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Literary notes about Root (AI summary)

In literature, the word "root" serves as both a literal descriptor and a rich metaphor. It frequently appears as a reference to the underground part of a plant, emphasizing notions of growth and sustenance—as seen when detailing the peculiar characteristics or uses of plant roots for medicine or nourishment ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, "root" is employed metaphorically to denote underlying causes or foundational principles, whether critiquing the origins of ideas, faith, or even political systems ([4], [5], [6]). The term is also utilized in specialized contexts such as linguistics and technology, where it signifies an etymological basis or a primary system component ([7], [8]). Additionally, its occasional role as a proper name or symbol further enriches its literary resonance ([9], [10]).
  1. The root is small and woody, with divers small strings spreading within the ground, and dies not, but abides many years.
    — from The Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper
  2. The physicians of India prescribe the powdered root with milk for fevers and for nervous and urinary diseases.
    — from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera
  3. The root is tough, and somewhat woody, yet lives and shoots a-new every year.
    — from The Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper
  4. The religious man who invents a "divine world";—this is the root of the "denaturalised" and the "anti-natural" world.
    — from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche
  5. It is at root a resistance to the superciliousness of the individual.
    — from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. Chesterton
  6. Spinoza began with self-preservation, which was to be the principle of life and the root of all feelings.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  7. When a root is named in this book, the specific Latin form of the root is meant.
    — from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane
  8. To shut down, you'll have to log in as root .
    — from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
  9. While young Root was leading the debate in the Assembly, Ambrose Spencer led it in the Senate.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  10. But the Senator knew that some hand had struck him, and struck him hard, when Lieutenant-Governor Root drew from the box the first union ballot.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson

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