Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: Y

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.

Y is for y ..... well, once again it isn't for anything as there isn't a single homonym beginning with that letter. But I won’t let that stop me getting to the end of the alphabet and we’ll have some fun with etymologies of words beginning with Y and we will begin with....

Yellow is first seen in Old English geolu from Proto-Germanic gelwaz, both meaning 'yellow' and from Proto-Indo-European ghel 'to shine'. And I have it on good authority that all those squares above contain yellow in one of its many shades.

Yacht came to English from Dutch, where jacht meant 'fast pirate ship'. All these come from Proto-Germanic yago and Proto-Indo-European yek 'to chase, hunt'.

Yes comes from Old English gese 'so be it'; itself from Proto-Germanic sijai and Proto-Indo-European es 'to be'.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: X

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.

X is for x ..... well it isn't for anything as there isn't a single homonym beginning with that letter. So let's have some fun with etymologies of words beginning with X and we will begin with....

Xenon, a gas named in 1898 by Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay from the Greek word xenon meaning 'foreign, strange' and coming from the Proto-Indo-European root ghos-ti 'stranger, guest, host'.

Xylem is named from the German xylem and the Greek xylon 'wood'. It is the woody tissue found in the most evolved of plant life.

Xerox, the trademark name of a copying device, it held by Haloid Co, of Rochester, New York State. It comes from xerography, defined as 'photographic reproduction without liquid developers'. In 1965 the word became listed in the dictionary as a verb meaning 'to produce using a copier', and while the company strongly objected to inclusion in the dictionary, thus making it acceptable, they were ultimately unsuccessful.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: W

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.

W is for watch, be it the timepiece or simply to observe. The latter is seen in Old English waecce 'state of being awake'; from Proto-Germanic wakjan and Proto-Indo-European weg 'be strong, lively'. Hence watchfulness and awake are ostensibly the same thing.

The timepiece is seen from 1580, and was a device to waken sleepers who would then be 'on watch' in the next crew rotation.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: V

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.

V is for vice, the tool used to hold a piece while working on it, or a sin. Taking the latter first, we find the word arriving in English at the end of the 13th century from Old French vice 'fault, defect, misdemeanour'. Further back we find vitium 'offense, blemish, imperfection', but this is as far as we can trace the word.

The tool also comes from Old French, where vis meant 'screw', from Latin vitis 'vine, tendril of a vine'; and thus named from the screw mechanism which, in turn, is likened to the winding of the vine around its support. The tool is not recorded as such until the early sixteen century, prior to that the word could be used to refer to winches for a crossbow or catapult, a spiral staircase, or a twisting tie fastening a hood under the chin.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: U

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.

U is for u ..... well it isn't for anything as there isn't a single homonym beginning with that letter. So let's have some fun with etymologies of words beginng with U and we will begin with....

Union is first seen in the 15th century, it comes from Old French union and Latin unionem both 'oneness' and also seen in the Latin unus 'one' or 'a single pearl, an onion'. All these can be traced to Proto-Indo-European oi-no 'one, unique'.

Urge has an intriguing history, and has changed its meaning almost at every turn. First seen around 1550, it came to English from Latin urgere 'to press hard', and can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European urgh 'to tie, bind'. What is fascinating is how this Proto-Indo-European root have given us Lithuanian vertzi 'to fasten, squeeze', vargas 'need, distress', and vergas 'slave'; Old Church Slavonic vragu 'enemy'; Gothic wrikan 'persecute'; and Old English wrecan 'drive, hunt'.

Uncle came from Old French onlce with the same meaning. The French got it from Latin avunculus 'mother's brother' (father's brother was patruus, literally 'little grandfather'). These can be traced to the Proto-Indo-European root awo meaning 'grandfather' or 'adult male relative other than the father'. Looking at other European languages derived from the same root, it seems nobody can agree on what an uncle is, for Hittite huhhas is 'grandfather'; as is Armenian hav; but Lithuanian avynas is 'maternal uncle'; Old Church Slavonic ujo is 'uncle'; and Welsh ewthyr means 'uncle'.