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.

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.

A Selection of Field Names

When producing my books on the origin of place names I like to look at the basic names, those of towns and villages, topographical features, such as hills and rivers, and also local names, such as districts, roads and streets, pub names and field names.

Since I began researching the subject, now approaching a rather frightening twenty years ago, I have become increasingly fascinated with the field names of England. While our basic place names originate in the Old English language, the majority of field names were coined rather later and derived from Middle English which, as the name suggests, came between Old and Modern English.

Field names are not only important to rural areas. As an earlier blog post discussed, fields which have been developed for modern housing have proven the inspiration for the name of the streets – local councils like to retain existing names. Several names are commonplace, found in many places as street names. Possibly the most common from a field is Pinfold, a street name which led to the small holding area where stray animals were held awaiting collection by the owner. These were rounded up by the pinner (leading to the surname) and required payment of a fine on collection by the owner.

A few field names which I feel are worthy of particular mention begin with Blind Boys Field. This name is found around Leicestershire, indeed I cannot recall having found it far from this East Midlands county. It has nothing to do with sightless young males. Here we find an old term, one still used in North America, for the blinkers worn by a horse. Hence the Blind Boys were none other than the plough team and the field where they were pastured.

Around the boundaries with neighbouring Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland an unusual name is found in that of the Nicker. This is no misspelling, here we have a dialect term for the woodpecker – so-called because the bird uses its beak to nick into the wood of the trees.

Found throughout the land is a field name which, in some cases has been used as a minor place name. However Plaistow began as Old English pleg stow and referring to ‘the place of play’. This is understood to refer to where games or sports were played, at least annually and probably several times a year on feast days.

Possibly my favourite story comes from Cambridgeshire and the huge job of draining of the fens, one which took a great deal of man hours. As it was impossible for the labourers to give enough of their time away from the fields on a voluntary basis, those with money sponsored the workforce, enabling them to carry out the work and still support their families. Those who undertook the work received a share of the land on completion of the work, those who invested their money received a great deal more. The resulting fields reflected them both in many being known the Adventurers and Undertakers.

I would welcome any suggestions for themes or subjects, or even specific words to examine the origins, meanings and etymologies. I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Nottinghamshire Place Names

From my book Nottinghamshire Place Names comes two stories. In all my research I have never found anyone who earned the accolade of a place named after him more than James Hutchinson, the second of these tales. While his lifestyle would have been seen as unusual during his lifetime, today his choices seem quite extraordinary.

Two individuals whose eccentric behaviour certainly warranted them being immortalised in the sign showing the name of the place where they once lived. Darker's Court is named after an old miser, Thomas Darker, here in 1847. He became increasingly deranged, refusing to venture out of his single room other than to visit a nearby well under the cover of darkness. He repelled all who attempted to make contact, even his own brother was threatened with a gun when he resorted to breaking in. Eventually Darker went completely mad and, failing to treat a fever, he died. Later a search of his room revealed a large cache of gold and silver coins.

Back to what was then still known as Narrow Marsh for our second Nottingham street tale. For 76 years James Hutchinson had been a framework knitter working from his home, for the last 20 years the frame never left his window, nor did his seat move from alongside it. He lived to the ripe old age of 93 until his death in 1813. During his whole life he never ventured more than 7 miles from his home in Nottingham. He also had some strange eating habits. He was fond of proclaiming he had never even tasted tea and, most unusually for a time when water was considered unsafe to drink, drank no ale for almost the last 20 years of his life.

His diet was even stranger. In the same window as he worked were lined up 14 vessels, each containing a pennyworth of milk which he had purchased on 14 consecutive days. Each day he would consume the oldest of the milk, the more sour and clotted it was the more he liked it. During the warmer months in the window the clotted milk would often become too hard to swallow, he referred to this as 'cheesecake' and would boil it in order to make it liquid, and therefore drinkable, once more.

Such unusual behaviour did not affect him unduly. He lived until 1813 when he was 93 years old, leaving at least 30 descendants. For the meals alone he surely merited the name of Hutchinson Green.

I would welcome any suggestions for themes or subjects, or even specific words to examine the origins, meanings and etymologies. I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Place Names

With the release of Dorset Place Names recently, I was thinking about toponymy (the study of place names) and was wondering about the etymology of the word 'toponymy'. I found that toponymy is the scientific study of place names (toponyms), their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word 'Toponymy' is derived from the Greek words tópos (τόπος) ('place') and ónoma (ὄνομα) ('name'). Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. Toponymy is distinct, though often confused with etymology, which is the study of the history of languages themselves.

In a recent book on Nottinghamshire Place Names, I included the definition of Hutchinson Green in Nottingham - there can be few individuals who have merited a place being named after them more than James Hutchinson. He won no wars, didn't invent anything, wrote no poetry, nor did he leave money for the poor in his will. For 76 years James Hutchinson had been a framework knitter working from his home, for the last 20 years the frame never left his window, nor did his seat move from alongside it. He died in 1813. During his whole lifetime he never ventured more than seven miles from his home in Nottingham. He also had some strange drinking habits. He was fond of proclaiming he had never even tasted tea and, most unusually for a time when water was considered unsafe to drink, drank no ale for the last 20 years of his life. His diet was even stranger. In the same window as he worked were line up 14 vessels, each containing a pennyworth of milk which he had purchased on 14 consecutive days. Each day he would consume the oldest of the milk, the more sour and clotted it was, the more he liked it. During the warmer months the clotted milk in the window would often become too hard to swallow, he referred to this as his 'cheesecake' and would boil it in order to make it liquid, and therefore drinkable once more. Such unusual behaviour did not affect him unduly. He lived until he was 93 years-old, leaving at least thirty descendants.