Humility vs. Humiliation

I was thinking about this earlier.

These two words look like they are from the same root word, but how come humility has a positive connotation in describing a person’s character, while humiliation is a very negative word?

Anyway, I went to my trusty source and Googled it.

I found this site that helped to clarify. I don’t know the credibility of this site, but at least I agree with how they are defining the word.

(paraphrased)

Humiliation comes from the Latin root “humilis” meaning lowly, which is from the root “humus”, meaning ground. So literally, it means “reducing to dirt”.

While humility is recognizing and accepting our limitations based on an accurate estimate of our importance and significance, humiliation is an injury to our dignity or self-respect.

So, maybe it’s about perspective again. A person of humility sees and admits their “lowly” state, while a person being humiliated is forced to recognize this. It seems like we will be humbled either way, haha.

I especially like this quote by Dr. Donald Klein: “The truly humble person cannot be humiliated”.

So interesting so interesting!