Old English to Modern English

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Old English to Modern English. The Saxons, Angles, Jutes and Frisians arrived on our shores from the fifth century AD. They brought with them the basis of our culture and a language which we refer to as Old English. Over the next 1,500 years influences principally from the Scandinavian and French tongues took this to Middle English and eventually to Modern English. English is the most diverse language and this is not simply down to the number of words adopted from quite unrelated tongues, a remnant of colonial days. There is a reason why English, more than any other, needs a thesaurus - indeed most languages never bother publishing a thesaurus (Japanese is a notable exception). That English has been influenced by so many others has led to such a great number of alternative words. Learn how these came began, where they came from and, most interestingly, how they evolved, how the meanings changed and developed to become the language we know today. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

The letter A is for an used in such things as ‘an egg’ instead of ‘a’ when the following noun begins with a vowel. However, it actually began as ‘one’ hence ‘one egg’ and the use of ‘a’ actually the loss of the following ‘n’. Note it is difficult to say AN LEG, AN HORSE, AN BOTTLE) but Old English would have been pronounced as AYN LEG, AYN HORSE, AYN BOTTLE which is rather easier. The same thing is seen in anfeld which may have been used to mean ‘simple’ but actually comes from ‘one-fold’ as in ‘once’.

The letter C is for ceap meaning ‘market’ and which also gave geceapian ‘to buy’. Now today we look for things on the cheap at the market, where originally they would market things at the cheap. Note we say ‘on the cheap’ to mean ‘cheaply’ – on the cheap meaning ‘on the market’. And this is still seen in place names such as Chipping Norton, Chipping Sodbury and street names such as Cheap Street and Cheapside.

The Letter K is for nothing, no not a silent ‘k’ but a letter coming to modern English from the Scandinavian languages. Incidentally the silent ‘K’ is a modern idea – once we had k-nights, and k-nives, but nobody wore k-nickers as this was originally knickerbockers and even that word unknown before 1859. This was not what you were expecting when I mentioned knickerbockers – admit it.

The letter Q is French and did not appear in Old English. Oddly the word ‘queue’, albeit with a spelling of c-u-e, appeared in English before the Norman invasion. It was used to describe a ‘tail’ (and other long parts of the mammalian anatomy), and first used to refer to a line of people in 1837, some 350 years after the first queues were named as ‘lines of dancers’.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Measurements

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Measurements. Be it imperial inches or metric millimetres, pints or litres, pounds and kilos, each has its own origins. Whilst many of the metric terms are reasonably easy to see, those old imperial measurements have a story to tell. Pecks, bushels, feet, yards, acres, stones, quarts, and many others you have forgotten. Learn how they developed, why they were named, and what they were used for. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

For many the metric measurements will be self-explanatory (if they’re not, then you’ll have to book me to find out more) and for me the origins of the imperial measurements is far more interesting. Here’s a taster…

Yard – a word derived from the Saxon or Old English for a straight branch. When the tree was pollarded to produce straight poles – these used to produce walls, fences, gates, etc., after woven with pliable twigs and then covered by the wattle and daub method – the poles would grow straight for about three feet. Not always, of course, this measurement is a guide rather than an actual measurement. This comes from Old English yeard ‘a straight pole’.

Bushel, a measure of volume for dry goods, came to English from Old French. Of much more interest is where the French got the term, for it is derived from Gaulish bosta 'palm of the hand', a term still seen in the Irish bass and Breton boz 'hollow of the hand'.

And week is thought to be related to the Old Norse vika, which had the original meaning of 'a turning'. Thus as 'month' is from 'moon', perhaps the four distinct phases of the moon are referred to as 'changes' or 'weeks'.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Fire

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Fire. Without it there would be no technology for it arguably forms the basis for every ensuing development beginning with cooking. Here for an hour listen to how fire, which must have been one of the earliest words ever coined, has apparently still to be tamed by mankind as a selection of narratives from yesterday and today show just how daft some people can be. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

Fire will have been one of our earliest technologies. Indeed without fire it could be argued that no other technology could have existed, for without fire no smelting or heating or any description and thus no metals or chemicals.

As an etymologist, I am aware the word ‘fire’ will have been one of the earliest coined. We know the English word came from Proto-Germanic fyr and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European. This ancient tongue, the origin of the vast majority of languages across Europe, the Middle East and India, actually had two words for ‘fire’ – paewr and egni (these giving us ‘power’ and ‘ignite’). Paewr was used to refer to fire as inanimate, ie as a substance, while egni refers to fire as an animate living force

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

The Saxon Era

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with The Saxon Era. A revealing look at the so-called Dark Ages, revealing why they were anything but 'dark' and gave us a language, a system of government, many of the imperial measurements, and much, much more. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

The talk focuses on that which the Saxons brought to our culture and which we still use today. Now while we are officially a nation which went metric years ago, we still use the pint and the mile.

