
Dr. Saleste Mele
Dec 28, 20252 min read
Entertainment: Entering the Containment
The word entertainment sounds harmless; light, playful, even necessary. We associate it with rest, fun, and escape. But when we look more closely at its roots, a darker and more revealing meaning begins to surface. Etymologically, entertainment comes from the Latin intertenēre: inter (“among” or “within”) and tenēre (“to hold”). Through Old French entretenir, it carried meanings such as to keep, to maintain, to occupy, and to hold in place. Long before entertainment meant ple

