Etymologies of Homonyms and Homographs

Whilst I am always interested in learning new words, it is the never so much the meaning as the origins which intrigue me. A couple of years ago I looked at words with different usages, despite sounding the same or having identical spellings. Were there two completely different origins and the identical spelling is pure coincidence or has the word simply been used to mean two different things?

Here are another selection and, having done A to S before, now to finish the alphabetical list with a selection of others:

Tear comes as either to rend or to cry and, if I had had to choose, the ripping would have been my choice to come first. As you will already have guessed, the crying came first, that from Proto-Indo-European dakru with the same meaning. The ripping 'tear' does not appear in English util the 14th century, prior to that we used synonyms, while this second use is derived from Proto-Indo-European der meaning 'to split, flay, peel'.

Tender meaning soft, easily injured', can be traced back to Greek teren and Sanskrit tarunah, each with identical meaning and themselves from Proto-Indo-European ten 'to stretch, thin, weak, young'. Tender as in 'to offer' came to English from Middle French tendre and from Latin tendere, both from that same Proto-Indo-European root ten and hear used in the sense 'to stretch'.

Tie is either 'to knot' or 'to be equal'. The knot sense came to English from Old Norse tygill 'string', that from Proto-Indo-European deuk 'to lead'. In the competitive sense it is unknown before 1888, it comes from the other use and in the sense of 'connected'.

Tire is to 'make weary', it is derived from Proto-Germanic teuzon and Proto-Indo-European deu, both meaning 'to lack, be wanting'. I make no apologies for using the American spelling 'tire' instead of 'tyre', indeed until the late 19th century we Brits also used 'tire'. The wheel version came from 'tire' in the sense of 'equipent, dress' and is related to 'attire'. If this seems odd, you simply need to realise the old wooden wheels on the horse-drawn waggons, the metal hoop literally 'tied' the wheel together (as well as protecting it) and was therefore a tie-r.

Trip originally means 'to stumble', and was derived from the early English use meaning 'to tread, trample'. As a journey it is not recorded until 1959, but was certainly used prior to this and also certainly came from the other use. That 'trip' meaning 'journey' is a comparatively recent use is proof the claimed oldest pub name in England, Nottingham's the Trip to Jerusalem, has no basis in fact.

Trunk as in the chest or large box, comes from Old French tronc, the alms box in a church. The elephant's trunk takes its name from the trunk of a tree, itself originating ina word meaning 'to pass through'.

Wave, be it with the hand or a refence to the movement of water, come from Proto-Indo-European uebh 'to move to and fro'. Fascinatingly this has the same origin as 'weave'.

Watch - to keep an eye on - has its roots in religious devotion, when followers would have attempted to stay awake and alert for long periods. This then makes sense of the Proto-Indo-European root of weg 'to be strong'. It was this sense of 'a clock to wake up sleepers' which gave the name to the timepiece.

Well - a source of water and good health. The water source comes from Proto-Indo-European wel 'to turn, revolve' and thus refers to the bubbling of a spring, the source of well water. As in 'hale and hearty', the root is Latin velle 'to wish or will'.

Wind as in 'moving air' has not changed since Proto-Indo-European we 'to blow'. When it comes to the sense of 'to turn, twist', there is the synonym 'wend' and that is the root, wendh 'to twist, entwine'.

Wound is either the the past tense of 'wind' or used to mean 'harm, injure'. In the sense of injury the Old English wund comes from the Proto-Indo-European wen itself meaning 'to bear, wound', while the past tense of 'wind' we saw in the previous entry.

Yard as an imperial measurement comes from the Old English gerd, originally not a measurement of three feet but a straight wooden pole created by pollarding trees. Doing so made the poles grow straight at first, these could be used for building. These were approximately three feet or one yard in length, but it was the Old English word for 'pole' which gave it a name. Old English also gave us the term for that enclosed area at the back of the house, geard used to mean 'enclosure, garden, court, residence'. Although the two words are similar, the pronunciation is the same.

Israel Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Israeli cities.

