Up #2
The
word up
was spelled in a number of ways in Old English, including up & uppe.
It meant up or upward & came from
the Proto-Indo-European word upo, which also gave us the Greek
word hypo
(as in hypo-allergenic, hypochondriac & hypodermic).
In
last week’s post I mentioned that up performs as an adverb, noun, verb
& adjective. I missed something. Up also functions as a preposition.
Adverb
– Marcel walks up the hill.
Adjective
- Ophelia seems up today.
Verb
- The grocer upped the price of blueberries today.
Noun
- The market has its ups & downs.
Preposition
- Madeleine’s speedy departure left Stanley up in the air.
And
here are a few more uppish idioms:
1847
– The term getup (or get-up) refers to one’s costume. This appears to have come
from the 1841 idiom getup meaning initiative
or energy.
1853
– upholster
is referred to by linguists as a “back formation” because it appears to be a
base word, but actually came from the longer word (from 1610) upholsterer,
which refers to a person who fixes furniture. Upholsterer comes from
the word upholdester, which came from the word upholden back in
the 1300s, and meant repair, uphold, keep
from falling or sinking.
1891
– To send someone up the river, meaning to
send someone to jail, originated in New York City, as the prison Sing Sing
was up the Hudson River from the city.
1947
– upbeat,
meaning with a positive mood, comes
from the 1869 musical term upbeat, which labels the beat during
a bar when the conductor’s baton is pointed upward.
1951
- To drive someone up the wall, meaning to
annoy or irritate, came from the observed behavior of some animals (&
patients) in cages.
Please
use the comments section to tell me what’s up.
What a great, all-purpose word. I like the idea of spelling it "uppe". Sounds so much more "up-per" class. :-)
ReplyDeleteUppe, indeed. I particularly liked the connection to hypo-, and being an amateur upholsterer, I love the idea that in such efforts I am "upholding" the furniture.
ReplyDeleteI like the 1841 idiom "getup" meaning initiative or energy. This must be where "getup and go" comes from. Sure wish I had more of that these days. P.
ReplyDeletePaul, I'm with you. Was it Lee Hayes or Pete Seeger who wrote "My get up and go has got up and went"?
ReplyDeleteI can most relate to "up the wall" at the present time. As I have a house guest who has been here for a month and it is driving me up the wall over the fence and out of my house as much a possible!
ReplyDeleteChristine - I can fell your up-the-wallness. May your houseguest resolve himself soon & stop leaving you up a creek.
ReplyDelete