I don’t plan to post this often, but I am very excited about this one. It’s a fascinating word, especially for many of us who make a living by using this word daily.

Let’s see what Oxford has to say about this one.

Affiliate

“Noun

A person or organization officially attached to a larger body.”

And here is where it gets interesting.

Its origin is from the mid 18th century from the Latin affiliat- meaning adopted as a son, which comes from the verb affiliare, from ad- meaning towards + filius, which means son.

Explanation:

Affiliate of a business, “attached to a larger body”, “adopted as a son”.

According to the old-fashioned views, the son is supposed to follow the father’s footsteps, and when the son has done well, the father and the family did well.

Father and son. Business and affiliate.

Before Affiliate Marketing became so well known and popular the way we know it now, many giants today that started decades ago as enthusiastic dreamers, in fact, worked their way up with affiliate marketing.

For example, Bill Gates with Microsoft harnessed IBM. A PC (Personal Computer) sold without DOS (Disk Operation System) was nothing more useful than a piece of dust catcher or a large paperweight. Therefore Gates created DOS, and to make each PC usable and sellable, IBM – and later other manufacturers – had to add DOS to every single sold computer “attached to a larger body,” as it were.

Today, many people wake up and go to sleep without understanding the absolute root and power of being an affiliate. Perhaps dissecting this word will help to realise that.

On to the next word…