Moose, deer, bear – for those gearing up for the hunting season, they can all be summed up by one word: quarry. After medieval hunters had killed their deer, they would place its heart and liver on a piece of its hide and let the dogs eat it as a reward (I hope you're not eating breakfast as you read this). The French word for an animal's hide was cuirée, which in turn came from the Latin word corium (skin). In English this became “quarry”, which, by the 1600s, came to designate the whole animal – or anything else – being pursued.
This has nothing to do with the stone quarry, which comes ultimately from the Latin quadrum (square) since stone is cut into square pieces.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Fiddling about
Symphony orchestras, with their armies of violinists, are back in season. Is their instrument a violin or a fiddle? Both words come possibly from Vitula, the Roman goddess of joy. Vitula became fithele in the Germanic language brought to England by the Anglo-Saxons, viole in the French brought by the Normans, and viola in Italian. In medieval England, the previously honourable pedigree of the Anglo-Saxon “fiddle” was soon under attack from the more prestigious French word, and then even more so from Italian, so highly prestigious in matters musical. So we now have the more formal “violin” and the slightly less formal “fiddle”.
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Monday, September 20, 2010
Verbs: it's ok to do this. Really!
Consider the following work of fine literature. What do all the verbs (not counting the auxiliary verbs like "be", "have", "do") have in common?
What a morning!
My usual routine: plug in the kettle for tea, microwave the porridge, spoon some sugar onto it, wolf down a buttered, toasted bagel.
Then I showered, soaping myself down, shampooing and conditioning my hair.
I towelled myself off, then brushed and flossed my teeth and combed my hair. Since my skirt needed hemming, I threaded my needle and stitched it up, then ironed it. I zipped up the skirt, buttoned my blouse and pinned on a brooch.
Before biking off to work, I gardened a bit, deadheading the flowers, weeding the beds, and watering the flowerboxes. Typing really fast, I emailed a few friends and phoned some others. After printing out some stuff, I headed off to work, locking the house carefully. As I was pedalling along, someone darted in front of me and I had to brake really hard. Then someone doored me and I somersaulted over the car, landing on the sidewalk. Fine the bastard!!
Did you figure it out? Every single one of those verbs started out life as a noun. And yet people persist in saying "I hate it when people use nouns as verbs". The idea that you shouldn't "use nouns as verbs" is possibly the most ridiculous statement about the English language ever made. It seems to have cropped up in usage commentaries in about the 1980s and then spread virally without anyone ever examining it critically. So if you adhere to this rule, let me assure you: You only THINK you object to verbs that are created from nouns. If you really did, you'd be at a loss for words. Literally.
P.S.
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Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Plazacast
I came across this word today in an article about opera companies (ballet companies do it too) doing free live broadcasts of their performances in giant screens outside their opera houses. From Google, it looks as though the word may have been invented by the Metropolitan Opera in 2007.
When coach was first class
With amateur sports getting into full swing, let's look at the originally Hungarian word “coach”. There are not many Hungarian words in English, but this is one. In late 15th-century Hungary, in the town of Kocs (pronounced COTCH), a new type of carriage was designed: the kocsi szeker. It must have been the Mercedes-Benz of its day, because all the best people throughout Europe just had to have one. It's a bit of a mystery why, because a picture of one from the 1500s shows a carriage with no roof and no suspension, but that's fashion for you. It got to England from France as coche in the mid-1500s, gradually applying to any kind of conveyance. In 19th-century Oxford student slang, a tutor who helped you improve your exam results (or your rowing) was a “coach”, because he carried or conveyed you along, sort of like a bus, geddit? Such wits they were.
P.S.
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Sunday, September 12, 2010
Upward(s) and onward(s)
Recently someone asked me which was correct: "toward" or "towards".
Today the sternly reproving red squiggle of my mailer's spellchecker attempted to persuade me that my favourite, "towards" was "incorrect". But both "toward" and "towards" are correct in English. It seems that the British favour "towards" and the Americans "toward", but both are used on both sides of the Atlantic. When we researched the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, we did a survey of Canadians and found, as is so often the case with Canadian usage, that they were divided about 50/50 between the two, perhaps with a slight edge for "toward".
In Old English, the adjective and preposition ended in -ward, a suffix meaning "in the direction of"; as in German, -s was an adverbial ending, so "towards" was an adverb, but even back then it was being used as a preposition as well, even by such people as King Alfred the Great. Of course, nowadays we no longer have an adverb "towards" at all; it is only a preposition. You cannot say "I didn't know which way to go so I went toward(s)." You have to go toward(s) something.
There are many words in this family: backward(s), forward(s), upward(s), downward(s), onward(s), heavenward(s), etc. Unlike "toward(s)", which is a preposition, these other words are adverbs -- he moved backward(s) -- but also adjectives, in which case only the s-less form is used -- a downward spiral.
