Eight possibly presidential words
Countless groups have published lists of words most used
by our presidential candidates. Here’s a look at a sampling of those words whose
etymologies I find most intriguing.
The word huge has gotten a lot of attention.
Huge
appeared in English in the 1100s from the Old French word, ahoge, which meant extremely
large, enormous, or powerful. Nobody knows the source that preceded Old
French.
Though a segment of the voting population is embracing the
word nasty,
etymologists haven’t quite come to terms with it. One school of thought gives nasty’s
origin as the Dutch word nestig, meaning dirty, (it literally translates to like a bird’s nest). An opposing school of thought suggests nasty
came through Old French from the Latin word villenastre, meaning infamous or bad. A third group says we
simply don’t know where it came from. At least we can all agree nasty
appeared in English about 1400.
An oft-used word that hasn’t received so much press is constant.
Appearing in the 1300s through Old French from Latin, constant originally meant
steadfast & resolute. It was
constructed of the Latin parts com- & -stare, to stand together.
The opposite of constant would be inconstant,
which happens to be one of the meanings of another oft-used word this
electoral season: inequality. Coming from the Latin word inequalitas, which meant unequal, different in size, changeable or inconstant, the word inequality
appeared in the early 1400s meaning difference
of rank or dignity.
The words racism & racist have played quite
a role in speeches and debates. The earliest forms, racialism &
racialist came from South Africa in the 1870s. These early forms were
eclipsed in the 1930s by the forms we know today. The root for these
words, race, came to English in the 1500s through Old French &
possibly Italian & had many meanings:
- wines with a
characteristic flavor,
- a group of
people with a common occupation,
- a
generation, &
- a tribe,
nation, or group of people of common stock.
Quagmire showed up in English in the 1570s
meaning bog or marsh. By 1766 quagmire
picked up the figurative meaning, inescapable,
bad situation.
The word classy (now meaning stylish) comes from a meaning of class
that appeared in 1772, a division of
society according to status. However, the word class first showed up in
English from French in the 1600s meaning a
group of students, which interestingly came from a Latin word originally
meaning the people of Rome under arms.
Please leave any huge or nasty thoughts on all
these constant, classy, yet quagmire-like election-induced
words in the comments section.
Big thanks to this week’s sources: Merriam-Webster, Wordnik, Etymonline, Collins Dictionary, Your Dictionary, Chron.com, Dictionary.com, & the OED.
Well, I'm voting for the Dutch nestig. I think the "birds-nest" dirty mess sounds right for nasty. Very interesting that wines used to have a race. And that huge has an unknown origin. Fascinating as always, Mr. Monger!
ReplyDeleteGreetings Anne - & big thanks for popping by once more. I'm with you on nestig -- just seems to possible to not be true.
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