"The
first meaning of the Greek word “trauma” (trauma), of course, is that of a
“wound”, a “lesion”, an “injury” and it comes from the verb titrwskw (titrosko)
which means to pierce, to penetrate. However, the important deeper root of
titrwskw is the verb teirw (teiro), which simply means “to rub”. Teiro has two
different meanings: to “rub in” and to “rub away”, to “rub off”. If I were to rub
something rough on my skin for too long, then I would create a mark or an injury,
or I can equally rub something off by cleaning the surface by rubbing something
away.
Thus, trauma is simply the mark left by either a wound (the result of an experience
being “rubbed in”) or a clean surface (the result of an experience having
“rubbed [something] off” or “rubbed [it] away”). Trauma can be the result of an
injury or the result of a cleansing.
In this way, trauma is a neutral word implying
that potentially any experience can have either an injurious or refreshing effects.
Yet, the word trauma has ended up being used today exclusively in terms of its negative
connotation, the pathological injury.
Moreover, etymologically, trauma and
teiro are connected to other opposite words: teraV (teras) and asteraV (asteras). TeraV means “monster” and it comes from the belief that monsters are signs, marks
of God: if a person had a monstrous disfigurement it was thought that he was
marked by God, that he was differentiated by the sign of his deformity, or that
through him God was giving a sign.
AsteraV, on the other hand (which means
‘star” – cf. stern, estrellas, etc), is another kind of mark or sign: stars are sparkling
marks up in the sky to be seen by everybody; being unmoveable, stars have always
been used as signifying all kinds of lofty, noble, elevated, grand or powerful meanings
-from film or pop stars to national flags and military decorations. Stars are considered
as most positive signs or marks.
Yet, the potential duality of meaning in the
word trauma suggests that there is little difference between the stars and scars. The
saying that “through life we collect many stars and scars” aptly conveys this
potential duality.
All this means that a “traumatic” experience (whatever this may mean) could potentially
make a person either a monster, badly scarred and marked for life, or a star
who could shine from being refreshed and renewed by the same experience."
Testo tratto da: Psychosocial Notebook, vol. 1, 2000 "Psychosocial and trauma response in war-torn societies. The case of Kosovo", atti del "First International Seminar on Psychosocial and
Trauma Response in Kosovo" tenutosi presso l'Organizzazione Internazionale per le Migrazioni a Ginevra, nel 2000.
