We explain what it means to be upright and its meanings. Also, the importance of upright posture in human evolution.
What is it to be upright?
When we say that something or someone is upright or that it stood up, we are meaning that it got up, stood up, or stood upright. an upright position, maintaining a straight posturefirm, without risk of falling or without hesitation.
When this has to do with a person, we generally use upright to refer to the neck and head region: someone who is upright raises his head, looks straight ahead, and stands straight.
This position gives rise to figurative meanings: an upright posture is culturally associated with pride, dignity or arrogancewhile a hunched or shrunken posture is associated with defeat, humiliation or submission.
This is perhaps because in human history upright posture has significant value. At some point in its evolutionary history, our species stopped walking on four limbs, that is, relying on its front limbs like gorillas do, to walk only on its hind limbs.
In this way, he acquired a straight, upright posture, which freed his hands and allowed him to carry objects and use tools. Thus, the upright posture It is a clear trait of humanity, compared to the hunched posture of other primates.
In any case, the word erguido derives from the verb erguir, coming from the Latin voices ex– (from inside out) and reger (“raise”, “straighten”, but also “drive” or “govern”). Over time, the prefix ex– ended up becoming er-giving rise in Spanish to two closely linked words: erect and erect.
That is why when a building or monument is erected, for example, it is also being erected, that is, brought to an upright position. Thus, we usually talk about buildings and constructions that stand out of the plane as upright, in a somewhat metaphorical way, as if the buildings had raised their heads to stand upright.
Among the synonyms of upright are: raised, straight, straight, erect, stiff or standing, while its antonyms would be: twisted, bent, inclined, fallen or hunched.
For its part, the verb erguir is irregular and has a relatively difficult conjugation: yo me yergoyou know erectedthey yerguenetc.
Some example sentences are as follows:
- a posture upright When working it is key to keeping the spine healthy.
- The workers erected their flags to call their colleagues to strike.
- The statue of the Liberator yergue on a bronze pedestal.
- Erect against the horizon, the obelisk could be seen from afar.
- Human beings walk uprightnot hunched over.
- The troop erected his bayonets and resumed his march.
Continue with: Horizontal and vertical
References
- “Erguir” in the Language Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Etymology of Erguir” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
- “Upright” in Wiktionary.