This is what the OED has to say about the -ward(s) suffix
"In English the history of -wards as an adverb suffix is identical with that of -ward ; beside every adverb in -ward there has always existed (at least potentially) a parallel formation in -wards, and vice versa. The two forms are so nearly synonymous (the general sense of the adverbs being ‘in the direction indicated by the first element of the compound’) that the choice between them is mostly determined by some notion of euphony in the particular context; some persons, apparently, have a fixed preference for the one or the other form."
The pronunciation of "toward(s)" is also interesting. An older-fashioned pronunciation is "tord(s)"; the much more common current two-syllable pronunciation was apparently looked down upon as recently as the beginning of the 20th century, as the OED, which included it only as the last of four possibilities when the entry was edited in about 1910, has this note: "[this] pronunciation is not recognized in any modern dictionary, British or American, nor apparently by any orthoepist; but it appears to be the prevailing one in London and the south of England."
"Forward(s)" is an interesting case. It is quite unusual for people to use "forwards" in the phrase "look forward to" (although I have a friend who does say "look forwards to", and judging by a Google search, he is not alone, though in a smallish minority).
And speaking of that word, may I vent my spleen against one of my pet peeves (I don't have many, but I do have them): the much overused phrase "going forward". Why can't people just say "In future"? Or, hey, just use the future tense of the verb?
Here's a cute thought: there used to be a word "fromwards" as well. Perhaps the thing to do when you find yourself in the company of someone who overuses "going forward" is to promptly move fromward(s)!
Today the sternly reproving red squiggle of my mailer's spellchecker attempted to persuade me that my favourite, "towards" was "incorrect". But both "toward" and "towards" are correct in English. It seems that the British favour "towards" and the Americans "toward", but both are used on both sides of the Atlantic. When we researched the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, we did a survey of Canadians and found, as is so often the case with Canadian usage, that they were divided about 50/50 between the two, perhaps with a slight edge for "toward".
In Old English, the adjective and preposition ended in -ward, a suffix meaning "in the direction of"; as in German, -s was an adverbial ending, so "towards" was an adverb, but even back then it was being used as a preposition as well, even by such people as King Alfred the Great. Of course, nowadays we no longer have an adverb "towards" at all; it is only a preposition. You cannot say "I didn't know which way to go so I went toward(s)." You have to go toward(s) something.
There are many words in this family: backward(s), forward(s), upward(s), downward(s), onward(s), heavenward(s), etc. Unlike "toward(s)", which is a preposition, these other words are adverbs -- he moved backward(s) -- but also adjectives, in which case only the s-less form is used -- a downward spiral.
This is what the OED has to say about the -ward(s) suffix
"In English the history of -wards as an adverb suffix is identical with that of -ward ; beside every adverb in -ward there has always existed (at least potentially) a parallel formation in -wards, and vice versa. The two forms are so nearly synonymous (the general sense of the adverbs being ‘in the direction indicated by the first element of the compound’) that the choice between them is mostly determined by some notion of euphony in the particular context; some persons, apparently, have a fixed preference for the one or the other form."
The pronunciation of "toward(s)" is also interesting. An older-fashioned pronunciation is "tord(s)"; the much more common current two-syllable pronunciation was apparently looked down upon as recently as the beginning of the 20th century, as the OED, which included it only as the last of four possibilities when the entry was edited in about 1910, has this note: "[this] pronunciation is not recognized in any modern dictionary, British or American, nor apparently by any orthoepist; but it appears to be the prevailing one in London and the south of England."
"Forward(s)" is an interesting case. It is quite unusual for people to use "forwards" in the phrase "look forward to" (although I have a friend who does say "look forwards to", and judging by a Google search, he is not alone, though in a smallish minority).
And speaking of that word, may I vent my spleen against one of my pet peeves (I don't have many, but I do have them): the much overused phrase "going forward". Why can't people just say "In future"? Or, hey, just use the future tense of the verb?
Here's a cute thought: there used to be a word "fromwards" as well. Perhaps the thing to do when you find yourself in the company of someone who overuses "going forward" is to promptly move fromward(s)!
P.S.
If you find the English language fascinating, you might enjoy regular
updates about English usage and word origins from Wordlady. Receive
every new post delivered right to your inbox! If you are not already
subscribed, you can either:
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OR
(if
you are reading this on a mobile device): send me an email with the
subject line SUBSCRIBE at wordlady.barber@gmail.com
Privacy
policy: we will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to
anyone. You can unsubscribe at any point.
Also
check out my upcoming
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About Me
- Katherine Barber
- Canada's Word Lady, Katherine Barber is an expert on the English language and a frequent guest on radio and television. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Her witty and informative talks on the stories behind our words are very popular. Contact her at wordlady.barber@gmail.com to book her for speaking engagements; she can tailor her talks to almost any subject. She is also available as an expert witness for lawsuits.