Starkers
Idioms. You gotta love ‘em. This one has a
particularly interesting history.
The word starkers
showed up in English in 1923, meaning completely
naked. Its roots appear in the term stark naked, which English speakers
were using as early as 1520. At this point in the family roots, there’s an unexpected
fork.
One would
expect stark naked & starkers’
origins to be stark, which came from the Old English
word stearc, which meant obstinate, severe, rigid, stiff, stern, strong or violent. By the
1400s, the idiom stark dead came about. Though stark actually referred
to the rigidity of a corpse, popular
understanding led to the belief that stark was intensifying dead,
much like saying truly dead or very dead. It appears this caused the
meaning of stark to shift to mean utter,
sheer or complete. By the 1640s, that newly established meaning contributed to
the Idiom stark raving, possibly translatable today as totally psycho. By the 1830s, stark
added a new meaning, bare or barren.
Some other
words that were born into Old English of the stiff meaning of stearc include stork, thorn
(who would’ve thunk?) & possibly stretch. A century or
more later, starch, stereo, & sterile all came from the stiff or rigid meaning of stark.
But wait.
What about that previously mentioned “unexpected fork” in the family roots? The
two words or terms above that didn’t come from stearc are stark
naked & starkers. They came from another Old English word, steort,
which is also the root of the name of a bird called a redstart, a colorful
critter named for its red
derriere. All this because steort meant rear end, rump or buttocks, which leads to the realization that stark
naked actually translates to mean butt
naked.
Idioms. You gotta love ‘em.
Butt naked=starkers. Any English school kid would agree! That's hilarious!
ReplyDeleteHi Anne - that's what I thought. Thanks for coming by.
ReplyDeleteVery entertaining turns and twists here. I've always liked the term "stark raving" not that I have had all much opportunity to use it in my life seeing as most people I know are quite sane. And "starkers" instead of "butt naked" just sounds so terribly British. Very fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks Christine - may you continue to spend your time among the mostly sane!
ReplyDeleteThese are great fun though I think I'd rather be starkers than butt naked. I'm already stark raving you know what. Hugs and Happy Valentines to you and yours, Charlie, and to all your followers.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Paul, on all counts.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's "buck naked." Always more etymological mysteries.
ReplyDelete