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.

Burglary

November 1867 and in Stafford the delightfully named Constable Feavearyear is out on his nightly patrol when, in the distance, he hears the sound of a police whistle and rushes to the scene. He is somewhat perturbed to discover a reported burglary, an incident reported by none other than Mrs Feavearyear. While friends attempt to calm the distraught woman, a thorough search is made but the thieves were not apprehended, nothing could be found missing, and no damage nor sign of entry.

Eventually Mrs Feavearyear had recovered sufficiently to be questioned as to why the alarm had been raised. It transpired she had spotted thieves in the neighbouring property - the police station.