Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, I thought I would take a look at the many terms of endearment found in English. Of course, I will look at these through the eyes of the etymologist. I've only used single words, phrases and most compound terms are ignored - and, most importantly, I've quite obviously stuck with those which may convey a slightly different meaning.

Babe is actually an earlier word than 'baby', itself the diminutive of 'babe'. The word is first seen as baban in the early thirteenth century, which almost certainly began as being imitative of baby talk (just as the word 'babble' is).

Honey is an old word, originates in Proto-Germanic hunang with the same meaning. The root is Proto-Indo-European, although it is not clear what that root is. One suggestion is kenekos meaning 'golden, yellow' or even 'brownish', all of which could describe the colour of honey. Such simplicity is common in early forms of language, for example many animal names are derived from their colour: bear 'brown' and hare 'grey'.

Sweetie is a diminutive of 'sweet', itself from Old English swete which, rather than describing a taste, referred to a person's disposition as 'pleasant'. Hence, what is seen as the modern use of 'sweet' is actually the original.

Love has not changed in meaning since its earliest known form of Proto-Indo-European leubh, used to mean 'care, desire, love'.

Sunshine is related to an Old English word sunscin which meant 'mirror'. It is worth noting how in the times when Old English was spoken, a mirror was a valuable item.

Dear is, like the word 'love', unchanged in all its meanings throughout its use.

Darling is a diminutive of 'dear' above.

Cupcake is not known as a compliment until the 1930s. It seems improbable that it could ever have been intended to refer to someone as 'sweet and desirable' - always assuming you like cake, or course.

Muffin is a word which is common to Western European languages, be they in the Latin group (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) or the Germanic arm (English, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish), for both refer to a soft cake or bread roll.

Buttercup is a word unrecorded before 1777. Earlier the flower was known by two names, either a goldcup or a butterflower. Clearly all three names refer to the colour and shape of the flower, although why and when it was first used as a term of endearment is unclear.

Sugar is sweet, which is why it was used as a term of endearment, but the etymology of 'sugar' is not quite so complimentary, for we find words in Arabic, Persian, Latin, and Sanskrit all meaning 'grit, gravel' coming from the Greek for 'pebble'. Sugar originated in India (hence the Sanskrit link) and spread around the old world courtesy of the empire of Alexander the Great, who marvelled at this 'honey without bees'.

Beautiful is from 'beauty', itself traceable back to Proto-Indo-European dw-en-elo meaning 'to do, perform, show favour, revere' depending upon context.

Peach is from the soft fruit, itself named as it was referred to as 'the Persian apple'.

Gorgeous comes from 'gorge', a French word used rather differently to the English version in staing 'something adorning the throat', and derived from the Proto-Indo-European gwora 'food, devour'.

Doll is a pet form of the name Dorothy, although today it is most often used to describe the child's toy (as it has since 1700). Earlier, from 1610, it was used to mean 'mistress, paramour', by 1640 the term was a synonym for 'slattern', and from 1778 is also seen as meaning 'silly woman'.

Tiger goes back to Old Persian tigra meaning 'sharp, pointed'. Fitting for the large cat, but perhaps not for a man.

Handsome is a compound, where the two words first united in the late 14th century to describe something as 'appropriate', and not seen in the modern sense until 1580.

Stud can be traced to Proto-Indo-European sta when it meant 'to stand, make firm', which should be seen as a permanent settlement where horses were bred.

Casanova clearly comes from the man renowned for his promiscuity, the 19th century Giacomo Girolamo Casanova. To understand this more, perhaps we should Anglicise the rogue's name - in which case we would be referring to Jacob Jerome Newhouse. Try describing that ladies man as a 'Newhouse' and see where it gets you.

Dreamboat comes from a song released in 1936 entitled When My Dream Boat Comes Home, although some sources credit it to the book entitled Dream Boat, published in 1929.

Sexy is clearly derived from 'sex, the latter coming from Latin sexus 'male or female'. Earlier roots are unclear, although there is some thought of it being dervied from the same root as 'section' and thus meaning 'divide'.

Munchkin is first seen in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published in 1900. The author never explained how he came up with the word.

Precious is related to 'price', itself from Proto-Indo-European pret-yo meaning 'to sell'.

Poppet is an early form of 'puppet', and became a term of endearment in the later 18th century, about the same time as it came to be used as an expression of contempt.

Hen, a slang term for a woman initially but one which also came to be used as a term of fondness, comes from a root which meant 'to sing'. Now I have often heard hens clucking, and would never refer to it as singing - although the 'hen' here is used to refer to the female of all birds.

Pet clearly comes from the use of the word as a favourite domesticated animal, the verb 'to pet' derived from that. But the word isn't seen until the late 15th century, prior to that it has the same origin as 'petty', from the French petit 'small'.

Mate has all manner of meanings throughout history - friends as much as much as mating - and all derived from ga-matjon which meant 'one having food together'.

