Vegetate

The dictionary's definition of vegetate is
1 live or spend a period of time in a dull, inactive, unchallenging way : if she left him there alone, he'd sit in front of the television set and vegetate.

2 dated (of a plant or seed) grow; sprout.
• [ trans. ] cause plants to grow in or cover (a place).

3 Medicine (of an abnormal growth) increase in size.

ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from Latin vegetat- ‘enlivened,’ from the verb vegetare, from vegetus ‘active,’ from vegere ‘be active.’

I was contemplating this as i was attempting to overcome the feeling to "vegetate" How did
veg, vegetable, vegetate words that sound like they should define being healthy, active end up being used to mean be lazy, dull, inactive?

So next time i am tempted to ("veg", as in be lazy and do nothing productive) i shall remind myself that it comes from a word meaning enlivened, active and BE ACTIVE!!