Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: F

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.

F is for file, and one my favourite words when it comes to its usage over the years. Likely our first thought turns to the tool used to smooth or abrade, this comes from the Proto-Germanic fihalo 'a cutting tool', and traceable to Proto-Indo-European peig 'to cut, mark by incision'. The second use, that heard so often in offices, refers to a place where documents are stored - even in the digital age the terminology has not changed - and has been derived from the first sense. How? Because the original filing systems were not drawers, but a length of wire produced by a cutting-like process. The papers would be suspended from the wire or file until required. We still remember those days because we never spoke of the document being in the drawer as being 'in file' but always 'on file'. This is why etymology and the development of language is fascinating.