We talk a lot at Word of the Week about words that are shockingly new or have interesting roots. Well, moon is neither of those things. 😉 But it’s still a fascinating word to study, because of its ancient, ANCIENT history.

It’s no great surprise that the biggest constant in our night sky received a name on day one. Okay, day four, if we’re going by the Genesis narrative. 😉 Which means that the oldest languages we have record of and which led to the languages we know today, which etymologists refer to as the “proto-Indo-European” language or PIE, have the very root word from which moon is derived: me(n)ses. Not all variations preserve that n in the middle, but some do. And historically, the word for the heavenly body and the word for the cycle of that heavenly body, have been interchangeable (moon has meant “month” even in English forever, as an example). Which is where we get:

Mona – Old English and Old Frisian
Mone – Middle English
Moon – Modern English
Mano – Old Saxon and Old High German
Mani – Old Norse
Maane – Danish
Maan – Dutch
Mond – German
Masah – Sanskrit
Mah – Persian
Mis – Armenian
Mene – Greek
Mensis – Latin
Meseci – Old Church Slavonic
Menesis – Lithuanian
Mi – Old Irish
Mis – Welsh
Miz – Breton

By the 1500s, the moon was used metaphorically to refer to anything out of reach. It wasn’t until 1665 that moon was used to refer to the satellite of any planet.

As for the verb that is, ahem, usually used in reference to pulling one’s clothing down, that particular prank, let’s call it, didn’t earn the name moon until the 1960s–it’s probably from a sense of moon being slang for the buttocks from the 1760s but is likely also influenced by a sense dating to the early 1600s meaning “to expose to the moonlight.” The verb sense of “idle about or gaze moodily” is from the 1830s.

So what about Luna? In Latin, Luna was the goddess of the moon, and the word came to mean “the moon” as well, as a differentiation from mensis, which also meant month. Both words could refer to the heavenly body, but Luna carried the sense of a deity and mensis of the physical body whose movements help us tell time.

Word Nerds Merch!

Did you know that resurrect didn’t exist as a word until the 1770s?!

I know, go ahead. Shake your head and said, “Nuh uh!” I know I did. But it’s true!

Resurrect is what etymologists refer to as a “back-formation.” Which is to say, we’ve had the noun, resurrection, in the English language pretty much forever (since about 1300), so eventually people just assumed it came from a verb (correct, it did) and began using that verb, resurrect. But it’s technically (or was technically) incorrect–that’s not the verb form of the word.

The noun resurrection came to us from Latin, via French. The Latin verb is resurgere, meaning “to rise again, to appear again.” Most Biblical translations will say that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and that Christ himself was raised from the dead. We could also say the proper verb…resurge. That’s what would have been used until the 1770s.

When resurrection made its way into English around 1300, it was specifically talking about the resurrection of Christ. And by extension, “the resurrection of the dead in the last days” that He promised. In the 1500s, people began to use it metaphorically or in less-sacred senses.

Whatever the correct verb form, I pray everyone enjoys this season where we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord…to commemorate when He resurged. 😉

Word Nerds Merch!

Since yesterday was Palm Sunday, I thought it would be fun to look at the etymology of the word palm.

Not shockingly, it’s been in English a long time–since the 1300s. And it comes from a root that means “flat.” So in reference to the palm of the hand, it’s describing the flat part of the hand.

From there, the palm trees got their names because of the flat leaves and branches with “fingers” on them. Of course, these trees aren’t native to England, so that early knowledge of the trees mostly came thanks to the story of Palm Sunday.

Why palms, though? Because in the ancient world, palm fronds were word on carried as a symbol of victory (much like a laurel leaf crown).

Did you attend a Palm Sunday service yesterday?

Word Nerds Merch!

Did you know that peruse is its own opposite?

In the late 1400s, the word peruse was created to mean “to go through something with extreme detail or careful scrutiny.” It comes from per- (completely) combined with use.

By the 1530s, it was applied specifically to “read thoroughly.”

But somewhere in the mists of time, things changed. By the 19th century, peruse instead came to mean “browse” or “read casually.”

Why? Etymologists don’t have a lot to say on the matter. They simply classify it as a “contronym”–a word that has two opposite meanings. I always love finding these–how about you?

Word Nerds Merch!

We know the definitions of words that end in -spire…but do we know what they literally mean? All these -spire endings come from the Latin spirare, which means “to breathe.” So let’s examine our English words!

Conspire – literally “breathe together”
Perspire – literally “through breath”
Aspire – literally “to breathe upon” (the notion being to pant after something)
Respire – literally “to breathe again”
Transpire – literally “across, beyond, or through the breath”
Expire – literally “out of breath”
Inspire – literally “to put breath into”

Then, hilariously, there’s spire…which isn’t from that Latin root at all, but is from Norse/Germanic, meaning “sharp point.” 😉

Word Nerds Merch!

Did you know that muscle comes from mouse?

You didn’t read that wrong.

Apparently back in Ancient Greece, someone thought that bulging muscles (think biceps) resembled mice. So mys was the root for both words, and that just carried right up on through the millennia and into Latin, and from there to many other languages.

I don’t know about you, but I thought the shared letters and sounds were pure coincidence. Turns out, the Latin musculus means “little mouse.” That’s where our English word came from, way back in the 1300s.

Now you know.

Word Nerds Merch!