Lately I’ve been screening some pop physics, which have led me into black holes and amid tiny strings and along membranes. The scientists say “branes” and then spell it out for us so we don’t envision astronomical monsters.

It was only a matter of time (or space/time) before I grew curious enough to look at what my handy references say. The word means a tissue forming a plane or film separating two environments (usually in a plant or animal).

It appears to have arisen in our language around 1400. It came to us from the Middle English membraan, which meant parchment and descended from the Latin membrana (also parchment). That came from membrum, which means limb; membrane originally meant that which covers the members of the body.

Now I had to go to member. People started saying that a couple of centuries before membrane and the word originally meant a part of the body. It picked up its penile meaning around 1350 (membrum virile).

Linguists conjecture than member hails from the Proto Indo European mems-ro.

Once I was in the member area, I had to look up remember. No relationship! I suppose we could say one remembers if one has a severed limb reattached by a heroic surgeon, but usually, customarily, remember comes to us through rememorari from the Latin memor (mindful).

It appears that member (and membrane) hail from the body, and remember from the mind.