Duck, as a term of endearment, comes from around 1580, when it would have referred to a person who walked with a waddle - as pregnant women are apt to with their balance affected by the excess weight carried. The word for the bird describes its tendency to dip below the water.

A Liquid Lesson

Not a cookery or brewing lesson but one looking at why various liquids, and not just drinks, are known by the names we use virtually every day.

Alcohol comes from the Arabic al-kuhul, this the fine metallic powder used to darken eyelids, for kahala means 'to stain, paint'. Not that the two things at all similar, other than in the method of production - sublimation.

Beer has been said to be a major factor in creating civilsation - it is argued that our ancestors were forced to settle temporarily to produce beer for drinking, a reasonable alternative to potentially bad water. Be that true or no there is no doubt beer has been drunk for thousands of years, as seen in the many seemingly diverse languages which speak of the drink using quite similar words. The English 'beer' is related to the Latin biber meaning 'to drink' which has given us the word 'imbibe'.

Blood is another word which has remained largely unchanged for millennia, the term seen in the ancient Proto-Indo-European bhlo-to which was also used to mean 'to swell, gush, spurt'. It takes little imagination to realise just how blood was most often viewed in those far-off days.

Broth is a Germanic word, seen in Old High German brod and its root bhreue meaning 'boil, bubble'. Here we see how 'broth', a liquid from cooking, and 'brew', the act of producing beer, are related and have a common root as the two use the same process.

Diesel comes directly from Rudolph Diesel, the German engineer who designed the diesel engine. The surname is a pet form of Mathias (or Matthew) and is from the Hebrew for 'Gift of God'.

Emulsion came to English from the French and earlier from Latin emulgere or 'to milk out'. Milk is the best example of an emulsion, that is drops of one liquid dispersed in another.

Gasoline uses the chemical suffix 'ine' after 'ol' (understood as representing 'oil') and 'gas'. Here the use of 'gas' is taken from 'gas' as both are fuels. Incidentally 'gas' is from the Greek khaos meaning 'empty space' and has the same origin as 'chaos'.

Gravy is an Anglo-French corruption of the Old French grave, itself from grane meaning both 'sauce' and 'stew'. Earlier this is seen as Latin granum, 'grain, seed'.

Honey is a Germanic term and originated as Proto-Indo-European keneko simply meaning 'yellow' or 'golden'.

Ink came to English from Old French encre which described the same thing. Taking it further back we find Greek enkauston from enkaiein meaning 'to burn' and related to 'caustic'. Here we need a history lesson, for this was also used to refer to a kind of painting produced using fire or heat. Later it was transferred to a purple-red ink used by Roman emperors and produced by heating the ground remains of certain shellfish - note the Code of Justinian prohibited common folk from making this ink on pain of death.

Juice, in its simplest form, refers to any flavoured liquid. Going back to Proto-Indo-European yeue it meant 'to blend, mix food' and from this came Sanskrit yus 'broth' and Lithuanian juse 'fish soup' among others.

Kerosene uses the chemical suffix 'ene' following a word derived from the Greek keros or 'wax'. The link here is that both contain paraffin.

Milk may be a noun but it is also a verb, indeed it is the action of milking which has given the product its name. Tracing this back to Proto-Indo-European we discover this has hardly changed since melg meant 'to stroke, wipe, rub off'.

Molasses has been adopted into English in the plural form, although this is seen as singular. This came to English from Portuguese melaco from Latin mellaceum or 'new wine' and ultimately from mellaceus or 'resembling honey'.

Oil is a comparatively late word for substances with a certain texture. Indeed olive oil must have been known since prehistory, although we have no idea what these ancestors knew the product as. The modern oil takes the name of possibly the earliest produced oil, that being olive oil and named for the olive. Ironically substances with this greasy or viscous texture are named from the early olive oil, itself derived from the olive which had the original meaning of 'oil' and has thus turned full circle.

Paint as a noun comes from the verb. This term came from French and Latin, both from the Proto-Indo-European root peig meaning 'to cut'. Hence first used to mean 'decorate' (pots, for example) the term now means the substance with which we most often decorate our homes.

Sauce originates from the Latin salsa, literally 'that which is salted'.

Syrup is from the Old French sirop 'sugared drink' and ultimately from Arabic sharab 'beverage, wine'.

Turpentine was first derived from the terebinth tree, hence its name, although now applied to that obtained from conifers. Terebinth trees are native to the Mediterranean, the name coming from Greek but here the etymological trail dries up and can only have been an early loan word from a non-Indo-European language.

Varnish began as a noun, this from Latin vernix meaning 'odorous resin'. Here the trail becomes unclear but it could well be derived from the Greek Berenike, the ancient Libyan city today known as Bengasi as this is where varnish is said to have been first used. This town is named after Berenike II, queen of Egypt whose name is now seen as Berenice.