Jerusalem is a name which dates from the Bronze Age, where Sumerian yeru is the first element and shows this refers to 'the foundation (settlement) of the god Shalem', this the god of this Bronze Age city. However the settlement is at least four thousand years old and had earlier names, too. Around 1330 BCE we find the name given as Urusalim and six centuries prior to that as Rusalim, both with identical meanings but different languages.

Tel Aviv is the Hebrew translation of the German Altneuland and speaks of 'the old new land'. The German name is from Nahum Solokov, he taking the name of the Mesopotamian site near Babylon mentioned in Ekekiel. The name is very new, chosen in 1910 from a number of suggestions.

Haifa was, around 2,000 years ago, known as Sycamium or 'the mound of the Ficus sycomorus trees'. The first mention of anything approaching the modern name is during Roman rule around the end of the 1st century, when Efa (later Hefa and Hepha, where the meaning is the same as the earlier name.

Rishon LeZion is derived from the Biblical verse "First to Zion are they and I shall give herald to Jerusalem".

Petah Tikva is Hebrew for 'opening of hope' and a comparatively recent name.

Netanya is from the Hebrew for 'God gave'.

Beersheba has several suggested origins, most often said to come from Hebrew be'er 'well' and sheva 'seven' or perhaps 'oath'. Both would refer to the story of Abraham.

Bnei Brak gets its name from the ancient city of Beneberak, meaning 'son of Iraq'.

Holon is from the Hebrew word holon meaning 'little sand'.

Rehovot is named for its 'wide expanses' by founder Israel Belkind.

Ashkelon is probably Western Semetic and therefore means 'to weigh', an indication of a trading post.

Beit Shemesh means 'house of the sun' or perhaps 'temple of the sun', a reference to the Canaanite sun-goddess Shemesh.

Kfar Saba means 'grandfather's village' but nobody has any idea why this name was chosen.

Herzliya is, quite simply, named after Theodor Herzl, who founded the settlement in 1924.

Hadera is Hebrew for 'the green one'.

Nazareth is a Hebrew word for 'branch', and is taken from the book of Isaiah.

Ra'anana is the Hebrew for 'fresh'.

Rahat has several meanings depending on which language the word originates. This could represent Arabic 'group', Aramaic 'run' or Hebrew 'trough'.

Hod HaSharon translates as 'splendour of the Sharon'.

Givatayim is the Hebrew for 'two hills'.

Nahariya is named from its location on the Ga'aton river, the Hebrew for 'river' being nahar.

Umm- al-Fahm is Arabic and can be translated to .Mother of Charocal', the forests around here were a plentiful suplly of wood for charcoal.

Kiryat Gat is named for Gath, one of the five major cities of the Philistines. From the Hebrew where gat means 'winepress'.

Eilat, a name found in the Old Testament, may come from the Hebrew of ayl which gave elah and refers to the Pistacia trees. These trees are found across across Africa, Eurasia and the southern part of North America, where these are cultivated for their seeds, today known as pistachios.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Asian Capital Cities – Etymologically speaking (A to L)

The last couple of weeks I have looked at the origins of the names of the nations of Asia, the largest continent on the planet. As previously I shall continue by looking at the origins of the capital cities of those countries, again split into two groups. I shall use the alphabetical order of the nations, as it makes it easier to compare the two – especially as the names of the capital cities will not be as well known.

Afghanistan – the capital city is Kabul, which shares its name with the River Kabul. The river was certainly named first but, unless this is an Iranian word meaning ‘red’, the origins are unknown.

Armenia – and the capital is Yerevan, one of the oldest continually inhabited city in the world and thus one of the oldest names. This does not seem to be from the Armenian king Yervand, although possibly from the Urartian military fortress of Erebuni which did stand around the same area by 782 BC. As two languages blended the pronunciation evolved from Erebuni to Yerevan and thus likely to be ‘abode of Aru’ a local god. Note the Armenian phrase yerevan is used to mean ‘to appear’ and has led to suggestions this came from the words spoken by Noah as it was the first city to emerge, from his perspective on Mount Ararat, resting place of the ark, from the receding flood.

Azerbaijan – where the capital is Baku and a name of uncertain meaning but not without a couple of ideas. Perhaps this is of Arabic and/or Persian derivation where baadku or ‘mountain wind’ gives ‘windswept’, or if this is Iranian abad ku this would speak of ‘town of fire’ and refer to a culture of fire-worshippers.

