 What with AI running rampant, filling the ether with slop (low quality AI generated content), that new meaning of slop is getting a lot of attention. In response, our friends at Etymonline have chosen their “Dead Word of the Year,” a much older meaning, & a slop of a different color — the slop that means ready-made clothes. Slop takes up almost a whole page of the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), which cites thirty-one meanings, plus slop-basin, a basin for holding slops, & slop-dash, a sloppy, liquid compound used as food, beverage, or medicine. The OED’s first noun meaning of slop started out as *sleubh- a Proto-Indo-European verb meaning to slip or slide, which in Old English became the noun sloppe, cow dung, & by the 1650s came to mean any sort of household liquid waste. By the 1800s slop also began to mean sentimental or affected material. The second noun meaning (ready-made clothes) may have come from the surname Sclopmongerie, or an Old English noun meaning a diagonally slanting neckline, or an earlier verb meaning to slip into or onto something. It’s the reason tailors’ shops in merry old England were known as slop shops. All this gives me the opportunity to bring up a fabulous woman named Geneva. Like my mother, she was a resident in what our squeamish culture refers to as a facility. She was wheelchair bound, gregarious, exuberant, happy, & the only two words she was able to utter were slop & sloppy. She could hold entire conversations with those two words, all through tone & context. She really was remarkable. What a shame our present internet slop isn’t nearly as clear, welcoming, & cordial as Geneva was. Thanks to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, Etymonline, Collins Dictionary, the OED, & Vecteezy.
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 A whole lot of scoffing went on this last year, especially in the political realm, so here’s a look into scoff & some of its synonyms. The verb scoff came to English from an un-agreed-upon Scandinavian or German source. Perhaps an Old Norse word meaning mockery or ridicule, perhaps an Old High German word meaning sport, jest, or derision, or a Middle Danish word meaning jest & mockery. In Modern English, scoff means to show contempt by derisive acts or language. To deride is to laugh at or insult contemptuously. Deride comes through French from the Latin word deridere, to ridicule, laugh at, or scorn. Like scoff, the verb jeer, to deride or mock, is a mystery. It may have come from Dutch or German, but we’re not sure. And some etymologists suggest jeer may be an ironic mispronunication of the verb cheer. A near-synonym is the verb revile, to subject to verbal abuse. Revile came from Old French & is related to villain, & vilify, & of course, vile. Another near-synonym is mock, to behave with scorn or contempt, or to mimic derisively. It most likely came through Old French from Latin, though it may have come from a Vulgar Latin word meaning to blow the nose. To ridicule is to make fun of, mock, or deride. This verb showed up in the 1680s from a French word meaning to treat with contemptuous merriment. Contemptuous merriment? Hmmm. And sneer first appeared in English in the 1550s meaning to snort or scorn, though by the 1670s it had morphed to a word meaning to grin or smile contemptuously, & by 1707 it had come to mean to speak derisively or insinuate contemptuously. The meaning to curl the upper lip in scorn joined us in 1775. As the new year dawns, may all sneering, deriding, mocking, reviling, ridiculing, & scoffing be behind you. Big thanks to his week’s sources, Merriam Webster, Thesaurus.com, Collins Dictionary, Etymonline, & Steve Lowtwait Art.  Many parts of the northern hemisphere are experiencing precipitation this time of year, so here we go. The word snow comes through Middle (snou) & Old English (snaw) from a Proto-Germanic word (snaiwaz) meaning, well, snow. It has some very cool sounding relatives: Dutch --sneeuw Old Irish — snechta Old Church Slavonic -- snegu Old Norse -- snjor Gothic -- snaiws The word rain has also been with us a very long time & comes from a Proto-Germanic word meaning, well, rain. The noun hail, meaning pellets of ice falling from the sky, is also of Proto-Germanic origin. And the word sleet comes from Proto-Germanic, too. Originally slautjan, sleet is precipitation of mingled snow & rain. Deluge comes through Middle English & Anglo-French from the Latin word deluvium, meaning flood or inundation. Drizzle comes from an Old English verb meaning to fall. And the lovely & under-appreciated word mizzle comes from Middle English. It’s related to a Dutch word meaning fog or mist. My sister in Montana, uses the word grapple to describe a snowy/rainy mix, though Merriam Webster spells it graupel, & cites it’s the diminutive form of a word meaning pearl barley. Hmmm. My pals in Ohio refer to the same sort of precipitiation as sniz, a combination of snow & drizzle. May your winter holidays be sweet & may any precipitation stay outside, so you can best appreciate it. Big thanks to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, the OED, Etymonline, How Stuff Works, Collins Dictionary, & Alamy.  