Imitative Annoyances
Thanks to Victoria
Heckman, whose comment on last
week’s post suggested looking into the etymology of the word huff,
a word of imitative (or onomatopoeic) origin. This week, we’ll start with huff,
then take a look at a few more words of imitative origin that refer to
something annoying.
Huff made its way into English in the mid-1400s, as an
imitation of an exhalation. By the 1590s huff picked up the meaning bluster with indignation. The idiom Victoria
noted, to leave in a huff, showed up in 1778.
In 1727 the word tiff
came to English, meaning an outburst of
temper, also based on the imitative sound of an exhalation, or slight puff of air. By 1754 tiff
picked up the meaning, a small quarrel.
Another word imitating a puff of air is guff, which arrived in
1825. By 1888 it picked up its modern meaning, empty talk or nonsense, as in that’s
a lot of guff.
In 1765, ugh
showed up, imitating another sort of exhalation, a cough. By 1837 ugh morphed to become an interjection of disgust.
Squib, a short piece
of sarcastic writing, showed up in English in the 1520s. Though
etymologists haven’t determined that it has its origin in the firework of the
same name, if it indeed does, then it is imitative of the sound of that
particular firework, which hisses (as might the unfortunate targets of
sarcastic writing).
In the 1620s, the
imitative word squelch was born. It meant to
fall, drop or stomp on something soft with a crushing force (imagine the
sound of collapsing onto a sofa fashioned of marshmallow crème). Squelch
picked up a second meaning in 1764, to
suppress completely.
The final imitative
annoyance for this post took me by complete surprise. The Sanskrit word mu
referred to a gnat or fly, & was
imitative of the sound of such insects. In time, mu made its way into
Latin, where it became the noun, musca, fly. By the time it reached English, it referred to a particularly
annoying little fly, so it picked up
a diminutive ending to become mosquito.
It’s enough to make one
exhale a puff of air, isn’t it?
Future posts will include
the words suggested last week by Christine
Ahern & Anne
R. Allen. Thanks to them in advance.
So, did anyone out there already know that mosquito is imitative in origin?
Have any of you ever collapsed onto a marshmallow crème sofa? Come on, fess up.
That adds a whole different dimension to the nickname of Arianna Huffington's cyber-rag,the HuffPo. doesn't it? Uh-oh. Didn't mean to write a squib.
ReplyDeleteIntrigued to see the future posts we have inspired!
I think I might start putting "ito" at the end of any word that I wish to diminish. "It's really only a painito." or "I got another rejection but it came with a personal note so it was really just a rejectito." Ha!
ReplyDeleteChristine - brilliant idea. We should decide that all future items some might refer to as rejections are now to be labeled rejectitos! And Anne, you squibber, you! Thanks to both of you for regularly popping by & having things to say.
ReplyDelete