Mile comes from the Latin for ‘one thousand’, the idea being it represented a thousand paces. Now the Romans didn’t have extremely long legs or a ridiculously long stride – which would be required to walk a mile of 1,760 yards in a thousand paces – it is simply that, for the Romans, a pace was two steps (or what we would see as two paces).

Pint comes from a time when we didn’t drink ale from a glass but from a clay or leather vessel. The latter, made from leather scraps joined together and sealed with tar even less likely to be accurate than the clay version. To ensure the measure served would be the same for all, a line was painted on the inner surface to show when the measure was correct. A paint line became a ‘pint’ line and the measurement stuck.

Acre, still a popular measurement of land area, was for the Saxons was never a measurement but simply a reference to land used for agriculture.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Digraphs

The combining of two letters to produce a single sound, such as PH to produce the F sound, are known as ‘digraphs’. The term first recorded in 1788. Diagraphs split into two distinct groups: consonant digraphs and vowel digraphs.

Taking the consonants first, there are six of these:

sh is first seen in Old English when appearing in words such as ‘fish’; however the earliest words used the sound but used the spelling ‘fc’ more often until Middle English.

kn also appears in Old English but the pronunciation was rather different, indeed ‘knee’ and ‘knife’ were pronounced ‘ker-nee’ and ‘ker-nife’ until the 17th century and hung on regionally after that.

ch makes its first appearance in Latin and Greek around the 2nd century, slowly influencing English pronunciation over several centuries.

ph is recorded in Greek centuries before Old English ever came into existence, the use in English coming in slowly and almost with individual words.

wr appears in English for the first time in the 9th century. Originally the ‘w’ element was pronounced, but disappeared by the 16th century.

ck is first seen in the Dark Ages, when Old English and Old Scandinavian words of similar spelling united.

ss is seen for the first time in a manuscript featuring a poem by Wolfdietrch around the end of the 13th century.

Vowels are a little more numerous, the eight examples being:

ea is seen in English from the early 16th century.

oa is seen from the earliest times of the development of Old English.

ee is also found from the earliest examples of Old English.

oo appears rather late in the development of Modern English, seen for the first time in Middle English around the 16th century.

ai is found from around the later years of Old English, prior to this ‘ay’ was more common.

au is seen from the late Old English era, but even today as different vowel sounds – as seen in ‘laugh’ and ‘taut’.

ow is also seen in two different forms, as in blow and owl, both found from the late Old English period.

ou makes its debut in the early Middle English period.

There are also examples of trigraphs – tch, igh, ear, eer, dge, ere – all of which are mere extensions and therefore rather later developments.

Word Idioms

Several words have found themselves used in a number of phrases. We looked at 'hit' last time and this time it's 'word'

Have words with first appears in a 15th century document.

Word to the wise is a translation of a Latin phrase, where verbum sapienti satis est meant 'a word to the wise is enough'.

Word for word is another of some age, appearing in the 14th century.

Word of mouth, once again, has some longevity and appears in writing for the first time in the 1550s. It would be good to know if the first time this expression, it speaking of an oral communication, appeared in writing the irony was not lost on the writer.

Swear word is obviously a combination of two simple and early English words. However, we do not find them in combination until 1873, when it is used in an America.

Crossword is another combining two much older words, and does not appear until 1925 when it is given as a 'crossword puzzle'. The first crossword in New York World newspaper on 21 December 1913, but was described as a 'word-cross'.

Words of disputed usage

I found a list of disputed words on Wikipedia and thought it might be an interesting exercise to look at this through my etymological eyes. Note this will help the would-be writer, as some editors will be irked if authors use what they perceive as a word in the wrong sense. Best to steer clear, I say. I opted for an alphabetical list as much as I could.

Aggravate is used to mean 'to make worse' and also 'to annoy', but the latter usage is disputed by many. Early usage of this word, from the 16th century, would mean 'to burden, make heavy' and this comes from the Proto-Indo-European root gwere 'heavy'. This would tend to support the idea that it should only be used in the sense 'to make worse'.

Barbaric is rarely used in a positive sense, and yet it really only describes those showing attributes of a barbarian culture. Historically the word would be applied to all who were not from the classical cultures of Rome or Greece, said to be imitative of the unintelligible gabble of foreigners. (It's all Greek to me.)

Contact has become used as a synonym for 'touch', not only in the physical sense but also in the communication sense. As the communication is inevitably remote - text, telephone, email, letter, etc - it hardly involves touching and some still maintain it is wrong. Coming to English from Latin contactus 'a touching', it is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European tag 'to touch, handle'. If this idea of physical contact is the only true sense, then we will all have to abandon making eye contact.

