to which it is now reckoned antithetical (at page 35)."

Distant? It comes from Greek. Quoting the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy#Etymology

The English "pirate" is derived from the Latin term pirata and that
from Greek "πειρατής" (peiratēs), "brigand",[1] in turn from
"πειράομαι" (peiráomai), "attempt", from "πεῖρα" (peîra), "attempt,
experience".[2] The word is also cognate to peril.[3]

[1] Peirates, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, "A Greek-English
Lexicon", at Perseus.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry%3D%2380356&redirect=true
[2] Peira, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, "A Greek-English
Lexicon", at Perseus.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry%3D%2380341&redirect=true
[3] "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved
2008-12-18. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=pirate&searchmode=none

-- 
Ignacio Torres Masdeu