Thursday, October 19, 2017

Hurt, ache, & pain

Hurt, ache, & pain

It seems there’s a lot of hurt, ache, & pain going around, so why not?

The word hurt appeared in English as early as 1200. Hurt not only meant to injure the body, feelings, or reputation, it also meant to charge against, rush, or crash into. It came from an Old French word with no definite source, though Celtic, Frankish, Middle High German, Norse, & Dutch roots have been suggested.

The verb form of the word pain came to English from Old French in 1300, meaning to strive, endeavor, hurt or strain oneself. It came from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to atone or compensate. The noun form of pain showed up later that century, meaning punishment (it’s related to the word penalty).   Hmmm — punishment=striving? Does this reflect some sort of medieval “no pain no gain” thinking? 

The Old English word for the concept of suffering continued pain gave us the modern word ache. Descendants of what appears to be ache’s root also exist in Sanskrit &  Greek. Its meaning was fault or guilt.

So might our aches be caused by guilt? Do we bring them on ourselves? Must striving and endeavoring involve pain? And how often is it we find ourselves uncertain of the source of our hurt

Ponderings aside, may you avoid all the following aches:

tooth-ache (1200 or earlier)
belly-ache (1590)
back-ache (1600) 
heart-ache (1600)
stomach-ache (1763)
earache (1789)
headache (1934)

Comments? Here’s hoping you’ll avoid any hurtful ones.





Big thanks to this week’s sources: the OED, Etymonline, Collins Dictionary, Merriam Webster, & Wordnik.

8 comments:

  1. This is probably something I should know, but why are headache and earache not hyphenated like the rest?

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    1. Hey Heather -- I had that same question & the best guess I can come up with has to do with era. Though I have no citing to back it up, it appears the most recent ones became compound words while the earlier ones made use of the hyphen.

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  2. You are waxing philosophical this week, Mr. Monger! I do wonder if striving is the source of pain. Would we be better off accepting what is and not trying to "better" things?

    I think it's interesting that heart-ache came several centuries before headache. "Not tonight, dear. I have a heart-ache" probably didn't work as well. :-)

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    1. HA! For some months, now everyone I know has had a heart-ache. Will this phenomenon effect the birthrate?

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  3. Many's the time I heard directed to me as a young tad, "Aw, quit your belly-aching." I began to think of myself as a rancid hotdog.

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    1. Steve, never once has it occurred to me to think of you as a rancid hotdog. But thanks for coming by.

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  4. I find it amazing that headache only came into use in the 1930's. What did people call the pain in their heads before then? I guess just "a pain in my head!" And ache meaning fault or guilt is interesting. Did folks understand the body/mind connection better back then? And heart-ache is a perfect word for what ails so many of us right now. Sigh.

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  5. Hi Christine -- grand to see you again here at Wordmonger. I'm with you -- there are a lot of philosophical questions these three etymologies present.

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