Different in the United Kingdom is given as 'different to', it being likened to the opposite 'similar to'. In America it is 'different from' as in 'to differ from' and 'other than'. This is seen in Latin differentem 'to set apart' and Proto-Indo-European bher 'to carry'. Hence, etymology here is of no help whatsoever.

Enormity is today used to describe great size, but only from around 1800. Prior to that, and also after, the word meant 'transgression, crime' and likely only took on the other meaning because it was seen as related to the word 'enormous'.

Farther or further? Many still adhere to the idea that 'farther' should only be used in terms of distance or proximity, while 'further' should be used in terms of time. Etymologically speaking this distance/time argument is absolutely correct in both cases.

Gender is today used as a synonym for 'sex', yet for most of its existence it was solely an expression used in connection with grammar. It comes, as does 'gene' and 'generation', ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gene meaning 'birth, beget'.

Hopefully should only be used in the sense of expressing confidence, according to some. While others will also use it as a replacement for 'frankly' or 'unfortunately'. The etymologist tends to agree with the former idea, and many writers and editors will change the word when used in the other sense.

Ironic is nearly always used to refer to that which is seen as coincidental, improbable, or unfortunate. This is wrong, for irony describes the incongruity between what is expected and what happens. The etymologist will tell you 'irony' comes from Proto-Indo-European wer-yo 'to speak', which would somewhat support what is seen as the correct usage.

Less should not be used as a synonym for 'fewer', is the argument. The etymologist will tell you it comes from Proto-Indo-European leis 'small', and thus should be used to refer to size and not number - at least historically it should.

Meet is 'to come together', and thus the increasingly common 'to meet with' is poor grammar. The Proto-Indo-European root of mod or 'assemble' would agree.

Nauseous should only be used to mean 'causing nausea' and not the feeling of nausea. Intriguing to note the Proto-Indo-European root nau means 'boat' and, while clearly related to 'nautical', has never been used solely to refer to seasickness.

Overly is seen as an American influence, and is completely pointless as 'over' can be used instead.

People is now seen as the norm, although historically 'persons' was preferred. 'Persons' has been seen as a known number, perhaps not accurately but generally, while 'people' refers to an indeterminate number and replaced 'folk' in English around the 14th century.

Raise or rear children? Rear is correct, while 'raise' should perhaps only be used in the sense of 'lifting'.

Seek has always been used to mean 'look for', but has latterly been used to mean 'try, want' and some frown upon what they perceive as a new meaning. As the Proto-Indo-European root sag-yo meant 'to track down, to seek out', the former seems to be the correct usage.

Than - the argument is simply is it a preposition or a conjunction? The OED has it as a conjunction, but that is not the end of the story, for the word has only been around since 1700, prior to that it was 'then', which probably explains the confusion as to the modern usage.

Urgent as in 'urgently required' is the norm, it comes from Proto-Indo-European wreg meaning 'to follow a track' and is first seen on our shores in Old English wrecan 'drive, hunt, pursue'. This early use has almost come back in the recent use of 'urgent' meaning 'happening very soon'.

Whose, it is argued, should only be used in connection with a person or persons. However, the word has taken on the possessive form of 'which', something English had lacked. For some, and that includes me, sentences like "That's the car whose alarm keeps waking us up at night" is abysmal grammar, but it does seem it is here to stay.

Whilst I have often said the earlier form is 'correct', I fully accept that usage changes and the examples given are (largely) seen as in transit. One day the old meaning may well be lost and the new the accepted truth.

Words we use to speak to animals (an etymology)

Much as I dislike Westerns, when I heard one cowboy tell his horse to 'Whoa', the etymologist wondered where on earth this word came from. It also saw me searching for other commands used by humans to non-humans.

Whoa is first recorded in 1843, seen as a variant on the earlier 'ho', itself merely reinforcing the physical pull back on the reins and calling the horse's attention to the rider. (Apparently just saying 'whoa' is highly unlikely to stop the horse - or so a horsey friend told me.) Note 'whoa' is also listed as a variant of 'who', and also a word recently replacing 'wow'.

Giddy-up is used to get the horse moving or go faster, itself from giddap, gee-up and, predictably, from 'get up'. Amazing to find it in Western films, for 'giddy-up' is unrecorded until 1909, long after the Wild West went..... well, west. Note, the word won't work alone, there is the physical command, too.

Mush is that word used to make sled dogs get going. First recorded as late as 1897 and recorded as mouche in 1862, it is thought to come from the French marchons 'advance'. Clearly related to the French marcher 'to march'.

