N is for Nadder
Today I delve into one of my favorite types of history: word history. Yes, I am one of those people who reads the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) for fun...
You probably don't recognize the word "nadder" because, well, it doesn't exist anymore. Or rather, it's obsolete. But a few hundred years ago, when someone mentioned "a nadder," they were talking about the poisonous snake we now refer to as an adder. You'll notice that when said aloud, they sound exactly the same. And they are. The adjective/indefinite article "a" actually was derived from the word "an" which in turn was derived from "one." But because in Old English the article and the word it modified were written without a space (like this: anadder) confusion ensued.
The opposite confusion led us to the creation of the word "newt," which was originally an "ewt." In fact, some kinds of newts are still called efts, another derivative.
What's your favorite word history?
You probably don't recognize the word "nadder" because, well, it doesn't exist anymore. Or rather, it's obsolete. But a few hundred years ago, when someone mentioned "a nadder," they were talking about the poisonous snake we now refer to as an adder. You'll notice that when said aloud, they sound exactly the same. And they are. The adjective/indefinite article "a" actually was derived from the word "an" which in turn was derived from "one." But because in Old English the article and the word it modified were written without a space (like this: anadder) confusion ensued.
The opposite confusion led us to the creation of the word "newt," which was originally an "ewt." In fact, some kinds of newts are still called efts, another derivative.
What's your favorite word history?
I too love the OED and we had one with the magnifying glasses in our Membrane Group lab.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite word history (and I'm probably making it up because I tend to do that) is agni to ignite. Of course, agni is fire in Hindi/Sanskrit.
Interesting! As far as I know, ignite comes from the Latin ignire, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Sanskrit word is related.
DeleteOh man! Me too on the OED, although I have not done that in years. I loved reading it. Hmmm, you know, I don't have a favorite one that I can think of but you've got me wanting to read the OED again!
ReplyDeleteThat's always a good thing. :) (Well, unless you have anything else that needs to be done in those four hour chunks... ;)
DeleteHow interesting! I took a class that covered this sort of stuff in my undergrad. I remember there being an entire chapter on the f-word, which was kind of funny considering it was BYU...
ReplyDeleteWow, I would have loved a class on word history. I seriously considered majoring in languages so I could become an etymologist and help write dictionary entries. :)
DeleteAccurate or not, my favorite word history can be summed up in the following dialogue from the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
ReplyDeleteGus Portokalos: "Now, gimme a word, any word, and I'll show you how the root of that word is Greek. Okay? How about arachnophobia? Arachna, that comes from the Greek word for spider, and phobia is a phobia, is mean fear. So, fear of spider, there you go."
Schoolgirl: "Okay, Mr. Portokalos. How about the word kimono?"
Young Athena: [whispers] "Good one."
Gus: "Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ha! Of course! Kimono is come from the Greek word himona, is mean winter. So, what do you wear in the wintertime to stay warm? A robe. You see: robe, kimono. There you go!"
Very interesting! You'd probably like Michael Quinion's site, if you don't already subscribe.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/jgec.htm