Bahrain – where the capital city of Manama comes from the Arabic al-manama referring to either ‘the place of rest’ or ‘the place of dreams’, depending upon one’s interpretation.

Bangladesh – has Dhaka as its capital and largest city. A name of uncertain etymology, there is certainly no shortage of suggested origins. Locally the dhak tree is a common sight and perhaps the most likely source. There is also the goddess Dhakeshwari, there is a shrine to her in the city. A dhak was also a musical instrument, held to have been played when the Bengali capital was inaugurated in 1610 under the orders of Subahdar Islam Khan I. Lastly there is the Prakit dialect, where Dhaka Bhasa or Shakka is used for a ‘look-out point’.

Bhutan – has a recent capital named Thimphu, itself from a district name already in use by the fourteenth century and of unknown etymology.

Brunei – with its capital and largest city of Bandar Seri Begawan has a name from two sources. Originally this was Bandar Brunei or ‘Brunei town’, the addition comes from the Sulatan’s late father Seri Begawan, itself from the Sanskrit bhagavn or ‘god’.

Cambodia – the capital is Phnom Penh which, in the Khmer language, means ‘mountain of abundance’.

China – and today the capital is correctly said to be Beijing, this from Chinese bei ‘north’ and kintsing ‘capital’, a comparison with Nanking or ‘southern capital’.

Cyprus – has the capital Nicosia, a corruption of the Greek name of Lefkosia meaning ‘grove of poplars’.

Georgia – the city of Tbilisi is derived from the Georgian tbili meaning ‘warm’ and referring to the local mineral springs.

India – has the present capital of New Delhi, named from what is officially known as Old Delhi, becoming capital in 1947. The name began as a territory, the origins uncertain but possibly from Hindi dilli or ‘threshold’ and a reference to it being close to Hindustan.

Indonesia – the capital city is Jakarta, either from Sanskrit jaya-kerta ‘the place of victory’ or Iranian kert ‘built place’.

Iran – and its capital is Tehran, named from the Old Persian teh ran or ‘warm place’.

Iraq – Baghdad is thought to come from the Iranian words bag dad to describe ‘God’s gift’.

Israel – Jerusalem has been found in Assyrian cuneiform as Urusalimmi, this from Old Hebrew shalem ‘peace’ and from the root ‘stone’ ieru ‘house’ or perhaps ‘people’. Thus it is difficult to know if this is ‘house of peace’ or, if earlier, ‘house of stone’.

Japan – as crossword buffs will know this was formerly known as Edo, literally ‘estuary’. The modern name is from the Japanese to kio ‘the eastern capital’, a comparison with ‘the western capital’ of Kyoto.

Jordan – has its capital city named after the Egyptian god Ammon, used in the sense of ‘protected by Ammon’.

Kazakhstan – has Astana from an early Proto-Indo-European word sta ‘to stand’ shared with the suffix for the country, the Iranian stan ‘land’.

Korea (North and South) – two countries and two capital cities. Pyongyang is the centre for North Korea, a name literally meaning ‘flat land’ and understood as ‘peaceful land’. In South Korea it is the city of Seoul, another literal name translating as ‘capital city’.

Kuwait – shares an origin with the country. Kuwait City is also from Arabic Al-Kuwayt and refers to the former Portuguese fort as ‘the enclosed’.

Kyrgyzstan – the capital is Bishkek, traditionally from the Kyrgyz word for a churn used in the fermentation of mare’s milk, the national drink. Such etymology seems at the very least creative and designed to deflect from the name of Frunze in the Soviet era, itself coming from Mikhail Frunze, a close associate of Lenin who was born in Bishkek.

Laos – the capital is Vientiane, or in the local form Viengchan, meaning ‘town of sandalwood’.

Lebanon – the capital is Beirut which has two equally plausible explanations. Either this represents the Roman Berytus, the Latin version of the hoenician word beroth meaning ‘wells’ or it is directly from Aramaic berotha or ‘pine trees’.

As previously M to Z will follow next time.