Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: C

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

C is for cross, as in 'angry' and the name of the best-known Christian image. The latter came first, derived from 'across' in the sense of 'going across the grain' or 'across the main flow' or simply 'intersecting'. This can be traced back, and through any number of languages, back to Latin crux with the same meaning. Having learned the early meanings, it is easy to see why someone not conforming or agreeing with another would be seen as 'cross' in that sense and, at least etymologically speaking, both words have a common root.