We are talking English aren’t we? Is there someone going to tell me what gay means in Italian or Latin?
That’s what we’d have to have for the parallel you’re trying to make to be able to work.
I am saying that ‘venerate’ is an English word and that it means something in English. What its root used to mean in Latin is nothing more than a curiosity in our discussion.
Don’t you see that the most effective argument is to hold people to the definition of venerate, and when something looks like much more than veneration that they have to account for it?
I venerate my grandfather. I don’t worship his departed spirit.
Of what era? You don't like going back to determine what the original writers meant by "venerate". When we look at that time we find that venerate could also mean worship. Just as I showed you that gay meant something different in the 20s than it does now. If we would would go back to the 20s they wouldn't even understand what we meant by the word today. In the same way what the original users of that Latin word meant is what the word meant at that time. It's the meaning at that time that was intended with the use of that word.
Now, if you want to use the word respect or honor to describe what is due Mary it would be appropriate. The actions of most Catholics towards Mary indicate that the original intent of the Latin word venerate is exactly what was meant at the time it was first used and is what Catholics do today.