Wordorigins.org

Wordorigins.org is devoted to the origins of words and phrases, or as a linguist would put it, to etymology. Etymology is the study of word origins. (It is not the study of insects; that is entomology.) Where words come from is a fascinating subject, full of folklore and historical lessons. Often, popular tales of a word’s origin arise. Sometimes these are true; more often they are not. While it can be disappointing when a neat little tale turns out to be untrue, almost invariably the true origin is just as interesting.

Wilton, D. (2004). Word myths: debunking linguistic urban legends. New York, Oxford University Press.

The paperback version of Word Myths will be available in October. You can pre-order it now. Of course, you can always purchase the hardcopy version without delay.

Did you ever think that Ring Around The Rosie makes reference to the Black Death of the Middle Ages? Or that the whole nine yards refers to the length of a machinegun ammo belt? Or perhaps that Eskimos have 500 words for snow? If so, then you have been taken in by a linguistic urban legend. Like classic urban legends, these linguistic legends are popular and pervasive. Instead of propagating cautionary tales about the dangers of modern life, linguistic urban folklore propagates stories and “facts” about language.

A California judge doesn’t think so.

Judge Timothy Frawley ruled today that the ballot title Proposition 8, an attempt to change the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage, that was suggested by State Attorney General Jerry Brown was valid. Brown’s summary description of the proposition, which would appear on the ballot this November is “Eliminates the Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.”

Supporters of the proposition wanted the title of “Limit on Marriage” and claimed that Brown’s title was argumentative, misleading, and prejudicial because it was a negative, active, and transitive word.

In his decision, Frawley ruled, “there is nothing inherently argumentative or prejudicial about transitive verbs, and the Court is not willing to fashion a rule that would require the Attorney General to engage in useless nominalization.”

The supporters of the proposition plan to file an appeal, but the ballots must go to the printer by close of business on Monday and there isn’t much time.

The San Jose Mercury News has the full story.

[A nod to Benjamin Barrett of ADS-L for pointing the article out.]

The word geek is one that has had several meanings over the centuries, including meaning both a fool and a very smart person. How did we acquire the word geek and how did it come to mean such a variety of things?

The modern word geek is most likely a northern English variant of an older word, geck, meaning a simpleton or one who is deceived. It can also be verb, meaning to deceive, to cheat. It’s a borrowing into English from the Lower German geck and is related to the Middle Dutch gec. From Alexander Barclay’s Certayne Eglogues of 1515:

Aiijb, He is a foole, a sotte, and a geke also Which choseth...the worst [way] and most of ieoperdie.

This adjective, meaning joyful or light-hearted, is of uncertain origin. The English word comes from the French gai, but where this French word comes from is uncertain. There are cognates in other Romance languages, notably Provencal, Old Spanish, Portugeuse, and Italian, but no likely Latin candidate for a root exists. The word may ultimately be Germanic in origin, with the Old High German wâhi, meaning pretty, and gâhi, swift, being suggested as possible progenitors, but the transition from the medial h in those roots to the Romantic forms is problematic.

The word is first recorded in English c.1325 in a poem titled Ichot a burde in boure, one of the Harley Lyrics which appear in the manuscript BL Harley 2253:

Heo is…graciouse, stout, ant gay, gentil, iolyf so þe iay.
(He is…gracious, stout, and gay, gentle, jolly as the jay.)