After unexpectedly spending a couple rainy evenings rearranging the tarps on our roof & getting the bucket in the bedroom in just the right spot to catch the drips, why not look into the word roof? To begin with, I feel fortunate to have a roof (even if it’s not perfect). So many people don’t, & this is a tough season for rooflessness. The noun roof appeared in Old English. Forms of it exist in many Germanic languages, though hardworking etymologists haven’t successfully traced it back further than that. In English is has meant upper covering of a house, ceiling, highest point, top, summit, the sky, & heaven. In other Germanic languages its meanings include cover, deckhouse, cabin, penthouse, & coffin lid. Roof has applied to the top of the mouth since it first showed up in Old English. And the language is rife with roof idioms: Hit the roof. Raise the roof Through the roof Cat on a hot tin roof Under one roof Roof over one’s head Roof rats Roof came crashing down Take the roof off On the roof Roof fell in Snow on the roof I invite you all to appreciate roofs. They really do a lot of unsung good work. And if you have anything to say about the post, please do. Big thanks to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, phrases.com, the OED, EngDic, Etymonline, & Megavtogal.  The verb touch appeared in English as early as 1300. It came through Old French from Vulgar Latin. Touch is crucial to human existence, so over the years touch has had many meanings: To move or reach so as to make direct physical contact with To touch, hit, knock, mention or deal with To pertain to To pass over To border on To lay hands upon with intent to heal To come close, to verge To make a brief stop on shore while traveling on water To extend to reach, or attain To affect physically To affect emotionally To stain, lay hands on for harm or cause injury or pain To handle or have to do with To be felt as the concern of To strike the keys or strings of an instrument To get or go as far as To meet without overlapping or penetrating To perceive to the tactile sense To attain equality with To partake of food To commit violence upon To draw or delineate with light strokes To leave a mark or impression on To take in hand To handle gentlly with the intent to understand or appreciate To hurt or wound the mind or feelings Idioms involving touch include: touch a sore spot touch & go touch base touch off touch down touchdown touch on something touch someone off touch something up touched in the head to be touched by something Anything I forgot to touch on? Big thanks to this week’s sources: the OED, Merriam Webster, Collins Dictionary, NTC’s American Idioms Dictionary, Etymonline, & Inspired Pencil.  Why not celebrate the season with a look at ghost — its sources & its idioms.
Ghost appeared in Old English from Proto-West-Germanic, & originally meant breath, good spirit, bad spirit, angel, demon, or human being. Talk about a word that covered all the bases. And etymologists are pretty sure an even earlier root was *gheis-, which had to do with excitement, amazement, or fear. Ghost’s etymological cousins include aghast, ghastly, poltergiest, & zeitgeist. Ghost shows up in a number of idioms: ghost of a chance ghost story ghost image ghost town ghost writer ghost in the machine to look like one has seen a ghost to ghost someone ghost of a smile ghost of a doubt ghost of an idea white as a ghost pale as a ghost ghost at the feast ghost dance holy ghost give up the ghost May any ghosts you encounter this season be carrying plastic, candy-holding pumpkins. Thanks to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, the OED, Idioms Academy, Etymonline, Phrases.com, Collins Dictionary, & FreePik.  Pit is one of many words that come to us from more than one source. The first meaning of pit, a natural or man-made depression in the ground, comes through Old English from the Latin noun puteus, a well, pit, or shaft. Hardworking etymologists haven’t quite decided where puteus comes from, though theories abound.
