direct

Latin had a knack for turning motion into morality. Put dis- and regō together and you get directus, the thing that has been straightened out — no wobble, no detour, no wandering around the market square looking lost. That same reg- family keeps showing up in words about rule and straightness: regulate, correct, even director; and its cousins sneak into dress and address, where the original idea was still to set something properly in line. One especially charming offshoot is dirge, which comes from the first word of a funeral chant, Dirige, Domine — 'guide, Lord' — so even grief once asked for directions. By the time English borrowed direct in the late 1300s, it had become the word for a path, a command, a glance, and eventually a film credit — a tidy little straight line from Roman roads to Hollywood chairs.