Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: T

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.

T is for trip, as in to stumble and to make (usually a short one) a journey. The loss of footing is only seen from the middle of the 15th century, prior to that 'trip' was used in a positive sense as in to 'step lightly, to dance, caper, skip'. It is thought to come from Proto-Indo-European dreb meaning 'step, walk'.

Around the same time as the stumbling meaning came into use, the word also began to describe a journey, which would also link it to the 'step, walk' meaning.

What both show is that the so-called oldest pub in England, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham, does not date from 1189 as is claimed. The claim could well be partially correct, the premises occupy (at least in part) the brewhouse for Nottingham Castle, but a date isn't possible as no documented record exists. The story goes that those wanting to travel to the Holy Land for the Crusades would meet here before setting out. At the time 'trip' did not mean a journey, and would not for another three hundred years, the journey was certainly not a short one, and - which for me is the absolute clincher - why would anyone heading to Jerusalem meet in Nottingham of all places? I have nothing against Nottingham, but if I'm going abroad in the 12th century, I think my point of departure might be the coast.