The second meaning of pit, a hard seed, comes through Middle Dutch from a Proto-Germanic word we now spell pith, the central cylinder of the stems of plants. From that meaning, pith morphed to mean the essential part or quintessence, with the figurative meaning the energy, concentrated force, or vigor of thought & style. The pith helmet is so named because it was made of the pith of the Bengal spongewood. Then of course, there’s the verb to pith, to kill by piercing the spinal cord (to kill by means of the essential part or quintessence). And let’s not forget the pithy saying which gets down to the essence of things. The verb pit, to set against another, comes from the first meaning of pit & was initially employed in the inglorious “sport” of cockfighting, in which roosters were thrown together into a pit to fight. These idioms come from the first meaning: bottomless pit it’s the pits armpit pit of the stomach snake pit money pit pit stop These idioms come from the second meaning: cut to the pith great pith & moment pith of the matter These idioms & words come from the verb: pit against pit one’s wits against pitbull May all your words be pithy. Big thanks to this week’s sources: The Free Dictionary, Collins Dictionary, Etymonline, the OED, & Vecteezy.  Time to take a stand? Stand is a very old word. It takes up over fourteen pages of the Oxford English Dictionary & comes through Middle English & Old English from Proto-Germanic. Along the way it has meant many things. -to occupy a place -to stand firm -to congeal -to stay -to continue -to abide -to be valid -to take place -to oppose -to resist attack -to be on one’s feet -to consist -to amount to -to make firm or be firm -to encounter without flinching or retreating -to endure, undergo, or come through -to put up with Stand has given birth to the following idioms: Stand back Stand by Stand by someone Stand for something Stand in awe Stand in for somemone stand on ceremony Stand on one’s own two feet Stand out Stand still Stand up Stand someone in good stead Stand pat Stand by your man Stand down Stand one’s ground Stand to reason Stand one’s chances Stand & deliver Take a stand May the stands we take stand us all in good stead. Big thanks to this week’s sources: the OED, Etymonline, NTC’s American Idioims Dictionary, PhraseFinder, Atlas Vocabulary, & Taha Elhamed.  Pretty much anyone I talk to these days is feeling exhausted, so here’s an etymological look at exhausted & some selected synonyms. Exhausted came to us in the mid 1600s, meaning consumed or used up, from a Latin word meaning to draw out or use completely. Weary, meaning tired, exhausted, heartsick, came to Old English through a Germanic word meaning to wander or totter. Fatigued came to us from Latin through French. The original roots meant to weary or tire out, and to cause to break down. Knackered probably comes from Old Norse, and has its basis in the horse-handling world. The likely Old Norse root meant saddle. In the 1570s English speakers used nacker or knacker to refer to a harness maker, by the early 1800s knacker came to mean one who deals with sick or old horses, & by 1855 it came to mean one who kills or castrates horses. The modern meaning, exhausted, comes from this latter meaning. Bushed is American English & showed up about 1870. The sense of exhausted seems to have come from the idea of being lost in the woods. Pooped showed up in 1931 & doesn’t appear to have anything to do with, well, poop. It may have come from poop or poop out, onomatopoeic aviation terms from the 1920s which copied the sounds of an airplane engine dying, or possibly an earlier nautical term used when a wave overtook a ship from behind (covering the poop deck). Who knew? How about you? Are you feeling exhausted, bushed, knackered or pooped these days? Big thanks to this week’s sources: Collins Dictionary, Merriam Webster, the OED, Etymonline, & Vecteezy.  In the news these days, our situation is appropriately labeled with some glorious words meaning terrible things. The word havoc comes from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to grasp. When it made its way into Old French in the 1300s it became an order telling soldiers to pillage. A century later it picked up the meaning general devastation. Chaos showed up in the 1300s meaning gaping void, immeasurable space. It came from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning yawn, through a Greek word meaning abyss. Jumble seems to have been invented in the 1520s based on words like tumble & stumble, meaning to mix in a confused mass or to move confusedly. Clutter means to collect in heaps. It’s related to the word clot, and came about in the 1500s. Maelstrom means grinding stream in Dutch. This word was used to label a dangerous tidal whirlpool off Norway’s coast. Today maelstrom mostly means chaotic turbulence. The verb welter means to roll, turn, twist, or tumble. It came from a Proto-Indo European root meaning to revolve. During the 1400s, it also picked up the meanings to writhe, & to live self-indulgently & wallow. Shambles came from Proto-Germanic & originally meant footstool or bench. Over time, it took on the meaning market, due to vendors placing their goods for sale on footstools or benches. By the 1400s shambles specialized to mean meat or fish market, which in the 1500s morphed to mean slaughterhouse or place of butchery, & within the next fifty years began to mean general confusion. May you find new & equally glorious words to fend off the ugliness out there. This week’s sources include: Merriam Webster, the OED, Etymonline, Collins Dictionary, & Vecteezy. |
I write for teens & tweens, bake bread, play music, and ponder the wonder of words in a foggy little town on California's central coast.
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