Most commands to animals are those used to keep the pet pooch in order. However, the dog doesn't understand a word - as evidenced when the little mutt belonging to the old dear decided to shed half its body weight directly in front of me while I was reading on a park bench. She apologised and, after clearing up, made a fuss of it and told me the dog understood every word she said. When I suggested telling it to shit in the bag next time, she responded with "He's only a dog!"

For a laugh try issuing commands to your dog in German: platz 'down'; bleib 'stay'; fuss 'heel'; and, my personal favourite, brummen 'growl' will eventually be just as understood as the English versions, but only by you and the dog, of course. Does this suggest dogs only sprechen ze Deutsch?

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: R

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.

R is for right, which is either correct, the opposite of left, or morally correct. All three have a common root in Proto-Indo-European reg, meaning 'move in a straight line'. The first is the reason we still say that someone honest (or right) is straight; the second is simply a reflection on how the majority of people are right-handed, those left-handed were seen as suspicious (or worse) for much of history; and the moral right is the same as the correct right.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: Q

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.

Q is for quarry, which is either a place where something is dug out or the target on a hunt. Considering these two activities would have been among the earliest for mankind, the words describing them are remarkably late. The quarrying of stone would have happened later, but certainly earlier than the first record of the word in the late 14th century. It came from Latin quareia 'place where stones are squared', and is itself from Proto-Indo-European kwetwer 'four' - thus describing the place where stone was cut prior to dressing.

The earlier sense is the hunt, and an Anglo-French word quirreie which referred very specifically to 'the entrails of a deer placed on the hide and offered to the dogs as a reward for their role in the hunt'. Old French coree 'entrails'; Latin corium 'hide'; and Proto-Indo-European kerd 'heart' are all root words.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: P

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.

P is for palm, which is either a tree or a part of the hand. The body part is not recorded until around 1300, it came to English from Old French paume and Latin palma 'the flat of the hand'. Both are derived from Proto-Indo-European pele 'flat, to spread' and for obvious reasons.

The tree or the word for the tree, correctly known as the date palm, spread to Western Europe along with Christianity. It is thought to describe the leaves of the tree which have a spreading effect like the fingers on the hand.

The sense of 'palm' meaning a bribe is seen as early as 1620, but then the term was 'palm oil'.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: L

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.

L is for left, which could be the past tense of 'leave' or the opposite of 'right'. In order, the verb 'to leave' has a clear etymology traceable through Old English laefan, Proto-Germanic laibjanan, and Proto-Indo-European leip, all having the general meaning of 'allow to remain as it is'.

When it comes to the opposite of 'right', many parents will have taught their children (as the majority were right-handed) the way to remember which was which was to think the hand you write with as your right and the one which is left is your left. Assuming the child was not left-handed (or did not have three hands) this would work. This idea of the right hand being the correct hand is also known (and famously so) in the term 'sinister' which was also once used for left-handedness, itself seen as unlucky or suspicious for much of history. This must be a very old idea as so many languages see 'left' as bad, including the root of all those in European and to the east, where Proto-Indo-European laiwo meant 'considered suspicious'.

The political left-wing is not used in 1871, but it had been used in a military sense since 1530. Having two left feet is first recorded in 1902, while the left bank of a river, first recorded in the 13th century, is that side which is on the observer's left when facing downstream.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: K

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.

K is for kind, as in 'sort, variety' and also in 'friendly'. Taking these in order, the noun can be traced to Old English gecynd, not only 'kind' but importantly 'race, nature' and thus related to 'kin'. This is from Proto-Germanic kundjaz 'family, race' and derived from Proto-Indo-European gene 'give birth, beget'.

The adjective 'kind' has exactly the same origins as the noun, but Middle English also gave us the alternative kinde with this usage.

Nobody used womankind until the late 14th century; no one was described as kind-hearted until 1530; and one-of-a-kind was not used until 1961. Lastly the slang 'kinda', clearly a form of 'kind of', but a word which was once given as 'kinder', and even Charles Dickens used it, albeit he gave it as kiender.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: I

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.

I is for iron and today possibly the use for the metal may be falling behind the use for the pressing of clothes. The metal is clearly the oldest of the uses, indeed there is even an Iron Age referring to a stage of technological advances where iron was smelted, an improvement on the earlier Bronze Age. The word is first seen in Old English iren, from Proto-Germanic isarn, and probably loaned from isarnon of the Celtic languages and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European eis meaning 'strong'. Hence the idea is this newly smelted metal was much stronger than bronze and appropriately named as 'the strong metal'. Related terms are seen in Sanskrit isirah 'vigorous, strong' and Greek ieros 'strong' and, through the context in which these terms were used, is thought to have been seen as 'the holy metal'.

The other sense of 'iron', that of removing creases from clothing, stems from that metal being used to produce the tool. For much of its life it has been known as a flat iron, and not until 'to iron' was seen as a verb (hence we do the ironing) was it known as an iron.