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.

Synonym Etymologies W

Continuing the look at synonyms through the eyes of the etymologist, this time it is the letter W and walk. With its many oddities, the English language is a fascinating subject. But even for English 'walk' has a very odd etymology. Only since around 1200 has it been used in its modern sense, prior to that it was unknown. It is derived from the amalgamation of two Old English words: wealcan 'to toss, move about' and wealcian 'to roll up, curl'. Both come from the Proto-Germanic welk 'to drag' and Proto-Indo-European wel 'to turn, revolve'. While these early meanings seem to have no link to 'walking', they do suggest movement.

Pace comes from the Old French pas, with the same meaning, as does its root, the Latin passus. Tracing it back further, we find an earlier Latin root of pandere 'to stretch (specifically the leg), to spread out' and Proto-Indo-European pete 'to spread'.

Saunter is first seen in the late 15th century as santren, but with a rather different meaning of 'to muse, be in reverie'. The walking sense is first recorded around 1660, and there are some who think the two words are unrelated. Sadly, nothing is known earlier than these dates for either sense.

Tread came to English along the Germanic language line, with Old English tredan, Proto-Germanic tred, and other very similar forms in related languages. The Proto-Indo-European root is der 'to run, walk, step'. Note the first record of anyone treading water dates from 1764, although clearly the same technique had been used for millennia.

Step is another of Germanic origins, beginning with Old English steppan, through Old Frisian stapa, to Proto-Indo-European stebh. All of these mean 'step', apart from the earliest Proto-Indo-European where the sense is more 'post, stem, to support', and thus the original sense referred more to the legs taking the step, rather than the distance travelled.

Stride is seen in Old English stridan, which was used more in the sense of 'astride' today. Tracing it through other Germanic languages we see the term is most often used as the word 'strive' is today in English.

Stroll came to English from the German strollen 'to stroll about, loaf'. It is related to Strolch 'vagabond, vagrant, fortuneteller' and Italian astrologo 'astrologer', thus likely seen as an action lacking any true purpose or goal.

Amble came to English from Old French ambler 'at a steady pace' and most often referred to a horse or deer. This in turn came from Latin ambulare 'to walk about' and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ambhi 'around'.

Plod is thought to be imitative of the sound of walking, although its etymology is unknown and only came into being around 1560.

Hike may have been seen in 1809, but did not come into general use until the 20th century. Its etymology is a mystery.

Trudge is unknown before the 1540s, and the etymology unknown.

Wander is a Germanic word which has never changed in meaning, until we come to Proto-Indo-European wendh meaning to 'wind, weave, turn' and clearly the modern verb 'to wend'.

Ramble is simply a derivative of 'roam', the vowel canges typical of the language group.

Tramp is related to 'stamp', and ultimately shares a root with 'tread' above.

Trek can be traced back to Old High German trechan 'to draw'. If this seems strange, it will be explained when we realise that between those the word was used to mean 'to travel or migrate by wagon' as recently as 1850 and as a noun the previous year referring to 'the stage of a journey by ox wagon'.

March came to English from Old French marcher 'to stride, walk, march', and probably from Gallo-Roman marcare 'hammering', and thus related to 'tramping the feet'.