DAVINA:  Macduff is saying that he wasn’t born through the normal birthing process.  Instead, his mother’s abdomen was cut open and he was removed directly from the womb, presumably because his mother was dying.  

RALPH:  This is what we call a Caesarian delivery, named after Julius Caesar, who was delivered in that fashion. That’s part of the fun of word origins, Davina – they often have a good story behind them.

DAVINA:  Not so fast, Ralph; that’s not quite right. The origin of the word probably has something to do with Julius Caesar, but it’s almost certainly a myth that he was born this way.

RALPH:  Really? 

DAVINA:  Really. Modern medicine has made Caesarian deliveries very common, but historically it was an extremely dangerous procedure, and only used as a last resort. Even in the 19th century, 85% of the mothers died during Caesarian deliveries. We know that Caesar’s mother went on to have a long and happy life, which makes it doubtful that this is really how Caesar was delivered.

RALPH:  Then why does the word derive from Caesar’s name?

DAVINA:  Oddly enough, it’s more likely that it’s the inverse, that Julius Caesar’s name came from the delivery method.

RALPH:  This word origin story just gets better and better!  What do you mean that his name came from the procedure?

DAVINA:  The ancient Roman nobles had a custom of long multiple names, and sometimes one of the names came from a characteristic of that individual – such as baldy, or redhead. It was not uncommon that a name given to a particular person would get passed down to later generations, even though they didn’t have that particular trait.

RALPH:  Wait, I still don’t get the connection.

DAVINA:  It’s quite possible that one of Caesar’s ancestors was born using this procedure – in which the mother almost certainly died – and he was named after the Latin phrase “ab utero caeso” – cut from the womb.

RALPH:  Fascinating!  Well, whatever the origin of the word Caesarian, it seems to me the witches are wrong to say that Macduff wasn’t born of a woman; it’s just that the delivery process was unusual.

DAVINA:  Well, Shakespeare has some linguistic support here. In the 13th century, a Spaniard was made a saint by the Vatican and given the last name Nonnatus, which is Latin for “not born,” because he was delivered by this procedure.

RALPH:  Interesting, though I think all the folks in our audience who were born by Caesarian section are going to find it unsettling that they may not have been born at all!