the.com/reckless
the absence of a reck, which nobody has reckoned with in 700 years
means Acting without care or thought for the consequences, heedless of danger.
from From Old English 'reccelēas,' built on 'recan/reccan,' a verb meaning 'to care or heed' — so 'reckless' literally means 'careless' in the oldest sense. That root 'reck' was once a perfectly healthy word ('it recks me not'), and is likely related to German 'geruhen' (to deign) and other Germanic words for caring or minding. Over the centuries 'reck' withered away on its own, leaving 'reckless' as a near-orphan — a negative whose positive has all but vanished from the language.
- lost word
- reck meant care; we kept only its absence
- old english
- reccan, to take heed, died out alone
- orphan term
- reckless survives but reckful went extinct
- legal weight
- recklessness sits between intent and accident in court
- speed link
- reckless driving is a charge in every US state
for instance
evel knievel — stuntman who attempted 75+ motorcycle jumps including jumping the grand canyon in 1974