Ply
Last week, upon joking
with my wife that I was “plying her with wine,” I found
myself wondering about that usage of the word ply. What I discovered
was far more rich and robust than the inexpensive swill we were sharing for
dinner. One might even argue that the word ply has an “intriguing bouquet, a
delightful aftertaste & a remarkable length.”
The Oxford English
Dictionary devotes about a half page to the word ply, which initially
meant to apply, employ, or work busily at,
and entered English in the late 1300s from Middle French. Before that, it spent
some time in Latin, & before that it resided in a hazily defined tongue
etymologists call “Proto-Indo-European.”
The meaning I was using at
the dinner table, to press one to take,
appeared first in 1676, but ply also has all these meanings:
-to bend, bow, fold, or
double
-to bend in will or
disposition
-to adapt or accommodate
-to yield or be pliable
-to bend in reverence
-to bend, twist or writhe
forcibly
-to comply or consent
-to cover with something
bent or folded
-to draw out by bending or
twisting
-to occupy oneself busily
-to use, handle or wield
vigorously
-to practice or work at
-to solicit with
importunity
-to beat against the wind
-to steer
-to traverse by rowing or
sailing
This modest three-letter
word (or word part) plays a role in these words & more:
plywood, pliant,
comply, compliance, compliant, apply, appliance, application, multiply, multiplication,
reply, complex, plectrum, pliers, &
(believe it or not) flax.
This week, please ply
me with a question. What word have you heard or used recently that caused you
to think, “Hmmm. Where’d that one come from?”