We know the word candid as “truthful, honest, sincere.” It’s carried this meaning since the 1670s. But before that, it carried the meaning of “bright, white” which came from the Latin candere, which means, “to shine.”
I really kind of love this one. Because what shines? The truth. Honesty. Sincerity.
In the 1920s it came to be applied to unposed photographs–presumably, because it’s an honest glimpse of someone or something, rather than a studied, created one.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
I love learning the history of words and different meanings. Love the image of shining the light with sincerity.