Interesting etymological note, Richard!  When I posted about
entertainment vs edification, I meant the following:

entertainment: Something that amuses, pleases, or diverts.

edification: Instruction so as to encourage intellectual, moral, or
spiritual improvement.

These are from the American Heritage Dictionary, 3d ed. (1993).  I'll leave
the word histories up to you!  I agree with others who suggest they be
combined, though, or at least that we can make edification less
cumbersome or alienating.

........................
Doug Lantry
University of Delaware
[log in to unmask]

On Thu, 22 Feb 1996, Richard Rabinowitz wrote:

> Compeers,
> It would be heartening for those worried about entertainment to read
> through the entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, in which the word's
> original English meaning is "to hold mutually," and then by extension,
> "to hold engaged," "to engage agreeably the attention of (a person),"
> etc.  My anxiety about aiming for entertainment came from recognizing its
> relation to the French, "entretenir," which is anything but a trivial
> exercise of mind.
>
> My impression is that the word entertainment, in terms of filling and
> absorbing the mind, came in the 17th century to shift, in most popular
> uses, toward a less serious mental undertaking.  At the same time, the
> French began to use the term "divertissement" for these less focused
> exercises.  We have diversions, of course, but we never have used this
> word as powerfully as have the French.
>
> As a result, we're perpetually worried about the downside qualities of
> entertainment.  Diversions are plainly a turning aside of one's
> attention, but we can still "entertain an unfamiliar idea" and feel good
> about it.  So I suggest that we indeed aim for entertainment, for
> engaging our visitors with all their mental faculties, modes of learning,
> etc.  The test is how this engagement can spur them to action and
> creativity of their own.
>
> Coming soon, a parallel investigation of edification.
> Richard Rabinowitz
> American History Workshop
> 588 Seventh Street
> Brooklyn, NY 11215-3707
> Phone:  718/499-6500; fax:  718/499-6575
> email:  [log in to unmask]
>